European Gas Crisis Spreads to Kazakhstan - Government Quits, State of Emergency, 8 Killed

..

Kazakhstan declares state of emergency in several cities

as ongoing fuel price protests erupt

Fuel price increase that kicked in on Jan. 1 sparked tensions,

but autocracy has long stifled dissent

Thomson Reuters · 

Posted: Jan 05, 2022 9:27 AM ET

A view shows a burning police car during a protest following the Kazakh authorities' decision to lift price caps on liquefied petroleum gas in Almaty early Wednesday. (Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters)

Kazakhstan declared emergencies in the capital, main city and provinces on Wednesday after demonstrators stormed and torched public buildings, the worst unrest for more than a decade in a tightly controlled country that promotes an image of stability.

The cabinet resigned but that failed to quell the anger of the demonstrators, who have taken to the streets in response to a fuel price increase from the start of the new year.

An Instagram live stream by a Kazakh blogger showed a fire blazing in the office of the Almaty mayor, with apparent gunshots audible nearby. Videos posted online also showed the nearby prosecutor's office burning.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters journalists saw thousands of protesters pressing toward Almaty city centre, some of them on a large truck. Security forces, in helmets and riot shields, fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades.

The city's police chief said Almaty was under attack by "extremists and radicals," who had beaten up 500 civilians and ransacked hundreds of businesses.

This image grab from video shows protesters near an administrative building during a rally over a hike in energy prices in Almaty. Protesters stormed the mayor's office in Kazakhstan's largest city. (AFP/Getty Images)

A presidential decree announced a two-week state of emergency and nighttime curfew in the capital Nur-Sultan, citing "a serious and direct security threat to citizens." States of emergency were also declared in Almaty and in western Mangistau province, where the protests first emerged in recent days.

Authorities appeared to have shut the country off the internet as the unrest spread. Netblocks, a site that monitors global internet connectivity, said the country was "in the midst of a nation-scale internet blackout."

Government resigns

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accepted the government's resignation on Wednesday following the protests, which have spread from the provinces to main cities since price caps on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were lifted on New Year's Day.

Speaking to the acting cabinet, Tokayev ordered the price hikes reversed and new caps placed on the cost of other fuels.

The government said the regulated price was causing losses for producers and needed to be liberalized, but Tokayev acknowledged the move had been botched.

The unrest is the biggest test yet of Tokayev, 68, who took power in 2019 as hand-picked successor to Nursultan Nazarbayev, a former Communist Party boss who had become the longest-serving ruler in the former Soviet Union by the time he stepped down. Nazarbayev, 81, still retains substantial authority as head of the ruling party and chairman of the security council.

Kazakhstan's reputation for political stability under three decades of one-man rule by former leader Nazarbayev helped it attract hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in its oil and metals industries, but the pandemic has led to economic pressures, as elsewhere.

Tokayev said on Wednesday he had taken over as head of the country's Security Council and promised to act with "maximum toughness."

Scores of injuries

Atameken, Kazakhstan's business lobby group, said its members were reporting attacks on banks, stores and restaurants.

The city health department said 190 people had sought medical help, including 137 police. City authorities urged residents to stay home.

The interior ministry said government buildings were also attacked in the southern cities of Shymkent and Taraz overnight, with 95 police wounded in clashes. Police have detained more than 200 people.

A video posted online showed police using a water cannon and stun grenades against protesters in front of the mayor's office in Aktobe, capital of another western province.

The size of the crowd in Almaty late Tuesday is shown. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades in a bid to break up an unprecedented thousands-strong march, with injuries to protesters and police reported. (Ruslan Pryanikov/AFP/Getty Images)

Kazakhstan has been grappling with rising price pressures. Inflation was closing in on nine per cent year-on-year late last year — its highest level in more than five years — forcing the central bank to raise interest rates to 9.75 per cent.

Some analysts said the protests pointed to more deep-rooted issues.

"I think there is an underlying undercurrent of frustrations in Kazakhstan over the lack of democracy," said Tim Ash, emerging market strategist at BlueBay Asset Management.

"Young, internet-savvy Kazakhs, especially in Almaty, likely want similar freedoms as Ukrainians, Georgians, Moldovans, Kyrgyz and Armenians, who have also vented their frustrations over the years with authoritarian regimes."

European and international election observers continually condemned the legitimacy of presidential elections in Kazakhstan under Nazarbayev, who regularly won with over 95 per cent of the vote. Voting irregularities and detentions of government opponents were also noted in the 2019 vote, which Tokayev won with a more modest 71 per cent total.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Kazakhstan could solve its own problems and it was important that no one interfered from the outside, RIA news agency reported.

Russia's foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation in its southern neighbour and counting on the "soonest possible normalization."

"We advocate the peaceful resolution of all problems within the constitutional and legal framework and dialogue, rather than through street riots and the violation of laws," it said.

