The Washington Post - USA (2020-12-02)

A12 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 , 2020

The World

TURKEY

82 in military detained

for alleged Gulen ties

Turkey ordered the detention
of 82 military members in an
operation targeting supporters
of the Muslim cleric who Ankara
says was behind a coup attempt
in 2016, the state-run Anadolu
news agency said Tuesday.
Operations targeting the
network of U.S.-based cleric
Fethullah Gulen have continued
under a four-year crackdown
since the coup attempt in July

2016. Gulen denies involvement
      in the putsch, in which some 250
      people were killed.
      Tuesday’s operation was
      spread over 39 provinces, and
      63 people have already been
      detained, Anadolu said. Of the
      suspects, 70 were on active duty.
      The detentions were ordered
      by the chief prosecutor in the
      western coastal province of
      Izmir, Anadolu said, adding that
      the operation also took steps to
      fire 848 members of the military,
      including high-ranking officers,

over links to the network.

Since the coup attempt, about

80,000 people have been held

pending trial and some 150,

civil servants, military members

and others have been fired or

suspended. More than 20,

people had been expelled from

the Turkish military alone.

Last week, a Turkish court

sentenced leaders of the coup

attempt to life in p rison.

— Reuters

RUSSIA

Missiles deployed to

Japan-claimed islands

The Russian military on

Tuesday announced the

deployment of state-of-the-art

air defense missiles to Pacific

islands claimed by Japan.

Russia’s Eastern Military

District said that the S-300V4 air

defense missile systems have

entered combat duty on the Kuril

Islands, adding punch to the

shorter-range Tor M2 missile

systems deployed there earlier.

The Russian Defense

Ministry’s TV station, Zvezda,

reported that the air defense

missile systems were deployed

on Iturup, one of the four

southernmost Kuril islands.

The new deployment marked

the latest move in a continuous

Russian military buildup on the

islands, which has included

stationing advanced fighter jets

and antiship missiles there.

Japan asserts territorial rights

to the islands it calls the

Northern Territories. The Soviet

Union took them in the final

days of World War II, and the

dispute has kept the countries

from signing a peace treaty

formally ending their hostilities.

Decades of diplomatic efforts

to negotiate a settlement haven’t

produced any visible results.

— Associated Press

GERMANY

Raids in 3 states target

banned far-right group

More than 180 police officers

raided homes in three German

states early Tuesday after the

federal government banned a

far-right group, the Interior

Ministry said.

The homes of 11 members of

Wolfsbrigade 44 were searched

in Hesse, Mecklenburg West-

Pomerania and North Rhine-

Westphalia to confiscate the

f ar-right group’s funds and

propaganda material, Deutsche

Presse-Agentur reported.

The members of the group

want to re-establish a Nazi

dictatorship and abolish

democracy, the Interior Ministry

said. The “44” in the group’s

name stands for “DD” — D being

the fourth letter of the alphabet

— and is an abbreviation for

Division Dirlewanger. Oskar

Dirlewanger was a known Nazi

war criminal and commander of

a Nazi SS special unit.

Wolfsbrigade 44, founded in

2016, is also known for its anti-

Semitic and racist ideology as

well as its violent and aggressive

appearances in public and on

social media.

On Tuesday, police found

knives, a machete, a crossbow

and bayonets during their raids.

They also seized Nazi objects

such as swastikas and flags.

Earlier this year, the German

government banned other far-

right groups including

Combat 18 and Nordadler,

Deutsche Presse-Agentur

reported.

In a separate investigation, the

Defense Ministry said eight

suspects had been questioned by

military intelligence on Tuesday

in connection with a probe that

has been going on since the end

of last year.

The probe is centered on

soldiers and several civilian

employees at a regional office of

the military in Ulm who are

thought to be linked to the

Reichsbuerger movement, which

rejects the authority of the

modern German state.

— Associated Press

Volcanic ash falls on

Indonesian villages: Indonesian

authorities are closely

monitoring several volcanoes

after sensors picked up increased

activity in recent weeks,

prompting the evacuation of

thousands of people. Hot ash

tumbled as far as 9,800 feet

down the slopes of Mount

Semeru early Tuesday, triggering

panic among villagers, said

Raditya Jati, spokesman for the

National Disaster Mitigation

Agency. Falling ash and sulfur

blanketed several villages

around its slopes. The 12,060-

foot mountain in the Lumajang

district is the highest volcano on

Java, the country’s most densely

populated island.

Criminal gang seizes Brazilian

town: Dozens of criminals

armed with assault rifles invaded

a city in southern Brazil and took

control of the streets as they

assaulted a local bank. Video

from residents that was

broadcast on the Globo

television network showed

hooded men dressed in black

walking the streets of Criciúma

in the state of Santa Catarina,

and locals being held hostage.

There were at least 30 criminals

in 10 cars. The takeover lasted

roughly two hours.

— From news services

DIGEST

First in a series

More than ever, the burden that photographers carry

w hen telling stories from their own homelands has become

a pparent during the pandemic. They are no mere witnesses

but live inside these stories and can capture themes and

spot tales that foreign eyes may miss. This visual project,

initiated with the Magnum Foundation, supported by the

Henry Luce Foundation, gives us a glimpse through these

photographers’ lenses.

The building’s walls are riddled with bullet holes. In the

schoolyard, damaged desks are stacked in a pile. And just

outside, a small crater marks the spot where an explosion

occurred.

Several months ago, al-Hurriya school in southern Tripoli

was on the front lines of a deadly conflict between forces vying

for control of the Libyan capital. But recently, high school

students wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus sat

in rows at their desks, preparing to take a final exam.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown education into

disarray globally, but few students are facing conditions as

difficult as those in Libya, where schooling had been

disrupted long before the arrival of the virus.

In early 2020, UNICEF warned that more than 115,

students in the Tripoli area were missing classes because of

the conflict. The virus has threatened to further disrupt the

education system.

The school where Heba Hassan, 18, once studied was

among those destroyed in a conflict that forced her to switch

schools multiple times to continue her courses.

Now, despite the obstacles and risks, she was among the

many high school students preparing for final exams. She

continued to study, even through power cuts, bombings and

fears that her family would lose their home. “It was the most

stressful and difficult year ever,” Hassan said.

— Siobhán O'Grady

PHOTOS BY NADA HARIB

ARAB STORIES OF A PLAGUE YEAR

In Libya, making it to final exams

FROM LEFT AT TOP: Students’ hands are sanitized and their
temperatures taken before they enter their composition final at
al-Hurriya school in southern Tripoli on Oct. 4. A school staff
member wearing a protective m ask walks down an empty
hallway. High school seniors follow coronavirus protocols while
waiting for their exam to start. CENTER: Students walk past

bullet-pocked walls as they leave school after completing their

writing exam. Several months ago, al-Hurriya was on the front

lines in a battle for control of the city between the forces of

Libya’s U.N.-backed government and a rogue commander from

the country’s east. FROM LEFT ABOVE: The principal and

deputy principal discuss students and school matters in an

office at al-Hurriya. Restrooms at the school. Doa, 18, sits beside

the desk in her bedroom where she studied for her final exams.

Like many high school seniors who lived through the conflict in

Tripoli, Doa took intensive lessons to catch up and complete her

curriculum in only a month and a half, allowing her to take the

secondary-school certificate examination on time.