News Watch

In the state of Maharashtra in western India, a landslide on July 30 in the village of Malin killed at least 30 people, with, at press time, 160 people missing. Malin, with a population of only 150-200, was completely covered in mud and debris. Heavy rainfall had caused a nearby hill to collapse onto the town early in the morning, when most people were sleeping. A bus driver passing by the village noticed it had disappeared and reported it.

Buildings on the Eastbourne Pier in East Sussex, England, burned down on July 30. The pier, built in 1870, included an amusement park, nightclub, restaurants, cafés and a 2-story iron-and-glass building. Nicknamed the “pleasure pier,” it was a popular attraction for Brits and tourists.

Local police suspect arson as the cause. No injuries were reported.

As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 35 destinations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, El Salvador, Eritrea, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen. 

For details...

CONTINUE READING »

In northern Iraq, members of the Al-Qaeda-sponsored jihadist group Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, took control of Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, on June 10, then took Tikrit on June 11. More than 500,000 residents of Mosul left the city after the attack.

ISIS also gained control of the Iraqi cities of Tal Afar, Traybil and al-Qa’im and is contesting many others. Fighting has also been reported in Sāmarrā, only 68 miles north of Baghdad. 

From their...

CONTINUE READING »

Near Karachi on June 8, Taliban militants armed with guns and explosive vests attacked Pakistan’s largest airport, Jinnah International, targeting a terminal used for cargo and special operations. At least 34 people were killed in the attack, including all 10 militants, three from having detonated their vests. The airport reopened after security forces regained control.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said that, in revenge for the killing of their leader in 2013, they had...

CONTINUE READING »

A raid by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the northern Nigeria town of Kummabza, June 21-22, resulted in the kidnapping of 60 girls and women and 30 boys. In April, a raid on the northeastern city of Chibok by Boko Haram resulted in the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls, almost all of whom are still missing (June ’14, pg. 16).

Boko Haram has also been blamed for a bomb blast that killed 21 people and injured 52 at a shopping center in the capital, Abuja, on June 25 and...

CONTINUE READING »

In eastern Ukraine, violent clashes between government forces and mostly ethnic Russian separatists escalated in June.

Ukraine’s interior minister reported that on June 12, three Russian tanks and a number of armored vehicles entered eastern Ukraine through a checkpoint in Luhansk controlled by the rebels. Ukrainian tanks reportedly clashed with two of the tanks in the town of Horlivka. The Russian foreign ministry said reports of the tanks were “inventive” and a “fake piece of...

CONTINUE READING »

In Libya, at least 70 people were killed in clashes between the Libyan National Army and armed militias from late May through June.

After overthrowing Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the Libyan government was unable to disarm the independent armed militias that had assisted them. Instead, militias were funded in the hopes they would be loyal to the government. These militia groups number up to 1,700 and operate with very little input from the government.

General Khalifa Haftar...

CONTINUE READING »