The Latest > Eight police and military killed, over 300 injured in Wednesday’s violence so far, the Kazakh interior ministry says

Covid-19 > Covid Appeals to the Neanderthal in Us; Germany - State of Emergency; Netherlands Cancels Many Operations

DNA from Neanderthals affects vulnerability to covid-19

Why Africa avoids Covid disaster

Feb 24th 2021

As best as scientists can tell, Neanderthals died out around 40,000 years ago. But they did not vanish from the Earth entirely. In the past decade it has become clear that Neanderthals mated with the ancestors of modern humans, and that at least some of those unions produced viable offspring. The upshot is that almost half of the Neanderthal genome still survives, scattered in small quantities among almost all modern people’s dna. (The exception is those with mostly African ancestors, for Neanderthals seem never to have lived in Africa.)

My previous post on Covid-19, contains an article called: Scientists mystified, wary, as Africa avoids COVID disaster. It appears the answer has been found. It appears the answer was found way back in February, but scientists are still mystified!!!

Such genes have been associated with everything from hairiness to fat metabolism. Many seem to be related to the immune system, and to affect the risk of developing diseases including lupus, Crohn's and diabetes. A pair of recent papers suggest covid-19 belongs on that list as well. Two long sections of dna, both inherited from Neanderthals, appear to confer resistance or susceptibility to severe covid-19, depending on which is present.

The work was led by Hugo Zeberg and Svante Paabo at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, whose researchers pioneered the study of Neanderthal dna. Their first paper, published in Nature in September, described one Neanderthal dna string, known as a “haplotype”, that is associated with a higher risk of serious illness. Having one copy of the haplotype, which is found on the third of the 46 chromosomes possessed by humans, doubles the chances of a trip to intensive care. Those unlucky enough to possess two copies—one from each parent—face an even higher risk.

That genetic bad luck is not evenly distributed. The gene-sequence is most common among people of South Asian descent, with 63% of the population of Bangladesh carrying at least one copy; and among Europeans, where the prevalence is around 16%. As expected, it is virtually absent from Africa. More strikingly, it is also very rare in large swathes of eastern Asia.

Exactly what the haplotype does is not clear. One gene within it encodes a protein that interacts with the cellular receptors that sars-cov-2 (the virus which causes covid-19) uses to enter cells and hijack them. The haplotype is also thought to be involved in the production of signalling proteins, called cytokines, that help to regulate the immune system. An overly aggressive immune response is one mechanism by which covid-19 kills.

On the other hand, some of those cytokines protect against cholera. The researchers speculate that may be why the haplotype is common in Bangladesh and India, where cholera has long been a problem. And there is evidence that, even as evolution has been boosting the haplotype in some populations, it has been working to remove it from others. “The frequency differences between South Asia and East Asia are so dramatic that we cannot help but suspect that past selection is responsible,” says Dr Paabo.

The second study, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concerns another Neanderthal haplotype, found on chromosome 12. Its effect is protective, though it is also less potent: having a single copy is associated with a 22% lower chance of critical illness.

This helpful sequence is more well-travelled than the harmful one. It is present in every part of the world except sub-Saharan Africa. Between 25% and 35% of the population of Eurasia carry at least one copy. In Vietnam and eastern China more than half the population are carriers. It also exists, at much lower rates, among American populations of mainly African descent, many of whom will have some more recent Eurasian ancestry as well.

Scientists also have a better idea of what it does, for it was known to researchers even before the news of its Neanderthal origin. The haplotype hampers the spread of rna viruses, of which sars-cov-2 is one, by driving cells infected with them to self-destruct quickly. It is known to provide at least some protection against West Nile virus, hepatitis C and, intriguingly, sars-cov-1, which caused the sars outbreak that began in 2002.

Once again, the hand of natural selection is visible. The genes in the chromosome-12 haplotype are found in other mammals, and have been lost several times in other species. That hints that carrying them comes at a significant cost, leading them to be removed if they are not being heavily used. That they are common in most human populations suggests rna viruses have been a thorn in humanity's side for much of its evolutionary history.

The researchers hope that their work might help shed light on why some countries, and some populations within countries, appear to have been hit harder by covid-19 than others. They point out, for instance, that Britons of Bangladeshi heritage suffer severe covid-19 at roughly twice the rate of the general population. But disentangling the effects of dna will be tricky. Age, obesity and sex, among other things, all influence the severity of covid-19. Comparisons between countries are complicated by definitional differences and the difficulty of performing accurate counts, especially in poor countries. Despite the prevalence of the harmful haplotype, the official covid-19 death rate in Bangladesh is just 5.1 per 100,000, an order of magnitude lower than in countries where the haplotype is much rarer.

Still, a reminder that genetics matter alongside those other factors is still useful. If covid-19 becomes an endemic disease, as seems likely, cheap gene sequencing may, in future, help doctors assess which patients are likely to be vulnerable to its worst effects. Understanding the mechanisms by which genes confer resistance or susceptibility may help with the search for drugs. And history suggests that sars-cov-2 is unlikely to be the last novel coronavirus to make the jump to humans. If some populations are likely to be more vulnerable than others, that is worth knowing for next time. 

