Posts

Showing posts from August 23, 2020

Anti-racism protesters to march in Kenosha after third night of calm

The 17-year-old suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse, who walked away from the scene as police looked on, surrendered to law enforcement on Wednesday near his home in Illinois  Black Lives Matter organizers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, planned for a mass rally and march on Saturday as reinforced National Guard units stood by with orders to prevent a resurgence of the unrest that convulsed the lakeside city earlier in the week. A tense calm prevailed for a third night on Friday in the downtown area surrounding a courthouse and park that was the hub of tumultuous protests in support of Jacob Blake Jr., the Black man shot in the back by a white police officer on Sunday. The shooting of Blake, in front of three of his children, turned the mostly white city of 100,000 people on Lake Michigan, 40 miles south of Milwaukee, into the latest flashpoint in a summer of nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racism. Blake, 29, survived but was left badly wounded and paralyzed from the waist down. A

International Day of the Disappeared: In tears, families wait for return

Image
  Over 500 people, largely opposition activists, were disappeared in Bangladesh since 2009, according to rights groups It has been nine years since Jharna Banu went from door to door inquiring into the whereabouts of her husband who disappeared in 2011. Except for some empty promises, she got no answers – be it government higher-ups or law enforcement agencies. “The pain we are bearing can never be realized by anyone. Our son cries every day for his father. There is no place, including police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) or the home ministry which I have not visited to find out my husband, but in vain,” said Jharna. Without any knowledge about her husband, Jharna, while speaking at a human chain in front of the National Museum in Dhaka on Saturday, said the family had been living in extreme despair. The human chain was organized by Mayer Dak, a platform representing the families of the victims of enforced disappearances. The event was organized to commemorate August 30, International

Three Hizb terrorists, Army soldier killed in encounter in J&K

SRINAGAR: Three Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terrorists and an Army soldier were killed on Saturday in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district , police said. A search operation was launched by security forces on a specific input regarding the presence of terrorists in Zadoora village in south Kashmir , a police spokesman said. He said during the operation, when the presence of terrorists was ascertained they were given an opportunity to surrender. However, the terrorists fired upon the joint search party of the forces which retaliated. In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site, the spokesman said. He identified them as Adil Hafiz, Arshid Ahmad Dar and Rouf Ahmad Mir, all residents of Pulwama and affiliated with proscribed terror outfit HM. During the encounter, one Army jawan also received critical injuries and he was shifted to hospital for treatment where he succumbed, the spokesman said. He said the slain t

Mozambique’s Growing Insurgency Takes Strategic Port

  Militants aligned with the Islamic State seized a key port in gas-rich northern Mozambique on Wednesday after days of fighting. The attack was the fourth assault on Mocimboa da Praia this year. The Mozambican military, which suffers from low morale and a lack of resources, has struggled to contain a growing insurgency in the north that has killed almost 1,000 civilians since it began in 2017, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). The military reportedly ran out of ammunition while trying to push back the latest assault. Analysts doubt that the militants will be able to maintain control of the port. The Defense Forces of Mozambique said operations to retake the area were ongoing but that their efforts were complicated by the militants’ use of civilians as human shields. The attacks underscore the insurgency’s growing sophistication as well as the security forces’ inability to repel the militants from points of strategic infrastructure

Xi says China to step up efforts to fight ‘splittism’ in Tibet

SHANGHAI, Aug 29 — China must build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain stability in Tibet, protect national unity and educate the masses in the struggle against “splittism”, President Xi Jinping told senior leaders, state media said on Saturday. China seized control over Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a “peaceful liberation” that helped the remote Himalayan region throw off its “feudalist” past. But critics, led by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, say Beijing’s rule amounts to “cultural genocide”. At a senior Communist Party meeting on Tibet’s future governance ending, Xi lauded achievements made and praised frontline officials but said more efforts were needed to enrich, rejuvenate and strengthen unity in the region. Political and ideological education needed to be strengthened in Tibet’s schools in order to “plant the seeds of loving China in the depths of the hearts of every youth”, Xi said in remarks published by state news agency Xinhua. Pledging to build a “unite

Riots in Sweden’s Malmo after anti-Muslim Danish leader blocked from 'Quran-burning rally', given 2-year ban

