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A high-speed passenger ferry traveling between Hong Kong and Macau on Oct. 26 hit a significant object in the water, lost power and began to take on water, though it did not sink. At least 124 of the 174 passengers and crew on board were injured, including five who were listed in critical condition. Many passengers had to wait hours to board rescue boats.
The ferry struck the object, which has not been identified, about 30 miles from Macau.
The US Department of State warns that violent crime in Venezuela is pervasive, both in the capital, Caracas, and in the interior. According to the nongovernmental organization Venezuelan Violence Observatory, Venezuela has the second-highest homicide rate in the world.
The US Department of State advises against nonessential travel to Sierra Leone because both routine and emergency medical care are limited there. Some hospitals still have insufficient infection control, despite focused training and private clinics, and laboratories remain closed.
Air carriers chartered by insurance companies are unable to reliably provide medical evacuation services in Sierra Leone or the region, and local ambulance services for transport to the airport are generally unavailable.
The US Department of State warns against all travel to Libya because of ongoing violence between Libyan militias. Many military-grade weapons remain in the hands of private individuals, US- and UN-designated terrorist groups and other armed groups.
The US-recognized Libyan government, which is based in Bayda, on the northeast coast, lacks control over much of the country. On the northwest coast, Tripoli and its environs are controlled by a coalition of militias known as Operation Dawn as well as by affiliated authorities calling themselves the National Salvation Government.
In Cape Town, university students protesting a proposed tuition hike stormed the South African parliamentary complex on Oct. 21. Police responded with stun grenades and arrested 29 protesters for public violence. Protesters also gathered in Johannesburg, but no police action was reported. Due to the protests, 10 national universities temporarily shut their campuses.
An Australian tourist in the city of Bangalore in southwestern India claimed that a group of Hindu political activists, members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), confronted him on Oct. 20 over a Hindu tattoo on his leg, threatening to skin his leg to remove the tattoo. The tourist was later taken into police protection, where he says he was forced to write a letter of apology.
In late September and early October 2015, three Muslims in Uttar Pradesh state, in the north, were killed in separate incidents by Hindu mobs due to rumors that they were eating beef.
Two suspected suicide bombings in northeastern Nigeria on Oct. 23, the first at a mosque in the city of Maiduguri in the state of Borno and the second at a mosque in Yola in Adamawa state, killed at least 61 people and injured many more. As of press time, no group had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
In Israel, protests by Palestinians at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem that began on Sept. 13 escalated into a series of stabbings and police retaliations in late September and into October.
As of press time, Israeli security forces had killed at least 60 Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, with 11 Jewish Israelis killed in knife and gun attacks during the violence. Many more people were injured. Attacks occurred mostly in Jerusalem but also in the West Bank and other Israeli cities.
In Ankara, Turkey, two suicide bombers targeted a peace rally on Oct. 10, killing at least 97 people and injuring more than 200. The rally, organized by leftist Turkish groups, was staged to call for an end to violence between the Turkish government and the pro-independence Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale killed at least 390 people and injured more than 2,000 in northeastern Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan on Oct. 26, with thousands reported injured. At least 7,600 houses were destroyed. The earthquake also caused landslides and avalanches, but none were reported in residential areas.