NEWS 9
Khoms, Libya
Deadly shipwreck:Wooden boats carrying
an estimated 250 migrants capsized five
miles off the coast of Libya last week.
Fifty-five bodies were recovered from the
sea, and around 140 people were rescued
by the local coastguard and fishermen –
leavingafurther 60 missing, presumed
dead. The missing include migrants from
Eritrea, Sudan and Bangladesh. The
survivors were taken to Libyan detention
centres including Tajoura, which is on the
front line of the country’s civil war and
was hit by an air strike in July, in which
50 people were killed.The world at aglance
3August 2019 THE WEEK
Kabul
More civilian casualties:Afghan forces and
their allies have killed more civilians this
year than the Taliban and other militants,
according toaUNreport. As Washington
seeks to end its involvement in the conflict,
air strikes and night raids have been ramped
up, leading toasurge in the number of
bystanders killed. The UN estimates that
in the first six months of the year, 717
civilians were killed by pro-government
forces–anincrease of nearly one-third on
the same period in 2018. The US disputes
the figure, but has not provided its own
tally. Over the same period, 531 civilians
were killed by militants,afall of two-fifths.
The Taliban says it is doing more to
safeguard civilians; Kabul says the lower
death toll is due to the fact that it is
thwarting more Taliban attacks.
Maiduguri,
Nigeria
Islamist killings:
At least 65 people
were killed by
suspected Islamist
militants in Nigeria’s northern state of
Borno this week, in one of the deadliest
attacks on civilians in recent years. Many
of the dead were mourners atafuneral,
who were shot by gunmen on motorbikes.
The attack may have been in retaliation
for arecent confrontation in which 11
insurgents were killed by local residents
after they approached the village.
Although Boko Haram has not claimed
responsibility, the attack bore the
hallmark of the group, which has killed
around 27,000 people in the past ten
years. President Muhammadu Buhari has
vowed to “decimate” the group, but the
number of attacks has risen this year.Uttarakhand, India
Modi in the wild:India’s
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will appear this
month in an episode of
Bear Grylls’ TV survival
showMan vs. Wild.For
this latest inastring of
media appearances,
designed to present him
as aman of action and
adefender of India’s
environment, Modi
joined the British survival
expert in the Jim Corbett
National Park, where they
spotted lions, sniffed dung,
built araft and hacked
throughaforest. Modi
is the second world
leader to appear
on the show,
after Barack
Obama.Hong Kong
Protests continue:Beijing has condemned the
anti-government protests in Hong Kong as
“horrendous incidents” that have damaged
the “rule of law”, and blamed “irresponsible”
Western media for inflaming local tensions
that arose owing to “misunderstandings”
about China’s legal system. The press briefing,
by the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office
–which was conducted in Mandarin, and not
the Cantonese that is spoken in Hong Kong–was the first of its kind since the former
British colony was handed over to China in 1997. It followed another weekend
of unrest in the city. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people, many armed with
umbrellas, took part inaReclaim Hong Kong demonstration that ended in violent
clashes with police. There were further skirmishes on Wednesday, when around 40
pro-democracy activists were charged with rioting, andacrowd of their supporters
were attacked by fireworks, shot fromamoving car. Also this week, Washington
announced that it was monitoringabuild-up of Chinese troops at the border.Cape Town
Army deployed:
Soldiers have
been sent into
the poverty-
stricken
suburbs of
Cape Town
in an attempt
to counter
spiralling gang
violence. Hundreds of troops backed
by armoured vehicles are scheduled
to remain in the sprawling Cape Flats
townships for at least three months to
help the struggling local police. South
Africa’s police commissioner, Kehla Sitole,
said the deployment would “stamp the
authority of the state” on the townships.
Almost 2,000 people have been killed
there this year, and almost half the deaths
are thought to be gang-related.