Reuters fined and suspended by Iraq
Iraq suspended Reuters for three months on Friday, fining them 25 million Iraqi dinars, which is approximately $20,800. This punishment was in response to the new agency’s publication on Thursday, stating that the government was misreporting the case count of COVID 19 within the country. “The Health Ministry said Friday there were 820 confirmed cases and 54 deaths in the country. The Reuters report said the true number ranged from 3,000 to 9,000.” A quote from Reuters’ statement, concerning the suspension, is the following: “We stand by our story on April 2 which was based on multiple, well placed medical and political sources and also fully represented the positions of the Iraqi Health Ministry”.[1]
IS has been forming in Mozambique recently
A tactic of Islamic State is “taking but not holding towns”, which has been observed in the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique; furthermore, “those who took Mocimboa da Praia carried the black flag of IS.” The eastern Africa region of Mozambique has not been known for Jihadist activity until recently. Violence became more prevalent during 2017. An “attack of March 23rd [2020] also suggested that the group is drawing closer to Islamic State (IS).”
IS appear to be motivated by wealth as the region of Rovuma basin is home “Africa’s largest-ever energy project”, which projects “to turn Mozambique into ‘Africa’s Qatar’”, receiving the investment of $100 billion by 2030. Islamic State has “control over the illegal trade routes that go through” the places that they temporarily capture. The recent attack “appeared to be aimed at recruiting Mozambicans” as “young, poor recruits are given money to join. If they do not fight, they risk having their heads chopped off.”[2]
De facto line violence in India
The de facto line in India is at the Keran, Jammu and Kashmir region at the northwestern region of the country. De facto means “being such in effect though not formally recognized” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. “Most people [in the region] support the rebels’ cause against Indian rule.” The region has endured fighting for the past thirty years, yet India seeks to maintain it as their territory, cracking down militarily. Nine rebels were killed in following two separate sites: the “de facto front line in Keran sector on Sunday” and in southern Kulgam town Saturday. Three Indian soldiers killed “as an armed group of militants infiltrated from the Pakistani side of Kashmir” Sunday, and “police and soldiers scoured the area looking for militants on Saturday.”[3]
Houthi rebels attack womens’ prison
On Sunday, a womens’ prison in the southwestern province of Taiz, Yemen was attacked by Houthi rebels. 5 prisoners were killed, and 24 injured including children. “Yemen's Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed said in a statement the attack on the prison was ‘evidence of the Houthis' aggression and massacres’” as President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called the provincial governor Nabil Shamsan to order all prisoners with minor charges to be released.[4]
Corruption investigator murderer sentenced
Jan Kuciak revealed the corruption of political officials and businessmen as a journalist, leading to the resignation of Slovakia‘s prime minister in 2018. In February 2018, Miroslav Marcek killed him and his fiancée, which inspired the country in an anti-corruption movement to replace their government offices. Miroslav Marcek, two other accomplices, and Marian Kocner, a high-profile businessman, were charged with their murders, and Miroslav Marcek did plead guilty in the same month of the murder. The other accomplices denied the accusations. They await separate hearings, and Marcek sentence hearing was held today. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.[5]
US designates Russian group as terrorists
The United States sanctioned an ultranationalist group called Russian Imperial Movement, blacklisting them as terrorists, today. The US Treasury usually freezes the assets within their power of these groups. A previous attack of the group in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2016 was cited in the unprecedented statement of the US Counter Terrorism department.[6]
7 April 2020
Chinese Human Rights Lawyer “released” from prison
Wang Quanzhang is a Human Rights Lawyer, who defended poor villagers. He was arrested among many activists and human rights lawyers in 2015 during a nationwide China crackdown. Wang was not sentenced until January 2019 to 4.5 years in prison, which included some of his time awaiting his sentence hearing. He was convicted of subverting state power. The lawyer was “freed” on Sunday, the 5th of April 2020. Amnesty International wrote the following statement concerning a pattern for political prisoners in China:
“Today may mark the end of Wang Quanzhang’s unjust imprisonment, but the politically motivated campaign against him is only likely to enter a new phase. Despite his release, he will be subject to heavy surveillance and unable to return to the home where his wife and young child have been waiting for him for four and a half years,”[7]
Pacific Island endures a two day Cyclone
A cyclone named Harold hit the pacific island of Vanuatu on Monday at a Category 5 level. Vanuatu endured wind speeds exceeding 115 mph. No one was found dead on the island after its departure and downgrade to category 4; however, Harold left the Solomon Islands, searching for dozens who did not return from a ferry transport. The cyclone is heading towards Fiji, leaving Vanuatu with many buildings and infrastructure damaged, including vital communication networks.[8]
Terrorists arrested in French stabbing
Abdallah Ahmed-Osman, a refugee in France, became a jihadist, when he went on a stabbing rampage on Saturday in Romans-sur-Isere of France’s province of Drome. Five people were injured in the town center. Although two others were arrested with him, Abdallah’s terror did not involve collaboration with other people.[9]
Independence leader of Bangladesh’s assassin arrested after 45 years
Sheikh Hasina Wazed is the prime minister of Bangladesh, and she has been since 2009, having served a previous term at the end of twentieth century. She is daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was the separatist leader of East Pakistan, establishing Bangladesh.[10] Rahman was the country’s first prime minister until his assassination in 1975. Abdul Majed, a former military captain, has been a fugitive in India for the assassination until he was arrested on Tuesday in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.[11]
9 April 2020
Coronavirus Update
NBC reported on the coronavirus situation in the United States on Twitter April 9, 2020. It surpassed 450,000 cases as of 2 PM Eastern Time. New York states has endured the worst; however, I will recite the next four worse states: New Jersey has 51,027 cases, Michigan has 20,346, California has 19,026, and Louisiana has 18,283 cases. New York State became the worst hit region in the world yesterday with 159,937 cases according to the data that NBC reported today. ABC News noted 799 died today in New York State. Spain recorded 146,690 cases and Italy 139,422 cases yesterday.[12] The United States reports 16,054 deaths according to the NBC report as France reported 12,200 deaths today according to AFP this morning.
