SRINAGAR: Gunmen in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir shot and killed a police officer on Monday, an official said, the latest in a string of deadly clashes in the disputed Muslim-majority region.
Suspected rebels fired on a unit of India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the heavily forested area of Udhampur in the southern Jammu district.
“Security forces have been on a hunt for a suspected group of rebels in the area for weeks after a clash,” an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The official said the attack happened as officers set up a new security post in the area, where there has been increased militant activity.
India’s election commission announced on Friday it would hold local polls in the region for the first time in a decade.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with each side claiming it in full.
About 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in the region, battling a 35-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels since 1989.
India and Pakistan accuse each other of stoking militancy and espionage to undermine each other and the nuclear-armed rivals have fought several conflicts for control of the region.
Voting for the region’s assembly will be held over three stages between September 18 and October 1, with a total of 8.7 million people eligible.
Some see the polls as a critical step in returning the vote to the people to choose their leaders.
However, some hard-line separatists, who demand independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan, oppose elections because they see them as lending validity to Indian control.
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Gunmen kill police officer in Indian-administered Kashmir
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Gunmen kill police officer in Indian-administered Kashmir
- Suspected rebels fired on a unit of India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force in the heavily forested area of Udhampur
- Official says the attack happened as officers set up a new security post in the area, where there has been increased militant activity
Spain unveils public investment fund to tackle housing crisis
- The Spanish PM said the fund would raise 120 billion euros ($142 billion)
MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday presented a new public investment fund that he said would raise 120 billion euros ($142 billion) and help tackle the country’s persistent housing crisis.
Scarce and unaffordable housing is consistently a top concern for Spaniards and represents a stubborn challenge in one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.
The new “Spain Grows” fund, first announced in January, aims to replace the tens of billions of EU post-Covid recovery aid that helped drive Spain’s strong growth in recent years.
Sanchez said the headline figure — representing seven percent of Spain’s annual economic output — would come through public and private sources, with an initial contribution of 10.5 billion euros of EU money.
The fund would “mobilize up to 23 billion euros in public and private funding to dynamise the housing supply” and help build 15,000 homes per year, Sanchez added, without specifying a timeframe for the planned investment.
Energy, digitalization, artificial intelligence and security industries would also benefit from the money, the Socialist leader said at a presentation in Madrid.
Tourism is a key component of Spain’s economy, with the country welcoming a record 97 million foreign visitors last year, when GDP growth reached 2.8 percent — almost double the eurozone average.
But locals complain that short-term tourist accommodation has driven up housing prices and dried up supply.
The average price of a square meter for rent has doubled in 10 years, according to online real estate portal Idealista.
According to the Bank of Spain, the net creation of new households and a lag in housing construction created a deficit of 700,000 homes between 2021 and 2025.
Scarce and unaffordable housing is consistently a top concern for Spaniards and represents a stubborn challenge in one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.
The new “Spain Grows” fund, first announced in January, aims to replace the tens of billions of EU post-Covid recovery aid that helped drive Spain’s strong growth in recent years.
Sanchez said the headline figure — representing seven percent of Spain’s annual economic output — would come through public and private sources, with an initial contribution of 10.5 billion euros of EU money.
The fund would “mobilize up to 23 billion euros in public and private funding to dynamise the housing supply” and help build 15,000 homes per year, Sanchez added, without specifying a timeframe for the planned investment.
Energy, digitalization, artificial intelligence and security industries would also benefit from the money, the Socialist leader said at a presentation in Madrid.
Tourism is a key component of Spain’s economy, with the country welcoming a record 97 million foreign visitors last year, when GDP growth reached 2.8 percent — almost double the eurozone average.
But locals complain that short-term tourist accommodation has driven up housing prices and dried up supply.
The average price of a square meter for rent has doubled in 10 years, according to online real estate portal Idealista.
According to the Bank of Spain, the net creation of new households and a lag in housing construction created a deficit of 700,000 homes between 2021 and 2025.
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