Putin pledged decades ago to conquer the horrors of Islamic extremism. Deadly Dagestan attack again proves he failed
Only a fraction of the violence that raged across Dagestan on Sunday is visible at the moment, and it is already horrific. Co-ordinated attacks in Dagestan’s two main cities, hitting synagogues and churches. Reports a priest had his throat slit, hostages taken, and the sons of a local official and an MMA fighter among the five attackers.
Videos of the violence showed police responding, racing down Makhachkala’s panicked streets, as darkness fell. And police casualties appear improbably greater than the civilian toll, hinting worse news about civilian deaths may be yet to emerge.
The partial information available is entirely by design. Moscow has tried for decades to keep a lid on the raging Islamist extremism its years of brutal suppression and poverty have fomented across the North Caucasus. Some times it is through brutal force, others through the selective release of information. But neither has conquered the problem.
Over 20,000 children buried, trapped, detained, lost amid Gaza war: report
Huge numbers trapped beneath rubble, buried in unmarked graves, detained by Israel, says Save the Children.
Nearly 21,000 children are missing in Gaza, British aid group Save the Children has claimed.
In a report published on Monday, the group said the thousands of missing Palestinian children are believed to be trapped beneath rubble, buried in unmarked graves, harmed beyond recognition by explosives, detained by Israeli forces, or lost in the chaos of conflict.
“It is nearly impossible to collect and verify information under the current conditions in Gaza,” the group said, “but at least 17,000 children are believed to be unaccompanied and separated and approximately 4,000 children are likely missing under the rubble, with an unknown number also in mass graves”.
Geologists raise concerns over possible censorship and bias in Chinese chatbot
GeoGPT developed as part of Chinese-funded earth sciences programme aimed at researchers in global south
Geologists have raised concerns about potential Chinese censorship and bias in a chatbot being developed with the backing of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), one of the world’s largest scientific organisations and a Unesco partner.
The GeoGPT chatbot is aimed at geoscientists and researchers, particularly in the global south, to help them develop their understanding of earth sciences by drawing on swaths of data and research on billions of years of the planet’s history.
It is an initiative from Deep-time Digital Earth (DDE), a largely Chinese-funded programme founded in 2019 to enhance international scientific cooperation and help countries to realise the UN’s sustainable development goals.
Germany: AfD's Höcke in court over second use of Nazi slogan
Far-right Alternative for Germany politician Björn Höcke is accused — for a second time — of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at a political rally. The defense filed motions to have the case dropped.
A high-profile member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party appeared in court again on Monday over his repeated use of a prohibited slogan from the Nazi era at a public event.
Prosecutors allege that Björn Höcke was testing the boundaries when he uttered the first two words of the slogan and goaded the crowd to complete it.
‘China has no right to punish the people of Taiwan’, says President Lai
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said Monday that China "has no right to punish" Taiwanese people for their views or advocacy, after Beijing warned "diehard" supporters of the island's independence could face the death penalty.
China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has refused to rule out using force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taipei in recent years and held military drills around the self-ruled island days after Lai's inauguration last month.
On Friday, Beijing published new judicial guidelines that included the death penalty for "particularly serious" cases involving "diehard" supporters of Taiwanese independence, state media reported.
Exploding batteries spark deadly S Korea factory fire
By Tessa Wong and Flora Drury, BBC News
A massive factory fire that began after several lithium batteries exploded has killed at least 22 people in South Korea.
The blaze broke out on Monday morning at the Aricell plant in Hwaseong city, about 45km (28 miles) south of the capital Seoul.
Local television footage showed large smoke clouds and small explosions going off as firefighters sought to put out the fire. A part of the roof had collapsed.
No comments:
Post a Comment