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(04/08/18 10:40pm)
By Jahnvi Upreti
Staff Writer
Recent Palestinian protests along the Israel-Gaza Strip border have turned deadly, with violent conflict between protesters and Israelis resulting in at least 28 Palestinian deaths and thousands more wounded, according to Al Jazeera.
On March 30, tens of thousands of Palestinians set up tents and camps on the Gaza Strip and marched along the border fence separating Gaza and Israel in what was called The March of Return, according to CNN.
Approximately two million people live in Gaza. A vast majority are either refugees of the 1948 war between Israel and Palestine or family members of refugees, according to The New York Times.
The March of Return was intended to be a peaceful, six week long sit-in culminating in a mass march to Israel. The March protests Israel’s occupation of Palestine and represents the Palestinians’ frustrations with the Israeli government. The Palestinians are also protesting the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which is supported by neighboring Egypt and has severely limited the flow of people and goods in and out of Palestine since its beginning in 2007, according to The New York Times.
Some of the Palestinian protesters rolled burning tires and threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, a type of homemade firebomb. Two armed individuals began firing shots into Israel, though the overwhelming majority of Palestinians did not own or use weaponry. Israeli soldiers retaliated with gunfire and tear gas, according to The New York Times.
Prior to the protests, Israel took measures to heighten security, including the deployment of snipers to the Gaza Strip, according to The New York Times. The Israeli Defense Force defended its use of force, blaming Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip — for “all events and incidents taking place in (the March 30) protests.”
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, publicly stated that he holds Israel responsible for the deaths in the protest and marked March 31 as a national day of mourning, according to CNN.
“Schools, universities, as well as all government institutions across the country will be off on Saturday as per President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to declare a national mourning for the souls of the martyrs,” claimed an official government statement, according to Al Jazeera.
This bloody protest marks one of the deadliest reported altercations between the Israelis and the Palestinians within recent years, according to The New York Times. Tensions have been rising in recent months following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“We came out to remember our martyrs and to reclaim ownership of our land,” said Yara Mahamid, a student from Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. “We will resist until our last breath. We shouldn’t negotiate anymore. We shouldn’t give up our rights.”
(12/03/17 10:41pm)
By Jahnvi Upreti
Staff Writer
More than 300 Egyptian civilians were killed following a coordinated attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Nov. 24, The Washington Post reported.
The massacre is the deadliest in Egypt’s recent history, according to USNews.
Images of the aftermath showed many bodies of men, women and children lined up in rows and covered in bloody sheets, according to USA Today.
The attackers arrived in four off-road vehicles, planting and detonating bombs around the mosque and shooting at the worshippers inside, according to USNews.
"It included everyone inside, those outside and those coming in from the street. Even those trying to escape from the mosque were not spared," schoolteacher and survivor Magdy Rezk told USNews.
The Egyptian military organized airstrikes on the machinery and vehicles used in the attacks, according to The Washington Post.
Wilayat Sinai, the Islamic state organization in Egypt, claimed responsibility for the attack. Egypt has been combatting the organization situated in the Sinai Peninsula for an extended period of time, according to The Washington Post
This attack is the deadliest terror attack in modern Egyptian history, surpassing the October 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner over the peninsula, which killed all 224 passengers onboard. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the destruction according to The Washington Post.
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ordered the chief of the military, General Mohamed Farid Hegazy, to use all power needed, especially within the next three months, to protect Egypt from insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula, according to USNews.
The attack occurred a few months prior to the next Egyptian presidential election, in which al-Sisi is running for re-election. Sisi was regarded as a figure for stability and peace in the northern Sinai Peninsula following the violent upheavals that began after Egypt’s 2011 revolt against Hosni Mubarak, according to USNews.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, has also spoken out regarding the attack, and urged the Egyptian armed forces to obliterate the Islamist occupancy in the Sinai Peninsula in a speech that aired on national Egyptian television, USNews reported.
