The world at a glance ... NEWS^9
London
Princess flees: The estranged sixth wife of the ruler
of Dubai is begging a British court to protect her
children from being forced into marriage. Princess
Haya bint al-Hussein, 45, brought her daughter
11, and son, 7, to London several months ago, say-
ing Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum
wanted to marry one of them off. She is seeking
asylum in the U.K., sole custody of her children, and
a restraining order. Sheikh Mohammed, 70, who is
prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and has
some 20 children by many wives, is challenging
the petition. Two of Sheikh Mohammed’s daugh-
ters from other marriages tried to flee their homeland, one in
2000 and one last year; both were captured by Emirati forces and
forced to return to Dubai.Maiduguri, Nigeria
Boko Haram massacre: At least
65 people were killed in north-
eastern Nigeria this week when
gunmen on motorbikes opened
fire at a funeral. Local officials
said the attackers were from the extremist Islamist group Boko
Haram. Two weeks ago, villagers killed 11 militants who were
trying to take their cows and produce. The funeral attack was
apparent retaliation. Boko Haram, which means “Western educa-
tion is forbidden,” seeks to impose a strict form of Sharia law on
Nigeria and kidnaps men and boys to serve as fighters and girls
to become their brides. Over the past decade, the group has killed
some 27,000 people and driven 2 million from their homes. Boko
Haram has lost control of most of its territory in recent years, but
still terrorizes the region with suicide bombings and armed attacks.Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Greening the country: Ethiopians have smashed a world record by
planting more than 350 million tree seedlings in just 12 hours. In
the early 20th century, 35 percent of the country was covered in
forest, but by the beginning of this century, that figure had fallen
to 4 percent. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has made reforestation
a central goal of his government. The
deep roots of native trees help combat
the desertification caused by drought—
a frequent occurrence in Ethiopia—by
binding the soil and bringing ground-
water to the surface, helping other
plants with shallower root systems.
The previous single-day planting
record was set by India, which planted
some 50 million trees in 2017.Moscow
Mass arrests: More than 1,
people were arrested in a violent
crackdown on opposition protest-
ers in Moscow this week, with
pro-democracy demonstrators
beaten by baton-wielding riot
police and sprayed with chemi-
cal irritants. Opposition leader
Alexei Navalny called the protest
after authorities blocked prominent opposition candidates from
running in September’s Moscow city elections. Navalny wasn’t
able to lead the rally, because days earlier he had been sentenced
to a month in jail for sponsoring an unauthorized demonstration.
After being locked up, Navalny developed hives and swelling
and had to be transported to a hospital. His lawyer said doctors
believed that he had been poisoned, but he was transferred back
to his cell after treatment.Beijing
Are camps closed? China claimed this week that it has freed the
1 million Uighur Muslims it has been “re-educating” in detention
camps across its northwestern Xinjiang region. “The majority of
people who have undergone education and training have returned
to society,” said Alken Tuniaz, vice chair of the Xinjiang govern-
ment. But the U.S. said there was no evidence of any mass release,
and that Uighurs said to have been freed were instead transferred to
forced-labor programs. “They are basically now transitioning from
internment to society-wide control,” said Adrian Zenz, an expert
on Uighur camps. The U.S. State Department and Pentagon called
on China to let U.N. officials examine the camps, and denounced
Beijing’s practice of stationing ethnic Han Chinese observers in
Uighur homes to prevent the observance of Islamic rites.Pyongyang
Missile tests: North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic
missiles into the waters separating the Korean Peninsula and
Japan this week, just days after it launched two similar missiles.
All the missiles are believed to be KN-23s, low-altitude projec-
tiles designed to evade missile defense systems, such as the U.S.
THAAD system stationed in South Korea. The North said last
week that the launches were intended as a “solemn warning” to
“South Korean military warmongers” not to conduct the joint
military exercises with American forces planned for next month.
The launches come after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and
President Trump met in June at the demilitarized zone separating
North and South Korea and agreed to resume nuclear negotia-
tions. Trump downplayed the tests, saying that they involved “very
standard missiles” and that “many people have those missiles.”AP, Reuters, AP, Getty
Victims of the attackPolice detain protestersFighting desertificationAl-Hussein