3 September 2015
Week in Brief: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban have taken Musa Qala in Helmand province, defeating Afghan forces supported by US airstrikes.
AUSTRIA: A lorry abandoned on a motorway near the Hungarian border was found to contain the decomposing bodies of up to 50 migrants.
AZERBAIJAN: An investigative journalist has been sentenced to seven and a half years in jail. Khadija Ismayilova, who has reported allegations of corruption among the country’s political elite, was charged with embezzlement, tax evasion and other offences, all of which are fabricated according to Amnesty International.
EGYPT: A court has sentenced three journalists – Peter Greste (an Australian), Mohamed Fahmy (a Canadian) and Baher Mohamed (an Egyptian) – to three years in prison for “broadcasting false news”. A technical team appointed by the court found no evidence to support the charges. The three journalists were arrested in December 2013 while working for Al Jazeera. There was international criticism of the verdict, and the British ambassador, John Casson, was given an official reprimand by the Egyptian government for broadcasting his personal criticism in Arabic. Two weeks ago, strict new laws were pushed through enabling crippling fines to be imposed on any journalist who contradicts the government’s version of the news.
A large natural gas field – possibly the largest in the Mediterranean – has been found off the coast of Egypt. The find, by an Italian energy company, has put at risk Israel’s plans to sell energy to Egypt and Jordan.
FRANCE: A Toulouse court awarded a disability allowance to a woman who claims to suffer physically from the electromagnetic radiation produced by mobile phones and wi-fi, thus giving legal recognition to a medical condition that has no medical recognition.
GERMANY: The government announced that, contrary to the EU’s Dublin agreement, all Syrian migrants can apply for refugee status in Germany irrespective of which country processed them on entry into EU.
Chancellor Merkel suggested that border controls should be restored within the EU, contrary to the EU’s Schengen agreement.
GREECE: Vassiliki Thanou, a Supreme Court judge, has been appointed as a caretaker prime minister pending next month’s elections. She is Greece’s first female leader.
INDIA: A council of village elders in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, has sentenced two sisters (aged 15 and 23) to be stripped, paraded naked and then raped. They are to be punished because their brother eloped with a married woman from a higher caste. The sisters’ home has been ransacked by angry villagers.
ITALY: The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, has banned gay pride parades.
An immigrant from the Ivory Coast, Mamadou Kamara, has been arrested for the robbery and murder of two elderly Sicilians.
LIBYA: 200 drowned when a boat loaded with 400 migrants heading for Europe sank off Libyan coast.
MALAYSIA: Two days of nationwide protests against prime minister Najib Razak, were triggered by revelations alleging that a £400 million secret payment was made into his bank account.
NIGERIA: Up to 80 people were shot dead in three villages by suspected Boko Harem killers.
POLAND: The mayor of Walbrzeg confirmed that images from ground-penetrating radar do suggest that a Nazi train – rumoured to be loaded with looted treasure – lies hidden in a sealed tunnel beneath Ksiaz castle. The tunnels were dug by slave labour during World War II. Polish military have sealed off the area and local authorities are waiting for permission and funds from central government to begin excavation.
SOMALIA: Al-Shabaab terrorists attacked and over-ran a military base in Southern Somalia, killing United Nations soldiers from Uganda.
SOUTH AFRICA: Two ANC councillors have been charged with murdering a community leader who opposed slum clearances.
SWAZILAND: Up to 40 girls have been killed in a road accident as they were being transported in tightly-packed trucks to perform as dancers at a royal ceremony.
SYRIA: US reports suggest that Junaid Hussain from Birmingham, an Isis leader with a criminal record for computer hacking, has been killed in an airstrike or drone attack on Raqqa.
Isis have attempted to demolish the biggest temple in Palmyra, the temple of Bel.
Experts from Oxford and Harvard hope to create a digital plan of buildings in Syria and then use 3D printing technology so that they can be reconstructed if destroyed.
THAILAND: Police investigating last month’s bomb attack at a Hindu shrine have made two arrests and discovered bomb-making equipment in Bangkok. Images of other suspects have been released, and the police have awarded themselves the £54,000 reward in an investigation which is becoming confused and contradictory.
TURKEY: Widespread public anger at the government’s military operations against the Kurds has seen support for President Erdogan’s AKP party fall to its lowest level in opinion polls in advance of the forthcoming elections.
Police raided the offices of Koza Ipek Holdings, a media company which owns two newspapers and a news website which are often critical of the government.
Two British journalists have been arrested for “assisting the Islamic State.” Jake Hanrahan, a reporter, and Philip Pendlebury, a cameraman, work for Vice News.
UKRAINE: Violent protests broke out against parliamentary votes to devolve power to break-away rebel regions.Three policemen were killed and over 100 people injured.
USA: A gunman shot dead a television reporter and a cameraman on live TV. The gunman, Vester Flanagan, was a sacked former colleague of his victims. He crashed his car while evading police, shot himself and died in hospital.
A sheriff’s deputy was shot dead by a gunman in an unprovoked attack at a filling station in Harris County, Texas. The gunman has been arrested.
The US has threatened sanctions against China for cyber-espionage.
The original name of North America’s tallest mountain was restored by President Obama, on the first visit of a president to the Alaskan Arctic. Mount McKinley will now be known as Denali. His visit is intended to highlight environmental issues such as global warming (Obama will make a TV film with Bear Grylls), but it is also drawing attention to the looming territorial scramble as the melting Arctic opens up for commercial exploitation.
Florida state governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency as tropical storm Erica approaches.
Many US cities reported a rise in the murder rate over the first half of this year. The rate had been falling for over a decade.
VENEZUELA: Tension between Venezuala and Colombia about smuggling and illegal immigration along the border rose as President Maduro declared a state of emergency and ordered the expulsion of thousands of Colombian immigrants.
ZIMBABWE: President Mugabe announced a dramatic U-turn in parliament when he said the country should seek economic help from the IMF, the World Bank and western governments. He was booed by MPs.