President Donald Trump tweeted in response to the attack to give his condolences to Egypt and al-Sisi. Trump called for the U.S. to get “TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before” by advocating for the Mexican border wall as well as the Muslim ban, according to USA Today.
(10/31/17 1:46am)
By Jahnvi Upreti
Staff Writer
Thousands marched in Yangon, Myanmar, in support of the military, which caused Rohingya people to flee the country on Sunday, Oct. 29, ABC reported.
“Only if the military is strengthened will (Myanmar’s) sovereignty be secured,” said Zagara, a senior Buddhist nationalist monk who participated in the march, according to ABC.
There is tension between Buddhist and Rohingya citizens in Myanmar, according to CNN. Rohingya Muslims are a minority within the primarily Buddhist population.
There is tension between Buddhist and Rohingya citizens in Myanmar (envato elements).
Although this tension has existed for decades, violence reached a new high on Aug. 29, when Rohingya militants attacked Myanmar government forces, according to The Guardian.
The government has since retaliated with a “clearance operation” to systematically remove Rohingya residents from Myanmar, according to CNN.
The ongoing operation has systematically killed thousands of Rohingya Muslims and caused more than 600,000 to flee to Bangladesh so far, CNN reported.
The government does not recognize Rohingya Muslims as citizens, according to CNN. It denies Rohingya Muslims access to education, housing areas and support from local law enforcement.
The Rohingya people have historically avoided violence, despite their treatment by the government and Buddhists, according to The Guardian. However in October 2016, Rohingya Muslims began to fight back when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army announced itself as a militant group. The group, based in the Bangladeshi mountains, fights for Rohingya Muslims’ liberation from Buddhist persecution.
ARSA is fighting for Rohingya Muslims who claim to have suffered at the hands of the military, CNN reported. Refugees claim they have been tortured or burned alive. The government of Myanmar denies the claims.
The government stated that it is identifying and punishing only the Rohingya insurgents that serve as a threat to the security forces, according to ABC. It also claims the Rohingya have burnt their own villages down in order to perpetuate the image that the government is evil, and the only individuals being killed are terrorists, according to BBC.
The government recognized workers who attempt to help Rohingya Muslims as helping terrorists, The Guardian reported. Many aid workers have relocated or pulled out of Myanmar as a result.
The president of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been criticized on her response to the situation, according to CNN. Some had hoped that electing the Nobel Peace Prize winner would have abated instead of resurged ethnic tensions.
“It is a little unreasonable to expect us to solve the issue in 18 months, the situation in Rakhine has been such since many decades. It goes back to pre-colonial times,” she said in defense of her actions, according to Asian News International.
It is speculated Suu Kyi is hesitant to speak against military because military officials make up 25 percent of parliament and could hold more power than her, according to ABC.
Rohingya refugees are pouring into Bangladesh, and Suu Kyi has yet to delineate her next action. The persecution in Myanmar will only perpetuate if divisions continue.
(09/12/17 1:56am)
By Jahnvi Upreti
Staff Writer
The death toll of individuals across Nepal, Bangladesh and India continue to rise over 1,200 as the region faces its worst flooding in decades, The Independent reported.
Though the region is accustomed to heavy rainfall in August, the annual monsoon season in South Asia this summer was worse than expected with massive landslides and floods that decimated the area, according to The Independent.
In addition, severe storms contributed to the massive rainfall, according to CNN. It was a consequence that couldn’t have been predicted ahead of time, Ram Krishna Subedi, a Nepal Home Ministry spokesman, told CNN.
The floods resulted in widespread losses of life, crops, livestock and homes, consequently leading to long term unstable housing and economic situations for millions across the three countries, according to The Independent.
“The loss of livestock is heartbreaking enough … but the morning after a flood, there is no clean water to drink. Mobile services and transport shut down. In some parts of Assam, (India), floodwaters don’t recede for as many as two months,” Rajdeep Bora, a 29-year-old farmer from Northeast India, told NPR.
U.N. agencies are rushing to the affected regions to try and rescue as many as possible, and have established about 2,000 relief camps so far, according to NPR.