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Covid rates take Germany to ‘nationwide state of emergency’

19 Nov, 2021 14:16

FILE PHOTO. ESSEN, GERMANY. © AFP / Ina FASSBENDER

 

Germany has been plunged into a “nationwide state of emergency” because of its current high level of Covid infections, acting health minister Jens Spahn has said. He also refused to rule out further lockdowns.

“The situation is serious, the dynamic is unbroken,” Spahn told a press conference Friday.

“The incidence has increased fivefold in four weeks. We see sadly high values in the death rate. We are in a national emergency.”

Spahn refused to rule out the possibility of another lockdown, saying that, in such a drastic health situation, “we can't rule anything out.”

The head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, added to the gloomy picture by saying that “all of Germany is one big outbreak,” with an estimated half a million active Covid cases in the country – and numbers rising. For the third day in a row, more than 50,000 cases have been registered in the country, while the death toll in Germany since the start of the pandemic is above 98,700, according to figures compiled by the RKI.

Wieler added that, with many hospitals already overwhelmed, more should be done to tackle the spread of the virus. Besides obvious measures such as vaccination and wearing masks, he also suggested closing poorly ventilated bars.

On Thursday, lawmakers in the Bundestag approved new measures in the fight against coronavirus, including requirements to prove vaccination status, a negative test, or proof of recovery from infection before employees can access communal workspaces or use public transport. The measures will have to be passed by the upper house before they can take effect.

Neighboring Austria announced on Friday that it would enter full lockdown as of Monday, November 22.

Does this mean that central Europe is full of Neanderthals? Asking for a friend!

Dutch hospitals ditching operations as Covid surges

34,000 to 50,000 ‘healthy life years’ had been lost due to the first Covid-19 wave alone

19 Nov, 2021 18:12

FILE PHOTO. Sommelsdijk, the Netherlands. © AFP / JEFFREY GROENEWE

Hospitals in the Netherlands have begun delaying certain operations to free-up ICU beds during a record wave of Covid-19 infections, while an infectious diseases researcher has warned of an impending ‘Code Black’ in the sector.

The country set a daily national record for new Covid infections on Thursday, registering around 23,600 cases. It was the third day in a row of the figure topping 20,000.

The population of the Netherlands is about 17.5 million.

To make more staff available for Covid wards, a number of operations, including those for cancer and heart patients, are being canceled from this week on, Dutch healthcare officials have said. Fewer than 200 beds remained available in Dutch ICUs as of Thursday, while Friday figures show almost half (47.8%) of occupied ICU beds were being used by Covid patients.

"These are cancer patients that should actually be operated-on within six weeks of diagnosis, and that won't be met in all cases. It's also heart patients," said a spokesperson for the National Coordination Center for Patient Distribution (LCPS).

Meanwhile, new calculations by an infectious disease modeller at Wageningen University & Research suggest that a so-called ‘Code Black’ in hospitals is looming. The emergency designation means that patient safety is at risk and, if declared, would mean many people with life-threatening illnesses cannot go to the ICU, while doctors have to prioritize who to treat.

According to recent estimates from the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa), up to 200,000 operations were not performed as a result of urgently needed Covid care since the start of the pandemic. On Thursday, the NZa revealed that almost a quarter of operating rooms across the country are not currently in use due to a combination of Covid patient pressures and rising staff absences due to illness.

It is not yet clear what impact the delayed care will have on public health. In December 2020, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) calculated that an estimated 34,000 to 50,000 ‘healthy life years’ had been lost due to the first Covid-19 wave alone.

Peru Declares Emergency over Influx of Venezuelan Migrants

At least this massive migration is not a cultural assault like Islam migrating into Europe. But it is a lot for a relatively small and poor country to deal with. Venezuela's Maduro is almost completely to blame for his people deserting the country. The US is not without some fault here.

By Danielle Haynes

Venezuelan citizens arrive at the border with Peru, in Huaquillas, Ecuador, on Sunday.

Photo by José Jácome/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- Peru declared a 60-day health emergency Tuesday as the country deals with an influx of thousands of Venezuelan migrants fleeing an economic crisis back home.

Health officials in Peru are worried about the spread of communicable diseases in the north as Venezuelans crossed the border ahead of new immigration rules. The two countries don't share a common border, but Peruvian authorities say more than 300,000 Venezuelans have immigrated to the country this year.

There are 400,000 Venezuelans living in Peru, 178,000 of which have permission to be there, Voice of America reported.

Peru started requiring passports for Venezuelans entering the country as of Aug. 25.

The International Organization for Migration and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said last week that more than 2.3 million Venezuelans are living abroad and more than 1.6 million have left the country since 2015. The U.N. agencies expressed concerns over Peru's new passport requirement.

"We recognize the growing challenges associated with the large scale arrival of Venezuelans. It remains critical that any new measures continue to allow those in need of international protection to access safety and seek asylum," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio told Radio Programas the government has asked the United Nations for assistance with the influx of Venezuelan migrants, Bloomberg reported.

