THE ACCUSED
The U.S. Government Accused a Salvadorian Human Rights Activist of Gang Activity – Now He’s In Jail
Danielle Marie Mackey
I
N THE EARLY morning hours of July 28, Salvadoran police arrested 77 people in a nationwide raid of alleged members of a multimillion-dollar financial network run by El Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha gang, known as MS-13. Among those arrested was Dany Balmore Romero García, a former member of MS-13 who for the past decade has served as the director of the OPERA Youth Group, a violence-prevention organization that works with former and current gang members.
At a hearing on August 1, the judge presented three formal charges against Romero: being a leader of a terrorist organization, conspiring to commit terrorist acts, and conspiring to commit homicide against someone with the code name “Meme,” who will serve as a key witness in the trial, according to a lawyer present for the proceedings. The judge announced that the investigation to substantiate the charges will last at least six months.
Dozens shot dead in anti-government protests across Ethiopia says opposition
Deaths in at least ten separate towns amid growing unrest over government policies
Dozens of people were shot dead by security forces in protests across Ethiopia’s Oromiya and Amhara regions at the weekend, residents and opposition officials have said.
Unrest flared in Oromiya for several months until early this year over plans to allocate farmland surrounding the regional capital for development. Authorities scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators.
At the weekend, protesters chanted anti-government slogans and waved dissident flags. Some demanded the release of jailed opposition politicians.
British special forces photographed on front line against Isis in Syria for first time as support for rebels continues
They are supporting the New Syrian Army rebel group near al-Tanf
Photos have emerged appearing to show British special forces operating in Syria in support of rebels fighting Isis.
The images, obtained by the BBC, show around a dozen commandos riding long-range patrol vehicles and armed with sniper rifles, anti-tank missiles and artillery.
They were photographed near al-Tanf, where the UK is supporting the New Syrian Army (NSA) as it fights to push Isis back from strategic territory near the borders with Iraq and Jordan.
The rebel group has been repeatedly targeted by fighters from the so-called Islamic State using car bombs and ambushes in battles to control a border crossing and al-Hamdan Airbase Tensions rise over East China Sea dispute
Tokyo has summoned Beijing's ambassador after Chinese government ships were spotted near East China Sea islands for a fifth consecutive day. Tensions over the disputed islands have strained bilateral relations.
Japan warned China Tuesday that ties were "deteriorating markedly" over disputed East China Sea islands as China's envoy in Tokyo reiterated Beijing's stance that the islets were its territory and called for talks to resolve the row.
"The situation surrounding the Japan-China relationship is markedly deteriorating," Japanese Foreign minister Fumio Kishida told the Chinese ambassador, according to the ministry's statement on its website. "We cannot accept that (China) is taking actions that unilaterally raise tensions."
Chinese ambassador Cheng Yonghua told reporters after the meeting that the disputed islands are an integral part of China's territory - a point he said he'd reiterated to the foreign minister - and that the dispute should be resolved peacefully.
Video shows Burmese militia's brutal interrogations
OBSERVERS
A video showing police officers and soldiers from a Burmese ethnic militia brutally beating young men has been widely circulating on social media. The security forces from the Karen National Union—a former rebel group made up of an ethnic minority in Burma, the Karen— were interrogating young men who they accused of using drugs. And while KNU authorities say that the punishment was “inappropriate” in this particular case, they did admit to regularly using physical force during interrogations.
This video has been making the rounds on social media in Burma for the past week. Because of the nature of the footage, FRANCE 24 chose to share only screengrabs in which the victims’ faces have been blurred.
The video shows four young men, handcuffed and sitting on the ground. They are surrounded by men wearing military fatigues and khaki uniforms. One of the uniformed men starts kicking one of the young prisoners, first in the back and then in the head. He then does the same thing to the next man. While hitting them, he asks: “What came over you? Why were you arguing? Why were you fighting? What’s the problem? How dare you?”
Why Turkey's conservative leadership is embracing a secular hero, for now
Despite a history of enacting religious and conservative policies, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan has invoked the spirit of the secularist Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in an attempt to unify the country after the July 15th coup attempt.
ISTANBUL — After years of being gradually eclipsed as President Tayyip Erdogan forges a "new Turkey" with Islam firmly at its heart, the secular republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk has, for now at least, made a comeback in the wake of a failed coup.
At a rally of more than a million people in Istanbul on Sunday, Erdogan drew a parallel between the spirit of the young officer who founded modern Turkey in 1923 and the civilians who took to the streets on July 15 to try to stop rogue soldiers in tanks and helicopters from seizing power.
"The belief that helped war veteran Mustafa Kemal start and win the war of independence was running through all Turkey's cities on July 15," Erdogan told the Istanbul rally, portraits of himself and Ataturk blowing in the breeze on either side of the huge stage.
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