Rescue agencies are having great difficulty accessing dry land in rural areas in Nepal, India and Bangladesh.
“Entire communities have been cut off,” said Jagan Chapagain, the under secretary-general for programs and operations for the International Federation of Red Cross, according to CNN. “The only way to get aid to some of these villages is by boat and many are running out of food. The situation is going from bad to worse.”
NPR reported that Nepal, India and Bangladesh will be facing long term food insecurity, meaning millions of individuals will have little to no access to sustainable and healthy foods, according to the United Nation’s Long Term Food Program.
The floods have been receiving little to no attention or support from the United States, where inhabitants are still reeling from Hurricane Harvey and now Hurricane Irma.
However, Jono Anzalone, the vice president of international services for the American Red Cross, distinguished between the natural disasters: “If you compare the shelter conditions in Bangladesh to Texas, as dire as the condition may seem in Texas, typically, we would at least have safe structures on safe ground — not in flood plains,” according to NPR.
Anzalone further compared the disaster response systems.
“When people look at the U.S. response system, we have a very mature federal disaster response system,” he said. “You don’t see that in Nepal, Bangladesh or India. In Nepal and Bangladesh, the government simply doesn’t have the resources.”
The Scottish government has donated £300,000, equating to almost $400,000, from their Humanitarian Emergency Fund towards South Asian relief efforts, according to the Sunday Post.
At a panel in Scotland following the announcement of this relief aid, Angus Nelson of Oxfam Scotland said to the Sunday Post, “Given the enormous level of need created by the widespread flooding, it is essential for rich countries like Scotland to show leadership by supporting the humanitarian response.”
The devastation caused by the severe floods in South Asia will impact the struggle of governments and individuals to stabilize before next year’s impending annual monsoon.
(05/02/17 12:08am)
By Jahnvi Upreti
Staff Writer
The top two candidates who emerged from the first round of France’s presidential voting on Sunday, April 23, were Marine Le Pen, a controversial nationalist, and Emmanuel Macron, a pro-European Union leader of the new centrist party, Vox reported.
France’s political atmosphere has been dominated by socialist and center-right opposition Republicans for decades, CNN reported. However, the parties of the two top candidates for this year's French presidential elections greatly differ from the most prominent political ideologies.
France’s controversial election follows other major events like Donald Trump’s victory in the United State’s presidential election and the Brexit referendum.
Le Pen took over France’s far right political party, the National Front, from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was convicted for saying that the Nazi occupation of France was not “particularly inhumane,” according to The Guardian.
After taking the party over in January 2011, Le Pen has henceforth attempted to soften the image of the National Front, which has aided her during the first round of voting, Vox reported.
But, in a symbolic gesture to show her commitment to the entire country, not just to one party, Le Pen has stepped down as leader of the party, according to BBC News.
While she has tried to rebrand the National Front, Le Pen did not believe the French state was responsible for the 1942 Vel d’Hiv roundup of 13,000 Jews by French police. She also proposed banning all religious headwear in public places, according to Vox.
Another campaign promise of Le Pen was to follow Britain’s lead in exiting from the European Union, according to Vox.
Macron, however, promotes a political stance contrary to Le Pen’s.
As the founder of his newly-created centrist party known as “En Marche,” or “On the Move,” the candidate has tried to project a liberal image of himself in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential victory in the U.S., according to the Telegraph.
“I have seen the emptiness of (France’s) political system from the inside… I reject this system,” Macron said, according to the Telegraph, while calling for a “democratic revolution.”
Macron is projected to win against Le Pen during the second and final round of voting taking place on Sunday, May 7, according to BBC News’s assessment of opinion polls.
There is concern about this projection because Macron has never been elected to public office before, according to The Telegraph. Prior to his entrance to the political sphere, he was a banker.
Following the first round of voting, in which Macron and Le Pen emerged as the clear victors, other nominees withdrew from the race.
Upon conceding, Francois Fillon — once the favorite candidate — offered his support to Macron in order to prevent a Le Pen presidency, according to Express.
