India said to kill key rebel in Kashmir
SRINAGAR, India -- Indian government forces killed a top rebel commander in Kashmir during a gunbattle Sunday in the disputed region's main city, police said, calling it a major success against the rebels' long fight against Indian rule.
The dead commander, Saifullah Mir, was the chief of operations of the region's largest rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen, which has spearheaded an armed rebellion against Indian rule for decades.
Inspector-General Vijay Kumar said police and paramilitary soldiers launched an operation Sunday in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Srinagar based on a tip that Saifullah was sheltering there. Kumar said a gunfight ensued in which the militant commander was killed and his suspected associate was arrested.
Kumar said the killing was a major victory for India's counterinsurgency operations in the region.
There was no immediate confirmation from the rebels about the killing.
Shortly after the gunfight, anti-India protests broke out in the neighborhood. Police fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to stop scores of stone-throwing young men from marching in the area.
The protesters were chanting slogans including, "We want freedom" and "Go India, go back." No one was reported injured in the clashes.
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Eta ties record as 28th Atlantic storm
MIAMI -- Rain-heavy Tropical Storm Eta strengthened on Sunday as it headed for Central America. The system's formation ties the record for the most named storms in an Atlantic hurricane season.
Eta had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph late Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was centered about 215 miles east of the Nicaragua-Honduras border and was heading westward at 13 mph.
Forecasters expect Eta to become a hurricane today, and it is forecast on Tuesday to hit the Nicaraguan coast, where a hurricane warning was posted.
Eta is the 28th named Atlantic storm this season, tying the 2005 record. Hurricane season still has a month to go, ending Nov. 30. And in 2005, the last storm, Zeta, formed toward the end of December.
Belarusians' protests hit 13th week
KYIV, Ukraine -- Thousands of protesters in Belarus swarmed the streets of the capital for the 13th-straight Sunday to demand the resignation of the country's longtime president. They encountered police firing warning shots in the air and using stun grenades to break up the crowds.
As many as 20,000 people took part in the rally, the Visana human-rights center estimated. Large crowds of people gathered in the eastern part of Minsk headed toward Kurapaty, a wooded area on the city's outskirts where more than 200,000 people were executed by Soviet secret police during Stalinist-era purges.
Demonstrators carried banners reading, "The people's memory [lasts] longer than a life of a dictatorship" and "Stop torturing your people!"
The crowds directed chants of "Go away!" at Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who won his sixth term in an Aug. 9 election that is widely seen as rigged. Lukashenko's crushing victory over his challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has triggered the largest and the most sustained wave of mass protests of his 26 years in power.
The Belarusian Interior Ministry threatened the use of firearms against the rallygoers "if need be." On Sunday, police acknowledged that officers fired several warning shots into the air during the demonstration in Minsk "to prevent violations of the law."
7 held in Hong Kong legislative fracas
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong police arrested seven people Sunday over scuffles that broke out with security guards during a faceoff between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing lawmakers in the city's Legislature earlier this year.
Those arrested include current and former lawmakers and a legislative aide, police said. All seven are from the pro-democracy camp.
A police statement said that six men and one woman had been detained on suspicion of contempt and interfering with legislative personnel. It wasn't clear if that referred to other lawmakers or the security staff.
The statement said the arrests are part of an investigation into a May 8 committee meeting in which pro-democracy lawmakers rushed toward the chairperson's seat and a phalanx of security guards shoved back.
The guards carried out several pro-democracy lawmakers, including Eddie Chu and Ray Chan, after they had been ordered to leave for disorderly conduct. Both stepped down Sept. 30.
Chan said on Twitter that he was arrested at 7 a.m. Sunday, and a statement on Chu's Facebook page said he had also been picked up.
The Democratic Party said on its Facebook page that three of its legislative members had been arrested, including party Chairman Wu Chi-wai.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports