News Watch

On Feb. 19, at least 110 girls were kidnapped from a school in Dapchi, northern Nigeria, by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram (April ’18, pg. 18).

On March 21, the Nigerian government announced that it had recovered 101 of the missing girls, while confirming that at least five of the girls had been killed. One girl remained in the custody of Boko Haram as of press time, reportedly because she would not convert to Islam.

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French train workers began striking against labor reforms on April 2, with strikes scheduled to occur two days out of every five for three months. It was expected that only trains operating between stations in France would have service interrupted, with international train service being mostly unaffected.

The strikes were announced after France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, proposed to sign new hires in many public sectors to different contracts with fewer benefits. Many other...

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After breaking up a large party attended by tourists in Siem Reap on Jan. 25, Cambodian police arrested 10 foreigners on charges of producing pornography, based on pictures found on the party organizer’s social media. Prosecutors claimed the pictures were evidence of “simulated sex acts” being performed at the party (March ’18, pg. 60)

After being held for a number of days, nine of the foreigners were released and deported, while the tenth (a British citizen...

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The US Department of State posts up-to-date travel advisories on every country and many territories, ranking each 1 (Exercise normal precautions), 2 (Exercise increased caution), 3 (Reconsider travel) or 4 (Do not travel). Note: A country’s regions are also ranked and may have different rankings than the country as a whole. Visit travel.state.gov and click on “Travel Advisories” at the top of the page.

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The civil war in Syria, ongoing since 2011, is increasingly involving other nations.

On Feb. 7, a US air strike against pro-government Syrian forces in eastern Syria resulted in the deaths of up to 100 Russian mercenaries, with Russian sources saying it was only five. Though the Russian military has conducted air strikes in support of the Syrian government, officially it has no military on the ground. 

On Feb. 11, an Iranian-made drone entered Israeli air space from Syria...

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A Saratov Airlines plane carrying 65 passengers and six crew crashed soon after takeoff from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport on Feb. 11, killing everyone on board. It was en route to the city of Orsk, just north of the Kazakhstan border. 

The plane was a Russian-made twin-engine Antonov An-180. Frozen-over speed sensors are suspected to have given incorrect readings, leading to the accident, with investigations ongoing as of press time. 

Worldwide, the crash was the...

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An Iran Aseman Airlines flight carrying 60 passengers and six crew crashed into the side of a mountain on Feb. 18, killing everyone on board. The twin-engine turbo-prop airplane was flying from Tehran, in northern Iran, to Yasuj, in the south.

Poor weather conditions and difficulty in reaching the crash site delayed recovery and investigation expeditions, which were ongoing at press time.

Three suicide bombers targeted a market in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, on Feb. 17, killing at least 20 people and injuring at least 20 others. The bombers were identified as young women.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Islamist militant group Boko Haram is suspected. Boko Haram is known for using women suicide bombers, particularly in Maiduguri.

An attack by militants on a boarding school in the town of Dapchi, northern Nigeria, caused hundreds of...

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