Mission accomplished everyone. Or is it? Don’t start celebrating just yet says a senior US commander in Iraq. Lt Gen Stephen Townsend has warned that the war against the Islamic State (IS) is not over, despite the “historic” victory in Mosul. While people celebrated Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s announcement, Townsend said the Iraqi government is going to have to do something pretty significantly different if Iraq is to keep ISIS 2.0 from happening. After nine months of fighting, much of Mosul city is destroyed.
When will the violence end? Seven Hindu pilgrims, six of them women, have been killed in a militant attack in Kashmir after their bus apparently got caught in crossfire. The bus was returning from the Amarnath Cave pilgrimage site when the attack took place. The target appeared to be a nearby counter-insurgency base.The attack, which also left 19 injured, is likely to heighten tensions in the disputed region.
Lastly, happy world population day everyone. When the first World Population Day was marked in 1990, the global population stood at a little over five billion. It’s now 7.6 billion, with Africa having the highest birth rate and Europe the lowest. July 11 is now the day each year when the United Nations tries to bring attention to the importance of population issues.