Venezuela's economic crisis, exacerbated by a fall in oil prices, has caused basic goods, including food and medicine, to be in short supply, unavailable or unaffordable.

Sultan Erdogan One Step Closer to Becoming Caliph of Turkey

Erdogan wins 1st term as president ‘under new system’

As I mentioned yesterday in Nil Köksal's piece, I don't believe Erdogan would leave anything to chance, so this win was to be expected. We can also expect him to use his executive authority to eliminate any meaningful opposition, that would mostly mean non-Muslim hardliners, that might remain after having incarcerated most of them. 

Once he's consolidated himself as de facto Caliph of Turkey, will he turn his attention to reviving the Ottoman Empire?

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan leaves the voting booth at a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey on June 24, 2018.

© Umit Bektas / Reuters

Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won the majority of votes, the head of the electoral board said. This would mark the second consecutive term for Erdogan, but the first one under “a new system.”

With over 97.2 percent of votes counted, the head of Turkey's High Electoral Board (YSK) says Erdogan has secured more than 50 percent of the votes needed for the victory.

In the parliamentary election, his AK Party is also in first place with over 45 percent. The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) will also enter the parliament after passing the 10 percent threshold, according the board's head, Sadi Guven. Turnout was at 87 percent for both polls, preliminary data shows.

Erdogan’s closest competitor, Muharrem Ince, has secured over 29 percent of the vote. His Republican People’s Party (CHP) placed second with nearly 21 percent.

"The Turkish people have elected Erdogan as Turkey's first president/executive president under the new system,” Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said.

While delivering a statement on his own, Erdogan also said that the preliminary results clearly indicated his victory, as over 95 percent of votes were counted. He called for leaving aside the “tensions" of the election period and promised there will be no back paddling on the “success” he achieved. The Turkish opposition, meanwhile, claimed that there will likely be a second round of elections.

Today’s polls are the first since Turkey switched to a presidential system of governance after the April 2017 constitutional referendum. The plebiscite effectively split Turkish society in half, as the amendment package passed by a close margin, securing 52 percent of the vote.

The victory allows Erdogan to further consolidate political power and implement the constitutional reforms. The powers in question include the abilities to pick cabinet ministers from outside of the legislature, pass laws by decree, single-handedly declare a state of emergency and launch extraordinary elections. The post of the prime minister is also set to be abolished.

The Turkish opposition, however, sees such changes as a power grab, which effectively destroys the country’s century-old parliamentary democracy. Erdogan’s closest competitor, Ince, vowed that he would lift the state of emergency within 48 hours if elected president and reverse all the constitutional reforms afterward.

Erdogan counters that view, saying “Turkey is staging a democratic revolution.” 

“With the presidential system, Turkey is seriously raising the bar, rising above the level of contemporary civilizations.”

Drastic changes in Turkey’s political system followed a botched coup attempt in July 2016. Erdogan accused his late ally and now nemesis, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, of masterminding the coup. The cleric has firmly rejected the accusations.

Following the failed coup, Turkey has been under a state of emergency for nearly two years and has seen a widespread crackdown on alleged supporters of Gulen. Around 160,000 people have been detained, and thousands of public servants and soldiers have been fired.

Could Turkey's Erdogan Era be Ending?

I seriously doubt that Sultan Erdogan has left any possibility to chance.

But I defer to Nil who is very knowledgeable when it comes to Turkey.

Snap election gamble could cost Erdogan, 

as weekend vote expected to be close

Nil Köksal · CBC News 

This weekend's election could lock in a new presidential system for Turkey 

One that President Tayyip Erdogan has pushed for. 

It is a fight for Turkey's future.

So much is at stake in Sunday's presidential election that the country's electoral board reports nearly half of the three million Turks living outside the country have already marked their ballots. It is a record turnout.

In Toronto, lineups snaked around the Turkish consulate for three days of advanced voting. Ekrem Alpaydin had the Turkish flag wrapped around his shoulders. He sees only Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current president, in Turkey's future.

"He's the best leader in the world — seriously, honestly," Alpaydin said. "My leader is strong."

Others in the voting line rolled their eyes, with one shouting, "He's a f---ing dictator!"

Ezgi Ulkuseven wouldn't reveal who she was choosing, but said, "I'm not supporting Erdogan, I can tell you that."

"I think a lot of people are angry about the way things are in Turkey right now, so [this vote] could change a lot of things."

Much of the anger is tied to Turkey's troubled economy, the country's involvement in the Syrian war and the reality of housing millions of refugees.

The country is also still under a state of emergency nearly two years after the deadly attempt to topple Erdogan's government. In the ensuing crackdown, more than 150,000 people have either lost their jobs or are in prison awaiting trial.

There are still questions about whether the coup was a real attempt to topple Erdogan, or whether it was staged and used as pretext to arrest thousands of his political opponents. 

Whatever the election result, it will be life-altering for the country's nearly 80 million people and have lasting ramifications for Turkey's neighbours and allies.

Canada is already a popular safe harbour for Turks from the recent tumult. The number of Turkish asylum seekers in Canada quintupled in 2017. Thousands of others are coming as students, permanent residents or investors.

What's at stake?

This weekend's vote could lock in a new presidential system for Turkey — one that Erdogan has pushed for.

It has been billed as similar to the U.S. presidency, but critics worry it will have fewer checks and balances than Turkey's parliamentary system, and will write a blank cheque for an already powerful leader. After 15 years leading the country, Erdogan could win at least another decade in power.

But this time, Erdogan is up against some of the strongest opponents he has ever faced.

Meral Aksener, in red, is one of the founding members of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party,

and now leads Turkey's Iyi (Good) Party. (Jeff Mitchell/Getty Images)

Some are emulating his cadence, his shout and populist touch while promising significant change — and at the top of the list is relaxing the grip he's held on freedom of expression.

Erdogan's recent anti-West, anti-EU rhetoric has rattled relationships with the U.S. and Europe, fueling fear that the West could lose a key, calm friend in the region.

Four of the Turkish parties running in the election are willing to cobble together a coalition — despite the political and ideological chasms between them — because they share the singular goal of ending the Erdogan era.

Erdogan's opponents

Muharrem Ince is seeing a remarkable swell of support as head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Ince's popularity has clearly swayed Turkish media.

Out of fear of or outright support for Erdogan, opposition voices usually get minimal play. Now, media outlets are carrying Ince's events and inviting him into their studios for live interviews — although Erdogan is still getting the bulk of airtime.

Ince is a former teacher, and one of his most colourful proposals is to turn Erdogan's extravagant 1,150-room presidential palace into an education centre.

Muharrem Ince, the leader and presidential candidate of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party,

has garnered large crowds for his campaign rallies. (Ali Ege/AFP/Getty Images)

Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the People's Democratic Party (HDP), is campaigning from his prison cell. He's been there since 2016, accused of supporting terrorism.

Charismatic and, at 44, the youngest of the candidates, Demirtas made big gains in the 2015 election, passing the threshold to enter parliament. Soon after, Erdogan began alleging Demirtas was a supporter of the PKK, the Kurdish militant group behind a deadly insurgency in Turkey since the 1980s. It is an allegation Demirtas and the HDP have always denied, insisting it is politically motivated.

Meral Aksener, a sharp-tongued nationalist and one of the founding members of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), is leading a new party, IYI, which promises a new future for Turkey. Savvy social media targeting of young Turks has been a key part of her campaign.

Temel Karamollaoglu is a UK-educated former engineer leading the small Saadet (Felicity) Party, which is attracting more religious voters disillusioned with Erdogan's leadership.

The issues

The economy is one of the issues that initially helped propel Erdogan to power, and now it is what could hurt him most.

After years of economic growth and success under Erdogan, the reality now is a critically low lira, rising inflation and unemployment, particularly among young people. Nearly 11 per cent of people in the country are out of work, and recent numbers show nearly 20 per cent unemployment among people aged 15-24.

Supporters of Selahattin Demirtas watch the presidential candidate of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party speak via video from a prison cell. (Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images)

At a recent election rally, Erdogan said rising refrigerator sales in Turkey were a sign of how well the economy was doing. Opponents seized on the moment — it was clear proof, they shouted, that Erdogan is out of touch.

Turkey's complicated relationship with its Kurdish population is also a defining factor in this vote. While Turkey is still locked in conflict with the PKK — a group internationally recognized as a terror organization — Erdogan enjoys high support among conservative Kurds.

Turkey's role in Syria and the three and a half million Syrian refugees now in Turkey are factors swaying voters, too.

In Toronto, student Yagmur Teze bristled at those issues, even as she talked about freedom for Turkish dissidents and minorities.

"Scholars, doctors, political leaders — everyone who is against [Erdogan] is now in jail," she says. "Those people are now guaranteed rights to vote."

Turkish officials said this week that 30,000 Syrian refugees are eligible to vote.

Pollsters are warning the final tally will likely be close. There are already plans for a potential second round of voting.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nil Köksal, CBC News

Nil Köksal is the host of World Report, CBC's flagship national radio news show. She begins her mornings with more than a million loyal listeners. She recently returned from her post as CBC’s foreign correspondent in Turkey.

Sri Lanka Declares State of Emergency as Sectarian Violence Erupts

By Sara Shayanian  

A state of emergency in Sri Lanka prompted the deployment of police officers and soldiers to civilian-populated areas, after clashes between Muslim and Buddhist communities. File Photo by M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA-EFE

UPI -- Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency Tuesday after violence erupted between Sinhalese and Muslim communities.

Officials said soldiers will be deployed to civilian areas for ten days, and a curfew was put in place.

Sinhalese - a people originally from northern India, now forming the majority of the population of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's government condemned recent arson attacks and riots in the central district of Kandy -- which damaged some places of worship, residences and businesses. Similar violence occurred last month when mobs set fire to Muslim-owned businesses and a mosque.