Wuhan Lockdown lifted
COVID 19’s origin is Wuhan, Hubei province of China, and the people of that city has been locked down since January 23. The lockdown was lifted Wednesday at 12 AM, and the city celebrated their new freedom with a light show.[13] People were locked down for at least 76 days, and an estimated fifty-fife thousand people left the city on Wednesday. Tuesday was the first day of reporting no deaths from the coronavirus for China. Not all parts of the city were unlocked. “They must show proof that their area of origin has been declared safe from the virus, and many face the likelihood of two-week quarantines in their destination provinces.”[14]
Hamas detains peace activists
Hamas is a “militant Islamic Palestinian nationalist movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that is dedicated to the establishment of an independent Islamic state in historical Palestine” since 1987,[15] and they “arrested local peace campaigners for treason after they held a Zoom virtual conference with Israeli activists” on April 9, 2020. Rami Aman, the leader of the group, represented about 150 Palestinians.[16] The conference was published on Facebook, and he stated the Zoom call with the following statements:
“In the beginning, it was hard for us to work in a place like Gaza. We have no electricity, nothing to do, unemployment, and with everyone outside Gaza looking at us like we are terrorists, …The new virus is a new addition to other viruses – the blockade, unemployment, cancer, pollution, electricity. We already have a lot of viruses.”
10 April 2020
Chad runs Boko Haram out of the country
An operation called Bohoma Anger was launched on March 31st in response to an attack by Boko Haram on March 23rd, killing almost 100 Chad soldiers. Operation Bohoma Anger was mostly a success, driving Boko Haram out of the country. About one thousand of their fighters were killed, and fifty of their motor boats were destroyed. The operation was concluded on Wednesday the 8th of April 2020, costing the country 52 soldiers at Lake Chad.[17]
Cyclone Harold follow up
On Monday I reported that Cyclone Harold left dozens of people on a ferry in Solomon Island missing, their search has found 27 people dead. Fiji endured the cyclone for two days like Vanuatu. “Harold has levelled buildings and caused dangerous flooding across Fiji’s largest island of Viti Levu”.[18]
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria try to recapture Al-Sukhna
ISIS attacked the regime held city of Al-Sukhna of Syria’s Homs province, killing at least eighteen soldiers. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria lost the territory in 2017. “The Russian aviation intervened to stop the jihadists from advancing and retaking the town,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. Their counter measures resulted in at least eleven Islamic State fighters killed.[19]
China uses Uyghur people like slaves to bolster economy
Alip Erkin, an Australian-based Uyghur exile, has a Twitter account, reporting the treatment of the Uyghur people in of China. Two social media networks in China called TikTok and DouYin have been sharing a lot of videos from the past two weeks, confirming Uyghur activists’ fears. Alip mainly shares videos from DouYin, “showing hundreds of corona-masked Uyghurs being amassed at transport hubs around the region with marching orders to work in factories in inner China”. Activists are afraid that other Turkic youth are used as well to accelerate the work to normalize China after the COVID 19 pandemic.[20]
Siberian Prison accused of abuse
The situation is uncertain. “Russia's penal service said inmates at the No 15 penal colony in Angarsk "attacked a guard" while others cut themselves with glass from broken surveillance cameras.” “Human rights activists however called the incident a "riot" sparked by a beating of an inmate by guards”. “On Thursday [they] published a video link on its website of the inmate with bloody gauze around his arm, who says he was choked and beaten, and cut his veins in protest.” Svyatoslav Khromenkov of Siberia Without Torture, an activist of an anti-torture group, recounted a video. “Standing in the work yard of the prison, part of which is on fire[;] "They are killing us," the man filming says of the guards, as other men[, who] shout "Help us!", show[ing] their arms with knife marks, … claim that two inmates were killed.” [21]
[2] “Mozambique’s Mysterious Conflict Is Intensifying.” Economist, PEMBA, 2 Apr. 2020, www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/04/02/mozambiques-mysterious-conflict-is-intensifying.