Stockholm : Protesters threw stones at police and burned tyres in southern Sweden late on Friday, authorities said, hours after an anti-Muslim Danish politician was blocked from attending a Quran-burning rally nearby. About 300 people were on the streets of Malmo with violence escalating as the evening wore on, according to police and local media. The demonstration was connected to an incident earlier in the day in which protesters burned a copy of the Islamic holy book, police spokesman Rickard Lundqvist told Swedish tabloid  Expressen . Rasmus Paludan, who leads the far-right Danish anti-immigration party Hard Line, was due to travel to Malmo to speak at that event, which was being held on the same day as weekly prayers for the Muslim sabbath. But authorities pre-empted Paludan's arrival by announcing he had been banned from entering Sweden for two years. He was later arrested near Malmo. "We suspect that he was going to break the law in Sweden," Calle Persson, spokesma

Death of Kurdish lawyer on hunger strike sparks outcry

Ebru Timtik, who had been initially detained in September 2018, was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison, which prompted her to start a hunger strike in February Timtik’s death drew criticism from international observers, human rights activists and political leaders who accused the Turkish government of turning a deaf ear to demands for a fair trial ISTANBUL: Turkey is facing a chorus of criticism over the death of a young Kurdish lawyer who began a seven-month hunger strike after being jailed on terror-related charges. Ebru Timtik died in an Istanbul hospital 238 days after launching her hunger strike in demand of a fair trial. In 2019, an Istanbul court handed multiple sentences to Timtik and 17 other lawyers on charges of “forming and running a terror group” and “membership in a terror organization.” Timtik, who had been initially detained in September 2018, was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison, which prompted her to start a hunger strike in February. Another

UK court lifts bar on evidence transfer over Daesh “Beatles“

LONDON:Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted a bar which prevented the government from giving evidence to US authorities about an alleged Daesh execution squad, nicknamed “the Beatles,” after reassurances were given that the men would not face the death penalty. The US Department of Justice is seeking the extradition of Britons Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who are accused of the killing and torture of Western hostages in Syria. US Attorney General William Barr said last week that US prosecutors would not seek the death penalty against the men or carry out executions if they were imposed, an issue which had been a stumbling block for Britain handing over captured militants. In March, Britain’s Supreme Court had ruled that data protection laws meant Britain could not provide material to the United States or other foreign countries in cases which could lead to a death penalty. That decision followed legal action brought by Elsheikh’s mother, Maha El Gizouli. The British co

UN warns of rising Daesh activity with more than 10K terrorists active in Iraq, Syria

  It is estimated that more than 10,000 Daesh terrorists remain active in Iraq and Syria two years after the extremist group’s defeat, and their attacks have significantly increased this year, the U.N. counterterrorism chief said Monday. Vladimir Voronkov told the U.N. Security Council that Daesh terrorists move freely “in small cells between the two countries.” He said the Daesh terror group has regrouped and its activity has increased not only in conflict zones like Iraq and Syria but also in some regional affiliates. “However, in non-conflict zones, the threat appears to have decreased in the short term,” he said. “Measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19, such as lockdowns and restrictions on movement, seem to have reduced the risk of terrorist attacks in many countries.” Nonetheless, Voronkov said, “there is a continued trend of attacks by individuals inspired online and acting alone or in small groups, which could be fueled by ISIL’s opportunistic propaganda efforts during the

For Russian intelligence, poison has long been a weapon of choice

Image
Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, is hardly the first foe of President Vladimir Putin to suddenly suffer a  life-threatening medical emergency,  or a lethal one, under suspicious circumstances. The 44-year-old dissident — a target of a number of attacks over the years — was in intensive care after being stricken Wednesday while on a flight back to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk. Allies believe he was poisoned; his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said that shortly before boarding, he had a cup of tea at an airport coffee shop. Soon after, she  recounted on Twitter,  he was sweating, asking her to speak to him so he could focus on the sound of a voice, finally groaning in pain and staggering to the plane’s toilet. By the time the flight made an emergency landing in Omsk, another Siberian city, he had collapsed. If proof emerges — and it may, because Navalny’s family and supporters were trying to get him to a toxicology unit in Europe for specialized treatment —