News Watch

A bomb attached to a motorcyle killed six people on Nov. 5 in the town of Arsal, Lebanon, near the border with Syria. The bomb targeted a meeting of Sunni clerics who had been negotiating the release of prisoners with Shia Islamists across the border.

On Nov. 12, two suicide bombers in the capital, Beirut, killed 43 people and injured 239 on a busy street in a southern neighborhood that included shops and a mosque. The Islamist militant group ISIL, a Sunni group, claimed credit for...

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Militants occupied a popular hotel in the city of Bamako, the capital of Mali, on Nov. 20, holding at least 170 people hostage for nearly 24 hours. The militants killed 22 people and injured 14 before Mali security forces, with the assistance of visiting foreign soldiers from the US and France, recaptured the hotel. Two militants were killed and two more were detained.

Two Islamist groups claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials could not confirm either claim.

The US Department of State warns of the risk of traveling to Kenya. Those considering traveling there should be aware of recently heightened threats of terrorism and of the high rate of violent crime in some areas. 

Attacks by grenades and improvised explosive devices have occurred throughout Kenya. In 2014 and 2015, the Mombasa area had at least eight such attacks. The US government continues to receive information about potential terrorist threats from al-Qaeda and its affiliate al-...

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In response to the growing threat of ISIL, or Daesh, and other terrorist organizations, the US Department of State released a Worldwide Travel Alert on Nov. 23 warning that multiple countries and sites could become targets of terrorism. 

The alert is in effect until Feb. 24, 2016, during which time the Department recommends that travelers (1) monitor media and information sources local to the travel destination, (2) be prepared for additional security and screenings, (3) stay in touch...

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For the month of October 2015, a record number of migrants, 218,394, entered Europe across the Mediterranean Sea, emigrating from North Africa or the Middle East. The vast majority, 210,000, entered Europe through Greece. The total number of migrants in October was nearly equal to the number of migrants who arrived in Europe in all of 2014. 

In all of 2015, nearly 750,000 migrants and refugees made their way to Europe, mostly to escape conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Somalia. Many made...

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 In Indonesia, more than 121,000 fires, primarily on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, burned more than 1.7 million hectares of forest and jungle from September through October 2015. Most were set illegally by farmers and agricultural companies to clear land. 

The fires created unhealthy air conditions in Indonesia as well as in neighboring Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Air conditions caused by the fires were blamed for the deaths of 10 people and for causing...

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At least 87 people were killed in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, on Dec. 11 as antigovernment protesters clashed with the armed forces.

Ongoing violence in Bujumbura began in April 2015 when Burundi’s president, Pierre Nkurunziza, announced he would be running for a third term in office, an act that many considered unconstitutional but which was upheld by a Burundian court. Nkurunziza was reelected in July in a disputed election. Since April, more than 400 people have been killed and...

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The US Department of State warns of the risks of traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (aka DRC or Congo-Kinshasa). Travelers should avoid the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, Ituriz and, in particular, the new provinces of Tanganyika and Haut-Lomami (the northeastern and central parts of the former province of Katanga), where instability and sporadic violence is known to occur.

Armed groups, bandits and elements of the Congolese armed forces are...

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