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Chinese Space Lab Burns Up in the Atmosphere

A defunct Chinese space lab met its expected end early Monday morning as its remaining fragments plunged into the South Pacific.

China's Manned Space Engineering Office said the Tiangong-1 spacecraft “mostly” burned up in the atmosphere.

Any pieces that failed to disintegrate during the fiery trip back to Earth fell harmlessly into the ocean.

It took about two hours for the craft burn up once it hit Earth's atmosphere.

There had been predictions parts of the space lab would land in the South Atlantic with some pieces posing a very small threat to people on the ground

Tiangong-1, was the size of a school bus and weighed eight and a half tons.

Tiangong-1, which means “Heavenly Palace” in English, was the largest manmade object to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in a decade.

It was launched in 2011 and served as an orbiting laboratory for manned Chinese space missions until officials determined its lifespan was complete. It was taken out of service in 2016.

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North Korea's Kim Attends Pyongyang K-Pop Concert

18 Killed in Violent Clashes in Indian Kashmir

SRINIGAR — 

Eighteen people have been killed in three separate incidents Sunday as Indian troops conducted counterinsurgency operations in Indian Kashmir.

State police director general S.P. Vaid said 11 militants, three soldiers and four civilians died during clashes.

He said the militants killed in the operation belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen (Party of Soldiers) and Lashkar-e-Tayaba (Army of the Righteous). Both groups have been designated as terrorist groups by India and the United States.

Vaid told VOA during a search operation a militant also surrendered to the police. Vaid termed the operation as the “most successful one in recent weeks.”

The Indian soldiers and militants died in clashes south of Srinagar, the main city of the region divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed in full by both.

The four civilians were killed when police opened fire on thousands of demonstrators who poured onto the streets to protest the operation. About 50 people were also injured when the police used tear gas to disperse a crowd throwing stones and chanting slogans against Indian rule.

There were also demonstrations in Srinagar, where authorities ordered all schools closed Monday as rebel groups called for protests.

Militant groups have been waging an armed struggle against Indian rule in the only Muslim majority state of Kashmir.

Pakistan, which has fought three wars with India over control of Kashmir, condemned the violence as a "mindless killing spree" and said those slaughtered were innocents.

"Such cowardly actions of the occupying forces only serve to fortify the resolve of the Kashmiri people," Pakistan's foreign office said Sunday.

Last year more than 200 alleged militants were killed in a counter-insurgency offensive dubbed "Operation All Out." Forty nine militants have been killed this year.

The weekend clashes were the worst since a three-day skirmish in the forests of northern Kashmir last month left ten dead - five unidentified militants and five government troops.

Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

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Kim Jong Un's China Visit May Be Start of His World Travels

Rohingya Refugee Boat Restocks after Storm in Southern Thailand

BANGKOK, THAILAND — 

A boat with Rohingya refugees restocked with essential supplies at an island in southern Thailand on Sunday, authorities said, amid signs that overcrowding in Bangladeshi camps could prompt many others to make similarly perilous sea crossings.

Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed the border from Myanmar's Rakhine State into Bangladesh after militant attacks in August sparked a military crackdown that United Nations and Western countries have said constitutes ethnic cleansing.

The boat, carrying 56 refugees, stopped on Lanta island in southern Krabi province after a heavy storm on Saturday evening.

It was the first Rohingya vessel spotted off Thailand in more than a year, local police said.

"We treated them with humanitarian consideration and allowed them to return to sea because they told us they were heading to Malaysia," Lanta police chief, Police Colonel M.L. Pattanajak Chakrabandhu told Reuters. Locals gave the refugees food and water, he said.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled by sea following an outbreak of sectarian violence in Rakhine State in 2012, some falling prey to human traffickers.
That exodus peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 people fled across the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Rights groups expect another surge in Rohingya boats reaching Southeast Asia, even if not at the levels of the past.

"We have received credible information about boats full of Rohingya refugees making their way to Malaysia over the last few months," Matthew Smith co-founder of advocacy group Fortify Rights told Reuters. "The humanitarian situation in Bangladesh for the refugees is very difficult."

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