[3] “9 Rebels, 3 Indian Soldiers Killed in Kashmir Fighting.” ABC News, The Associated Press, 5 Apr. 2020, abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rebels-indian-soldier-killed-kashmir-fighting-69982816.
[4] Younes, Ali. “Deadly Attack on Women's Prison in Yemen a 'War Crime': Analyst.” Al Jazeera, 6 Apr. 2020, www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/deadly-attack-women-prison-yemen-war-crime-analyst-200406113303883.html.
[5] “Jan Kuciak: Soldier Jailed for 23 Years for Journalist's Murder.” BBC News, 6 Apr. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52188266.
[6] “In a First, US Designates Russian White Supremacists as Foreign Terrorist Group.” Msn, News18, 6 Apr. 2020, www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/in-a-first-us-designates-russian-white-supremacists-as-foreign-terrorist-group/ar-BB12eerO.
[7] Fang, Frank. “Chinese Rights Lawyer Released From Prison Not Truly Free, Advocacy Group Says.” The Epoch Times, 6 Apr. 2020, www.theepochtimes.com/human-rights-group-concerned-for-chinese-human-rights-lawyer-released-from-prison_3298847.html.
[8] Ives, Mike. “Powerful Cyclone Rips Through Vanuatu, Cutting Communications.” New York Times, 7 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/world/australia/cyclone-harold-vanuatu.html.
[9] “Three Sudanese Arrested over French ‘Terror’ Stabbing.” Egypt Independent, AFP, 6 Apr. 2020, www.egyptindependent.com/three-sudanese-arrested-over-french-terror-stabbing/.
[10] Pletcher, Kenneth. “Mujibur Rahman: President of Bangladesh.” Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 13 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Mujibur-Rahman.
[11] “Killer of Bangladesh Independence Leader Arrested after 45 Years on Run.” The Guardian, Associated Press, 7 Apr. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/07/killer-of-bangladesh-independence-leader-arrested-after-45-years-on-run.
[12] “New York State Reports Most Coronavirus Cases in World, Overtaking Spain.” Times of India, Reuters, 8 Apr. 2020, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/new-york-state-reports-most-coronavirus-cases-in-world-overtaking-spain/articleshow/75054127.cms.
[13] “Coronavirus Lockdown Lifted after 76 Days in Wuhan, China.” NBC News, 8 Apr. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/video/coronavirus-lockdown-lifted-after-76-days-in-wuhan-china-81768005801.
[14] Teng, Jing Xuan. “Thousands Leave China's Coronavirus-Hit Wuhan as Outbound Travel Ban Lifted.” ABS-CBN News, Agence France-Presse, 8 Apr. 2020, news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/04/08/20/thousands-leave-chinas-coronavirus-hit-wuhan-as-outbound-travel-ban-lifted.
[15] Zeidan, Adam. “Hamas: Palestinian Nationalist Movement.” Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/Hamas.
[16] Holmes, Oliver. “Hamas Arrests Gaza Peace Activists for Zoom Chat with Israelis.” The Guardian, 9 Apr. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/hamas-arrests-gaza-peace-activists-for-zoom-chat-with-israelis.
[17] “Chadian Troops 'Kill 1,000 Boko Haram Fighters' in Lake Chad.” Al Jazeera, 9 Apr. 2020, www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/chadian-troops-kill-1000-boko-haram-fighters-lake-chad-200409183528130.html.
[18] Lyons, Kate. “Cyclone Harold Batters Fiji on Path of Destruction through Pacific.” The Guardian, 8 Apr. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/08/cyclone-harold-batters-fiji-on-path-of-destruction-through-pacific.
[19] “ISIS Kills 18 Regime Fighters in Syria: Report.” Al Arabiya, AFP, 9 Apr. 2020, english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/04/09/ISIS-kills-18-regime-fighters-in-Syria-Report.html.
[20] “Uyghurs Deported to Other Provinces as Slave Laborers to Restart Economy.” The Epoch Times, Bitter Winter, 9 Apr. 2020, www.theepochtimes.com/uyghurs-deported-to-other-provinces-as-slave-laborers-to-restart-economy_3305948.html.
[21] “Riot, Fire Break Out at Siberian Prison.” The Moscow Times, AFP, 10 Apr. 2020, www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/04/10/riot-fire-break-out-at-siberian-prison-a69952.
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