“Extremism can only give rise to division within France and so I urge you to vote against extremism,” Fillon said on April 23 in his concession speech.
(03/27/17 9:05pm)
By Jahnvi Upreti
Staff Writer
Senate Democrats promised to filibuster the nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch for a position in the Supreme Court on Thursday, March 23.
The movement was spearheaded by Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said he refuses to vote for Gorsuch. Schumer questioned Gorsuch’s capability, stating Gorsuch is “not a neutral legal mind, but someone with a deep-seated conservative ideology,” The Washington Post reported.
According to the same source, Gorsuch was nominated by the Trump administration to fill the vacant seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016.
The 49-year-old conservative judge has served on the Denver-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the last 10 years, The Washington Post reported.
Gorsuch is facing scrutiny from Democrats for his conservative views on election laws and social justice issues, according to CNN.
Kristen Clarke, head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, stated that Gorsuch’s mindset “reflects a narrow view of civil rights and a deep skepticism of protecting those rights in the courtroom,” The Washington Post reported.
In order for Gorsuch to advance in his political journey and become a member of the Supreme Court, he must receive at least 60 votes in the Senate. This is a cause for concern for conservatives, as there are currently only 52 Republicans in the Senate, CNN reported.
In an effort to secure the nomination, Republicans are attempting to change the voting procedure, which has been utilized for decades, to one that requires a simple majority rather than the required 60 votes, according to CNN.
“If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes… the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee,” Schumer said in response to the Republican’s desire to alter the voting procedure, The Washington Post reported.
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va) is noted as the Democrat who is most likely vote in favor of Gorsuch’s nomination, according to The Washington Post.
According to the same source, Manchin stated that he will be visiting with Gorsuch shortly and will base his final decision off of that. Manchin warned Democrats not to prolong such strong opposition, as he believes “the Senate is on a slippery slope.”
(01/29/17 10:56pm)
By Jahnvi Upreti
Staff Writer
Talks between Syrian government representatives and 15 rebel factions began at a hotel in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Monday, Jan. 23.
The talks were scheduled to last two days, according to The Guardian.
Kazakhstan was chosen as the negotiation site for the talks because it has emphasized its role as a neutral participant with the hopes of “(finding) a solution to the Syrian crisis through negotiations based on mutual trust and understanding,” according to The Astana Times.
The purpose of the meeting was to extend the ceasefire currently in place between the Syrian government and opposition groups, according to Al Jazeera.
The meeting marks the first attempt at direct conversation to include both the government forces as well as the armed opposition, The Guardian reported.
Meanwhile, Russia is transitioning from its role as a participant in the war to a peaceful mediator, according to The Guardian. Such a change may be difficult, as Russia’s ability to remain objective is questionable due to its heavy involvement with the Iranian and Syrian governments.
Following the second and final day of the Astana talks, both sides have agreed to establish a mechanism to guarantee compliance with the current ceasefire, according to The Astana Times.
The conclusion states that both sides will “determine all modalities of the ceasefire” and to “reiterate their determination to fight jointly against ISIL/Daesh and Al-Nusra and to separate them from opposition groups,” The Astana Times reported.
Further peace talks are scheduled to take place in Geneva on Feb. 8, according to CNN.
Some officials are concerned that the talks in Geneva are “too much too soon” and will not produce any substantial political action, CNN reported.
The United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will share the results of the Astana talks at a U.N. meeting in New York the week of Sunday, Jan. 29, Al Jazeera reported.
The same source reported that the meeting differs from all other attempts at negotiating the situation in Syria because all other previous attempts have been headed by the U.N.
The talks are recorded as the most serious effort in months to work toward the end of the debilitating war in Syria, which is currently in its sixth year and has left the country in ruins, according to Al Jazeera.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands and has displaced more than half of the Syrian population, according to The New York Times.
The U.S. did not send a delegation to Astana, however, U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol was sent to attend the negotiations, according to CNN.