Maoist camp busted in Odisha, explosives recovered
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Police busted a Maoist camp in a forest in Odisha's Nuapada district and recovered explosive materials from there, a senior officer said on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off about the movement of CPI (Maoist) cadres, two special operation groups (SOG) launched a search and destroy operation in Patdhara and Sunabeda reserve forests on the night of October 30.
“On November 1, one SOG Assault team identified a suspected Maoist camp associated with the DGN divisional committee of the CPI (Maoist). The location was in a dense forest near Bhainsamundi (Bahadurpani) village,” a statement issued by the police said, adding that during the search operation, huge explosive materials were recovered.
The recovered materials include 500 detonators, five reels of safety fuse, five improvised IED switches, one gelatin stick (decomposed) and various Naxalite literatures, an officer said.
"This recovery suggests that the site served as a temporary hideout for CPI (Maoist) cadres, which was raided by security forces," he said.
In addition, another SOG team was deployed on November 1 evening to intensify the search operation, the police added.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