"The government also condemned the hate and mischievous targeting the Muslim community in particular and another as well, with the clear objective of creating among communities and inciting violence," officials said in a statement.

"The government urged for total cooperation from all citizens irrespective of any communal, religious differences to build a nation that is stable, peaceful and the progressive where diversity is respected."

Tensions flared in the country after a group of Muslim men were accused of killing a Buddhist man. The body of a 24-year-old Muslim man was later found in the town of Digana.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tweeted Monday that the government would not hesitate to take action against the violence.

"As a nation that endured a brutal war we are all aware of the values of peace, respect, unity & freedom," Wickremesinghe said.

Alan Keenan, a Sri Lanka specialist with the International Crisis Group, said radical Buddhist groups -- who make up 75 percent of the population -- have targeted Muslims with "a significant degree of regularity" in the last five years.

"One of the key underlying elements is the sense that many Sinhalese and Buddhists have is that Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese and Buddhist island and other community, Muslims and Tamils, are here on the sufferance of the majority," Keenan said.

Sounds like Burma! Peace preaching Buddhists in Asia are seeming to become much more violent in their quest to hold on to historical lands in the face of increasing numbers of Muslims - the religion of Peace. Don't you just love irony?

Maldives Leader Orders Arrests of Supreme Court Judges

Corruption is Everywhere - Even the Maldives

By Sara Shayanian 
Sky News

UPI -- The president of the Republic of Maldives is accusing the country's Supreme Court of plotting a coup to overthrow the government amid ongoing political turmoil.

President Abdulla Yameen's charge comes after he called for a state of emergency Monday amid protests for the government to release opposition leaders from prison after the Supreme Court said their trials were politically motivated.

The opposition leader is a former President of the Maldives.

The State of Emergency was called for a period of 15 days.

After Yameen's declaration, police arrested Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Supreme Court Judge Abdulla Hameed.

Tuesday, Yameen accused the chief justice and the high court of pushing for his impeachment from office.

"The constitution clearly states how a president can be impeached. The Supreme court has no authority to do so," Yameen said. "But when the chief justice were pushing for these things beyond his mandate or jurisdiction, we had to take it seriously. We had to find out why."

The president said the "entire judiciary" could be compromised against the government.

Could there be a reason for that? Or, could paranoia be setting in?

"We needed to find out if there was any link between the sudden change in the mentality of the chief justice and his new found riches. No one is above the law. Not even judges. I had no other choice. No other way to save the nation," he added.

After the state of emergency was called, security forces were allowed to make arrests, public gatherings were banned and soldiers were posted at the doors of opposition buildings.

"I had to declare a national emergency because there was no other way to investigate these judges," Yameen said. "We had to find out how thick the plot or coup was."

Former President Mohammed Nasheed called from exile for other countries to intervene in the political crisis.

On Twitter, Nasheed asked India to send military assistance and for the United States to stop financial transactions of Maldives leaders.

The U.S. National Security Council said it stands "with the people of Maldives."

"The Maldivian government and military must respect the rule of law, freedom of expression, and democratic institutions," The council said on Twitter. "The world is watching."

Nasheed has called for Yameen to be removed from power.

"Maldivians have had enough of this criminal and illegal regime," Nasheed said. "President Yameen should resign immediately."

India and the USA should be reluctant to intervene for fear of enabling a genuine coup. The truth about who in the Maldives is corrupt needs to be determined and exposed, only then can a fair decision be made as to whether or not to intervene.

Criminal Gangs Flexing Muscles in South America

Ecuador declares state of emergency after

car bomb attack on police 

© National Police of Ecuador / Facebook

Ecuador’s president has declared a state of emergency and tightened security in two cities after a car bomb attack on a police station in San Lorenzo injured at least 28 people and damaged dozens of buildings.

“I’ve declared the state of emergency in San Lorenzo and Eloy Alfaro to strengthen the security of the citizens and the border, as well as to strengthen the attention of the Health, Inclusion, Risks and Housing Ministries for an integrated solution,” the country’s president Lenin Moreno said on Twitter on Saturday afternoon in the aftermath of the morning blast.

There were no fatalities in what the president described as a “terrorist act linked to drug trafficking and criminal groups,” but at least 28 people were injured in the powerful blast – including 14 officers, according to local media.

In addition, some 37 buildings were damaged, including the police headquarters, which suffered significant structural damage, according to Ecuador’s General Prosecutor’s Office.

“We won’t allow them intimidate us,” Moreno added, as he ordered an intensification of the ongoing crackdown on local drug cartels. The large-scale operation has so far resulted in the arrest of at least seven suspects and confiscation of seven tons of chemicals and drug precursors, according to El Comercio.

Police Hdqtrs bombed in Colombia

5 people killed, dozens injured

Meanwhile in neighboring Colombia, a similar bomb attack targeting a police headquarters resulted in at least 5 deaths and dozens of injuries on Saturday. 

Authorities suspect the “act of barbarity” was perpetrated by one of the country’s numerous criminal gangs in retaliation against a similar police crackdown. Colombian authorities offered a reward of 50 million pesos (some $18,000) for any useful information about the perpetrators.

(CNN) At least five Colombian police officers were killed and 42 others injured Saturday morning after a bomb was hurled at a station house in the northern coastal city of Barranquilla, police said.

The attacker, riding on a motorcycle, threw an explosive device at the station in the San Jose neighborhood as officers were preparing to start the workday, according to Colombian police.

The attorney general's office identified the attacker as Cristian Camilo Bellon Galindo, 31. Authorities said he was charged with five counts of aggravated homicide, and 42 counts of attempted homicide. Charges related to terrorism and use of explosives will be filed, authorities said.

Barranquilla Mayor Alejandro Char and metropolitan police Brig. Gen. Mariano de la Cruz Botero told reporters the attack appeared to be in retaliation for recent operations against local criminal organizations, according to the police department's official Twitter account.

Police recovered a radio and notebook linked to the attack.

France Approves Restrictive Anti-Terrorism Law to Replace 2-Year State of Emergency

The New Normal - France

New laws equal 'State of Emergency light'. This is absolutely necessary and when it is determined that it doesn't really work, it will probably get worse. Even so, there will be many detractors who want the old freedoms and aren't wise enough to know that they cannot exist in a world where Islam is ascendant.

The French parliament has approved a new controversial anti-terrorism law, replacing the soon-to-expire two-year state of emergency. The new legislation has prompted fears it will severely limit civil liberties.

The French senate approved the new anti-terrorism law on its second reading on Wednesday. The new law, set to increase law enforcement powers in the fight against terrorism, was supported by 244 senators, with only 22 voting against it. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the lower chamber of parliament earlier in October.

The state of emergency was imposed in France to combat terrorism in the wake of the deadly 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, and has been extended six times since. It is set to finally expire on November 1.

Its key points include allowing the authorities to search homes of those suspected of terrorist links, while holding them for up to four hours and seizing data, items and documents. It also allows the authorities to confine suspects to their town or city for up to a year and have them report to police every day. Any movement beyond that requires them to wear a tracking bracelet.

Top regional officials will be allowed to shut down places of worship for up to six months, if they deem preachers have incited attacks or glorified terrorism. This can be done without any hard proof obtained by police, but simply on the basis of "ideas and theories" shared by the preachers’ devotees.

Police are also granted the authority to stop and search people at vulnerable areas such as borders, train stations and airports.

Ahead of the parliamentary vote, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted 500 law enforcement officers including police, gendarmes, prefects, and other officials at the Elysees Palace. Macron defended the new law and mulled a new nationwide anti-radicalization plan.

“The first mission of the state is to protect our fellow citizens and ensure the security of the territory... We have to adapt our organization, our action,” he said.

video 5:13  © Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters

The plan includes hiring 10,000 more police officers and gendarmes, as well as supplying them with technology suitable for the “smartphone era.” He also promised to implement stricter measures to more efficiently deport migrants with “no legal right” to stay in France.

“We don’t welcome people well, our procedures are too long, we don’t integrate people properly and neither do we send enough people back,” Macron told the law enforcement officers.

The new anti-terrorism law has repeatedly drawn concern over human rights issues. UN human rights experts urged France to comply with "its international human rights obligations," worrying the bill would "incorporate into ordinary law several restrictions on civil liberties currently in place under France’s state of emergency."

'Institutional racism against the Arab-Muslim community'

Even if granting the police sweeping powers helps foil some attacks, it may estrange minorities, in particular, Arab Muslims, making them more susceptible to terrorist propaganda, political analyst Dan Glazebrook told RT.

“If you are going to give police this power, they are going to discriminate communities that are already alienated, putting potentially more recruits into the hands of these death squads,” Glazebrook said, arguing that the French police have “a serious problem with institutional racism and brutality against the Arab-Muslim community” going back to the Paris massacre of 1961, when dozens of Algerians were killed in a police crackdown on the protest against the Algerian War on the River Seine.

The key to reducing the threat posed by international terrorism is to deal with the underlying causes of the Islamist violence and not with its consequences, Glazebrook said.

“If you don’t deal with the root causes, which is the brutal foreign policy on the one hand and the alienation of entire communities due to system institutional discrimination and racism… even the most vicious police state will not be able to stop there being some people who decide to lash out.”

“You can’t be a near-colonial war-mongering power like France and expect to be permanently immune to the blowback and to the consequences of that,” Glazebrook said, referring to France’s involvement in Libya and Syria.

The provision of the law enabling police to shut down suspected terrorist hotbeds without any proof may result in crackdowns on any dissent, thus eroding civil freedoms, former British intelligence officer Annie Machon told RT.

“What is radicalization? At the moment, of course, everyone in France is focused on the concept of Islamic radicalization, but what if that term spreads, what if there is mission creep, so someone who protests against the government is deemed to be radical and therefore be closed down?” she said, noting that French ecological activists used to be targeted by the state under similar pretexts.

Calling the concerns that human rights groups voiced about the law infringing on democracy “absolutely right,” Machon said that bulk data collection and mass surveillance envisioned in the law have proven to be ineffective means in combating terrorism.

She went on to note that while many of the terrorists that mounted attacks in Europe “have already been known to the authorities” it did not help security services to stop them.

“They are drowning in the tsunami of information rather than doing targeted specific investigations into people who might be particularly focused on committing terrorist atrocities… they are falling through the gaps of intelligence agencies.”

Turkey Protest: Istanbul Rally Concludes Anti-Erdogan March

From BBC Europe 

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Istanbul at the end of a 450km (280-mile) protest march against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Huge crowds have joined the "justice" march since it began in the capital Ankara on 15 June.

They are demonstrating against the mass dismissals and imprisonments that followed last year's failed coup.

President Erdogan has accused the marchers of supporting terrorism.

He said the Republican People's Party (CHP) - which has organised the march - had gone beyond political opposition and was "acting with terrorist organisations and the forces inciting them against our country".

Consequently, Erdogan now has justification (in his own mind) to arrest every single one of those in the protest march.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu launched the march after one of his MPs, Enis Berberoglu, was arrested for allegedly leaking documents purporting to show that the government was arming jihadists in Syria.

Mr Berberoglu denies the charge. Sunday's rally is taking place in an area close to the jail in which he is being held.

More than 50,000 people have been arrested and 140,000 dismissed or suspended since last year's attempted military takeover.

The detentions of human rights activists and leading journalists have drawn international condemnation.

Mr Kilicdaroglu, who began the march and has walked around 20km a day, says the purges and emergency rule by Mr Erdogan constitute a "second coup".

The failed coup last July saw rogue soldiers bombing government buildings and driving tanks into civilians, killing more than 260.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul says the march has become an unprecedented show of defiance against the President Erdogan.

There is a widespread feeling that the government has seized the chance to crush all opponents, not just alleged coup supporters, our correspondent adds.

Erdogan has also used the coup to greatly increase his power and authority - big steps on his way to becoming Caliph.

23 Killed in Attack Targeting Egypt's Coptic Christians - Update: Egypt Attacks Libya

Update: May 26, 12:50 PM PST - 

Egypt bombs militant camps in Libya 

Egypt's fighter jets have struck militant camps in the aftermath of the deadly attack on Christians, country's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has said.

Egypt’s President vowed to continue striking any bases, used to train militants, who carry out terrorist attacks in the country, regardles of the camps' location, Reuters cited him as saying. He also reiterated call that the countries financing, training and arming terrorists should not get away unpunished.

Original story:

By Andrew V. Pestano  

Egypt's Coptic Christians have been targeted in a deadly attack as at least 23 died in a shooting carried out by unidentified gunmen on Friday. Attacks against Coptic Christians led Egypt's president to declare a three-month state of emergency in April. File Photo by Karem Ahmed/UPI | License Photo

UPI -- Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians in the Minya province Friday, killing at least 23 people and injuring 25 others, an Egyptian security official said.

The bus was heading toward the Monastery of St. Samuel on a road near El Edwa city in Minya, about 140 miles south of Cairo. Faisal Dewidar, the director of security for Minya, told Egypt Independent that unknown militants shot the bus, adding that all injured were immediately transferred to the nearest hospital.

The Copts United media outlet said the militants were hiding in a hill overlooking the road until the bus approached and they launched the assault.

Islamic State, or just Islam?

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State has previously launched attacks targeting Egypt's Coptic Christians.

On Sunday, Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Sadik said he referred 48 suspected Islamic State militants to a military court over the bombing of Coptic churches.

The Islamic State took responsibility for bombing the St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Cairo's al-Abbasiya neighborhood in December and also took credit in April for targeting the Saint Mark's Church in Alexandria and the Mar Girgis church in Tanta.

More than 70 people died in the attacks targeting the Coptic churches. Following the attacks in April, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency.

Egypt is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian. Islamic State supporters are certainly responsible for most of the carnage, but not all, like the mob who torched 7 Christian homes and paraded an elderly Christian woman through the streets naked. This happened to occur not far from where the bus was attacked today.

Many Muslim in predominantly Muslim countries are extremely sensitive and highly volatile. They are extremely protective of their god and prophet, because they are incapable of protecting themselves.

A partial list of Christian martyrs from 2016 from around the world numbers 1318. All of them were killed by Muslims. Some were radicalized Muslims, some were ordinary Muslims. 

One more thing - you will not see this story on MSM. Mainstream media is hostile to Christians and sympathetic to Muslims. How many Muslims were murdered by Christians last year. Six Muslims were murdered in Quebec last winter but the perpetrator did not claim to be Christian, nor did he have any apparent affiliation with any Christians. I'm sure if there were any Muslims killed by Christians, it would have been front page news for days. And MSM wonders why people are losing confidence in them.

El Edwa, Minya, Egypt