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Man arrested after woman stabbed in neck & another seriously injured
in brutal attack in England
2 Dec 2020 16:47
© Twitter / StevieeeWx
British police have arrested a 57-year-old after two women were stabbed while shopping in the northern English city of Burnley. The authorities have requested people not to speculate about the man’s motivations.
Lancashire police reported that they were called to an incident at 9:30am local time after two women were stabbed in a Burnley city branch of popular department store Marks & Spencer.
The two victims were taken to hospital with serious injuries, but the wounds are not thought to be life-threatening, according to a police statement. Investigators confirmed that a knife had been recovered.
Local reports suggest that members of the public managed to apprehend the attacker before the police arrived at the scene.
Photos and videos have emerged online showing the moment the police arrested the alleged attacker. The man, who according to the police is from the local area and aged 57, appears calm as he is handcuffed by officers outside the store.
The man’s clothing led many on social media to deduce that he is a follower of Islam and to suggest the attack was religiously motivated; however, police have not confirmed any motive for the stabbings. Lancashire Police said that while enquiries into the attack continue, they believe this “to be an isolated incident.”
The attack comes as England reopened on Wednesday after a month-long Covid lockdown and in time for the Christmas shopping rush.
In November, the UK’s terrorism threat level was raised from “substantial” to“severe” as a “precautionary measure” following a number of terrorist attacks in France and Austria.
I'm sure he is not a Muslim terrorist, just your friendly, neighbourhood stabber.
Al-Shabab attack leaves dozens dead in Somalia
By Danielle Haynes
Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A clash between al-Shabab militants, and Somali soldiers backed by civilians left dozens dead this week, the Ministry of Information said Tuesday.
The ministry told Voice of America that militants attacked a military base in the central town of Ba'adweyene on Monday morning, killing four soldiers and 11 civilians who took part in the battle.
Information Minister Osman Dubbe said government forces killed 51 al-Shabab militants in the fight, including the mastermind of the attack.
"Al-Shabab defeat in yesterday's attack in Ba'adweyene is a clear example of how the people who stand by the army can easily stop the attacks and plots of the enemy against the Somali nation, " Dubbe said.
Al-Shabab said it killed 53 troops in the attack and seized military vehicles. The group posted photos online of weapons it said it seized.
Trying to salvage face, no doubt. The last thing a terrorist organization can afford is to look weak.
Islamist violence escalates in Burkina Faso,
making widespread hunger worse
Reuters
Published at 08:34 pm December 2nd, 2020
Burkina Faso
File photo: Habibou Sore, 22, who said she fled her village in northern Burkina Faso barefoot and heavily pregnant as suspected Islamist gunmen approached, waits for her sixteen-month-old twins, who suffer from malnutrition, to be examined at a hospital in Kaya on November 23, 2020 Reuters
Over 7 million people face acute hunger in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso
Habibou Sore had to pause for breath as she ran barefoot from the approaching gunmen. She was pregnant with twins, due any day.
Soon after arriving at a nearby town in northern Burkina Faso, her feet cut and swollen, Sore gave birth. Then her battle with hunger began.
Attacks by Islamist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have killed thousands of people this year in Africa's Sahel region, an arid belt to the south of the Sahara Desert.
The escalating bloodshed has worsened food shortages that threaten millions in a region already hit by climate change, poverty and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sixteen months after fleeing her village, Sore lives with relatives in the town of Pisilla and eats one small meal a day.
Her twin sons Hassan and Housein each weigh 7 kg, the equivalent of a healthy 4-month-old. Their bony legs are covered in sores, their scalps bare in patches. They scream for the milk their mother cannot provide.
"I am worried about them," Sore said, as she rocked the boys on her lap in a clinic in the town of Kaya, surrounded by paintings showing mothers how to breastfeed and the foods required for a balanced diet. "They are not doing well."
Over 7 million people face acute hunger in a vast area comprising landlocked Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, as armed groups cut off access to supplies and farmland, figures from the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) show.
Burkina Faso is deteriorating fastest. Over half a million children under 5 are acutely malnourished, U.N. figures show. WFP said in October that over 10,000 people were "one step short of famine."
"This year has been worse than anything we have seen in the last decade, a worsening situation that is obviously connected to growing conflicts," said Christelle Hure, spokeswoman for the Oslo-based Norwegian Refugee Council, which offers shelter for the displaced.
'Great loss'
This summer's rainy season was one of the heaviest in years, bringing life to the hilly northern savannah where neem, eucalyptus and acacia trees tower over a sea of waist-high golden grass. Farmers say the conditions are perfect for crops and cattle - if only they could reach them.
Sayouba Zabre should be harvesting 10 hectares of millet and sorghum and tending dozens of cattle near his hometown in the Soum region. Instead he is in a camp for displaced people in the Center-North region after fleeing an attack this year.
Camp residents collect wood and dry hibiscus pods on the roofs of their makeshift tents - anything to make money. Zabre planted millet and peanuts, but it is not enough to feed his family.
"This is a great loss. There is a lot out there this year," he said, referring to his farm. "I should be there."
Many citizens rely on food from aid agencies that cannot reach some of the worst-hit areas. Twice this year, food deliveries were hijacked, said Antoine Renard, WFP's country director in Burkina Faso.
Dozens of health facilities have closed and about 200 others are operating at minimum staff levels, government figures show.
Malnutrition is overwhelming the clinic in Kaya where Sore took her twins. Before the crisis, it had about 30 child patients. Now it has 500.
"Every day we take children, every day we have severe cases," said midwife Aminata Zabre.
Mothers come regularly for sachets of baby food, though sometimes there is little improvement.
"I asked one woman 'why is your child still coming to us?'," Zabre said. "She told me her father-in-law was eating the child's rations."
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