Nepal bans internet game PUBG
Kathmandu: The popular multiplayer internet game PUBG has been banned in Nepal following a court order which said that it was having a negative effect on the behaviour of children and youth, according to a media report.
The Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) on Thursday directed all the internet and mobile service providers to ban PlayerUnknown's Battleground, commonly known PUBG, the Kathmandu Post reported on Thursday.
According to police, those found playing the game after the ban will face arrest.
The Kathmandu District Court gave the permission to ban PUBG on a petition filed by the metropolitan crime division citing negative behavioural affect in children, the report said.
After the court permission, the division then sent a letter to the NTA requesting it to ban the game.
Based on a letter from the crime division, we have ordered all internet and mobile service providers to ban the game, Purushottam Khanal, acting NTA chairman, was quoted as saying.
PUBG is a game in which a maximum of 100 players drop on an island and fight to be the last one left standing. The players have to search for arms and other equipment after landing on the island and compete to win the game.
Players can team with their friends and create crews that they can venture onto the island with. Cooperative play also sees players healing fallen comrades, strategising in teams and holding positions for better defensive play. Players can chat with each other and on mobile phones.
We received a number of complaints from parents, schools and school associations regarding the effect of the game on children, Senior Superintendent of Police Dhiraj Pratap Singh, chief of the Metropolitan Crime Division, said.
Singh said that they also held discussions with psychiatrists before requesting the court for permission to ban the game.
There have been many shocking incidents due to the game in other countries. We have decided to ban the game before anything unfortunate occurs in Nepal, Singh said.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
