31 March 2016
Week in Brief: International
Europe
BELGIUM: The number of people killed in last week’s bomb attacks in Brussels has risen to 35. It has been confirmed that the British man missing since the bombings, David Dixon, was killed in the terrorist attack. The police have made further anti-terrorist raids and arrests, including one suspect shot and wounded while thought to be carrying explosives. There are fears that the bombers were planning to create a nuclear dirty bomb; 11 Belgian nuclear workers have had their passes withdrawn.
FRANCE: Anti-terrorist police made further raids and arrests in Paris.
Last week’s strike by air traffic controllers will be followed by another one this weekend.
NETHERLANDS: The International Criminal Court at the Hague found Radovan Karadzic, former president of the Bosnian Serb republic, guilty of genocide and sentenced him to 40 years in prison. The judges ruled him responsible for the massacre of 8000 Bosnian Muslim men at Srebenica in 1995 and for the 44 month siege of Sarajevo during which 10,000 civilians died. His military commander Ratko Mladic is also on trial at the Hague.
Ahmad al-Faqi, a jiahadist accused of destroying cultural monuments as a member of a group linked to al-Qaeda which demoished nine tombs and a mausoleum in Timbuktu in Mali at a proposed Unesco world heritage site, has admitted his crime.
RUSSIA: The defence minister announced that new missile systems will be installed on the Kuril Islands, four of which are still claimed by Japan.
UKRAINE: The lawyer for a Russian soldier captured in Ukraine and on trial in Kiev for terrorism, has been kidnapped and murdered. Two men have been arrested.
Middle East and Africa
CONGO: President Denis Sassou Nguesso won another 7 year term in this week’s elections. He is 72 years old and has been in power for 32 years. Last year a referendum removed the two-term limit and the 70 year old age limit. The EU refused to send observers to monitor the election.
EGYPT: An Egyptian has been arrested after hijacking an EgyptAir Airbus 320 on a flight from Alexandria to Cairo, and forcing it to land at Larnaca, Cyprus. He was wearing a fake suicide vest.
The authorities claim that the murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni had been kidnapped, tortured and killed by a criminal gang. They say police have shot the gang members dead and recovered several of Mr Regeni’s personal possessions. Mr Regeni’s family say the possessions are not his, however, and the head of the Italian senate’s human rights commission has denounced the claim as a lie.
ISRAEL: Two Palestinians stabbed an Israeli soldier in Hebron. One was shot dead during the attack, the other was shot dead after the attack. An Israeli soldier has been arrested for the second shooting.
LIBYA: King Abdullah of Jordan claimed that the SAS are already in Libya fighting Isis. Military officials from the Tripoli government also claim that UK special forces have undertaken reconnaissance missions against Isis. There are reports that Isis is recruiting fighters from migrants travelling north through their territory from sub-Saharan Africa. It is also suggested that Isis are already profiting from the increase in people smuggling from Libya to Europe now that the Aegean and Balkan route is being closed down.
SOUTH AFRICA: President Zuma’s son is facing accusations of corruption in relation to the business empire run by South Africa’s powerful Gupta family. Duduzane Zuma is a director of six Gupta companies.
SYRIA: Assad regime forces, with Russian air support, have retaken Palmyra and its ancient city from Isis. Isis claimed that they killed five Russian soldiers in an ambush. It is reported that 400 Isis fighters and 188 regime troops were killed in the fight for the city. Its recapture opens the way to the Iraq border and for an advance on Raqqa, the Isis capital.
The USA claimed that Isis’ second in command / finance minister, Abd ar-Rahman Mohammed Mustafa al-Qadulli, was killed with other senior figures in a raid.
TURKEY: The judge in the trial of two journalists accused of revealing state secrets approved the prosecution’s request to conduct the trial behind closed doors.
YEMEN: A US air attack on al-Qaeda training camp reportedly killed 50 militants and injured 30.
Asia, Far East and Pacific
BARZEKISTAN: US intelligence officials reported that the hacking attacks which have repeatedly targeted political institutions and on-line newspapers (including Shaw Sheet) around the world over the last week, originate not in China as first thought, but in the remote and mountainous region of Loof, 200 miles north east of Lirpa, the Barzeki capital. Satellite images have identified a cluster of huge metallic edifices, “almost certainly of extraterrestrial origin”. A number of reconnaissance drones have been despatched to investigate the site, but all of them have disappeared. The Pentagon is expected to make an announcement tomorrow.
CHINA: 17 people have been arrested following the on-line publication of a letter calling for the resignation of President Xi Jinping.
INDIA: A school-teacher is in custody accused of raping a 6 year old girl. It is the sixth sexual assault against children recorded in Madhya Pradesh state in a fortnight.
INDONESIA: The Ulema Council, the country’s highest religious authority, is to ban Muslims (90% of the population) from wearing ‘clothing associated with other religions’. It is thought that this is intended to restrict Christmas celebrations by preventing shop assistants, waiters and hotel staff from wearing Santa hats and other festive items.
NEW ZEALAND: A referendum on whether to remove the Union Jack from the national flag and replace it with a new design resulted in a vote to retain the existing flag.
PAKISTAN: A suicide bomber killed at least 74 people (including 29 children) and injured 300 in an attack on a park in Lahore. A group affiliated to the Taliban claimed responsibility, saying that Christian families celebrating Easter were deliberately targeted. However, most of the victims were Muslims. The bomb was detonated by a children’s play area.
SINGAPORE: An Australian publisher has been jailed for ten months for posting ‘seditious’ articles on her website, The Real Singapore.
America
ARGENTINA: President Obama visited Argentina. He attended a memorial service to victims of the military dictatorship 1976-83, and promised to release intelligence files covering US backing of the 1976 military coup.
A UN commission accepted Argentina’s claim to extend its maritime territory from 200 miles of the continental shelf to 350 miles. However, the commission stated that it “could not and did not consider claims relating to the Falkland Islands”.
BRAZIL: Sports minister George Hilton resigned; Rio de Janeiro is due to host Olympic Games in just 5 months time. Prosecutors investigating the Petrobas scandal are looking at building contracts for the Olympics and the 2014 World Cup. A court blocked state funding to one of the Olympic venues.
President Rousseff’s biggest coalition ally, the PMDB party, has voted to pull out of the government.
MEXICO: Police have arrested Juan Manuel Alvarez, the suspected financier of the drugs boss Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.
USA: Jeb Bush has endorsed Ted Cruz. Trump’s campaign manager has been arrested and charged with simple battery after grabbing and pulling a journalist by the arm at a rally. In the Republican leadership race, Trump won in Arizona, and Cruz won in Utah. In the Democratic leadership race, Clinton won in Arizona, and Sanders won in Utah, Idaho, Hawaii, Alaska and Washington state (see comment article).
A gunman was arrested in Washington after opening fire at the US Capital visitors’ centre.
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