Tag: InternationalNews

{Reported murders over family shame surged from 28 in 2014 to 251 last year, according to figures given in parliament.}

India has registered an almost 800 percent rise in the number of killings in the name of “honour” reported last year, according to figures presented in parliament.

Indian police registered 251 cases of honour killings in 2015, compared with 28 cases reported in 2014 when the government began counting them separately from murder, according to a statement this week by Junior Home Minister Hansraj G Ahir to India’s parliament.

The surge could partly reflect more willingness by people to report such crimes, which many still consider just punishment for women and men who defy communal customs by marrying outside of their religion, clan, or caste.

Often the perpetrators are relatives seeking to punish young couples for bringing “shame” to the family.

Women’s rights activists say the government must pass legislation to recognise the crime as unique in order to target perpetrators for prosecution.

“These figures show that the government has to take this as a priority,” said Sudha Sundararaman, head of the All India Democratic Women’s Association.

Though police are now asked to count these killings separately, the lack of a separate law defining such crimes means some police officers still record them in the larger murder category and do not investigate the cases further, she said.

Killings in the name of honour are still common enough among Hindus and Muslims to regularly make newspaper headlines in a country where most marriages are arranged by families.

“Only because of sustained campaign by women’s groups, a separate category was created for compiling cases of honour killing to get a real picture of the heinous crime. But there are still many cases that go unreported,” Kirti Singh, a Supreme Court lawyer, was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

Most cases are reported in northern states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where caste councils wield enormous power in village life.

OPINION: How can we stop killings in the name of honour?

The highest number of such killings recorded last year was in Uttar Pradesh, where police counted 131 killings compared with just two cases in 2014, Ahir said, citing data from the National Crime Records Bureau.

Such a jump “is astronomical” and needs to be looked into, Deputy Inspector General D K Chaudhary said.

Women’s activists say the number still vastly underestimates actual figures. One 2011 study suggested about 900 people were murdered in the name of honour ever year in India.

{{Under-reporting}}

“There is severe under-reporting of such crimes. Families are often ashamed to report such crimes,” said Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women.

Raja said the situation had worsened in the past few years, noting an increasing trend in village councils run by unelected elders promoting conservative, anti-women values in the name of preserving Indian culture and tradition.

“Indian society is unwilling to accept the choices made by young women when it comes to their marriage,” said Ranjana Kumari of the Centre for Social Research, a New Delhi-based think-tank.

“People also have to learn to respect women.”

{An 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia’s Sumatra island has killed at least 92 people and trapped dozens in rubble.}

Scores have died and dozens were feared trapped in rubble after a strong earthquake struck off Aceh province on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, officials and local media said.

The army chief in Indonesia’s Aceh province, Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman, told DPA news agency that 92 people have died in the shallow 6.5-magnitude undersea quake that struck early Wednesday.

The national disaster mitigation agency on the other hand, said that 78 people have suffered serious injuries from the quake.

Pidie Jaya district chief Aiyub Abbas also said that hundreds of people in the district had been injured and dozens of buildings had collapsed.

There was an urgent need for excavation equipment to move heavy debris and emergency supplies, Abbas said.

Said Mulyadi, deputy district chief of Pidie Jaya, told the AFP news agency that seven children were among the dead, with a local hospital overwhelmed by the number of people arriving with injuries.

“The hospital here couldn’t take the patients, so we sent some to the neighbouring district,” he said.

The quake struck at dawn, as some in the predominantly Muslim region prepared for morning prayers.

“It happened at five o’clock this morning, people were shaken by a heavy earthquake,” Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Jakarta, said. “People rushed out of their houses, because they have the experience from 2004 when a huge Tsunami hit Aceh and many died.”

Vassen said many people rushed to surrounding hills to seek cover.

{{‘Death toll likely to rise’}}

No tsunami alert was issued and there was no risk of a tsunami according to Indonesian authorities.

But mosques, homes and shops were flattened in the quake, with images from the worst-hit areas showing significant damage.

The local disaster management agency said rescue efforts were under way to save those trapped beneath collapsed buildings.

“Some people are still trapped inside shophouses, and we are trying to evacuate them using heavy machines and by hand,” local agency head Puteh Manaf said.

“At the moment search and rescue operation is underway, teams are still heading to the area also trying to find more survivors,” said Al Jazeera’s Vaessen. “But the death toll is likely to rise … there are people believed to be trapped in buildings.”

Seismologists said the earthquake was felt across much of Aceh province, which was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

At least five aftershocks followed the quake, said Eridawati, local head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.

Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June, a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.

A huge undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed parts of Aceh.

The tsunami killed more than 170,000 people in Indonesia and tens of thousands more in other countries around the Indian Ocean.

{German leader seeks her party’s support ahead of election, promising tougher refugee policy and calling for a veil ban.}

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a public ban on the full-face veil as her political party gears up to back her for a fourth term in office.

The suggested policy won Merkel overwhelming applause on Tuesday from about 1,000 delegates ahead of her conservative Christian Democrats’ (CDU) party conference vote, which is expected to return her for the ninth time as its chief.

She said the Muslim full-face veil was not compatible with German culture.

“Here we say ‘show your face’. So full veiling is not appropriate here. It should be prohibited wherever legally possible,” she told the crowd to cheers.

A year ago, the CDU rejected such a ban.

The party has already begun drawing up plans for banning the full veil in areas such as courts, police checks, and while driving vehicles.

Merkel also told delegates that last year’s influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees would not happen again.

“A situation like that [in] the summer of 2015 can and should not be repeated,” Merkel said at the two-day conference in the western industrial city of Essen. “This was and remains our declared political goal.”

She told the conference refugees had found protection in Germany against war, persecution, and lack of perspective in their troubled homelands. But she also said “not every refugee can stay”.

Merkel’s promises come a month after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States and at a time when Europe is reeling from a surge in far-right populism and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

Delegates celebrated the chancellor’s one-and-half hour speech with an 11-minute standing ovation.

{{AfD challenge}}

The CDU’s moves to forge a stricter approach to refugees at its conference comes in the wake of a string of state election successes by the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).

In particular, the AfD has siphoned votes from the CDU after capitalising on anger in parts of the German electorate over Merkel’s liberal refugee policy.

Polls show nevertheless that her CDU is the clear frontrunner in the general election, expected in September 2017.

The AfD is currently polling at about 12 percent nationally.

Merkel’s government has attempted to address public fears surrounding last year’s record influx of nearly 1.1 million refugees and migrants, mostly from predominantly Muslim countries.

Merkel, who has led Germany for 11 years, last month confirmed she would run for a fourth term but acknowledged the election would be “more difficult” than any other she has contested.

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{Al Jazeera journalist refused entry into Manama despite having submitted required paperwork on time.}

Doha, Qatar – Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) has been blocked from covering the 37th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Manama by Bahraini authorities.

Al Jazeera journalist Jamal Elshayyal was refused entry at Bahrain International Airport on Tuesday even though AJMN had followed all necessary procedures and submitted all requested documents to the relevant authorities on time.

“We applied for accreditation well before the deadline, submitting the names and passports as requested,” Elshayyal said in Qatar’s capital, Doha, after his return.

“I flew out to Manama this morning and upon reaching the immigration counter, I filled out the required form specifying I was a journalist and I was there to cover the summit.

“I was asked to sit on the side by the immigration officer who later informed me the Ministry of Information said Al Jazeera was not allowed to cover the event and I was rejected entry.”

Bahrain’s information ministry did not immediately return repeated calls and emails seeking comment.

Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said he did not have details on the incident but noted the Gulf kingdom’s track record on press freedom.

“Bahrain has jailed journalists, repeatedly cracked down on local and international coverage of protests, and banned international journalists from covering human rights abuses in the kingdom,” Mansour told Al Jazeera.

It was not the first time Bahraini authorities have prevented Al Jazeera from reporting on events in the country.

“Manama previously blocked Al Jazeera’s reporters from covering the 30th GCC summit, without providing convincing reasons,” AJMN said in a statement released on Tuesday.

“The network had prepared for special, comprehensive coverage of this important event,” it added.

No official reason has been received from Bahraini officials on why AJMN was refused entry.

“Al Jazeera condemns this measure, which is a deviation from the normal media protocols of host countries, and affirms that it will continue to cover news and events in Bahrain regardless of this ban,” the statement said.

The two-day summit in Bahrain’s capital is hosting Arab and Gulf leaders who are discussing regional and international issues, including the wars in Yemen and Syria.

This year’s summit is also being attended by British Prime Minister Theresa May, on her first visit to the region.

{Probe contradicts President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that imprisoned mayor linked to illegal drugs died in a gun battle.}

Philippine police killed a town mayor linked to illegal drugs while he was helpless in a prison cell, justice department investigators alleged.

The National Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday that it filed murder complaints against two dozen police officers and personnel last week after a probe showed they shot dead Mayor Rolando Espinosa and his cellmate Raul Yap in the central province of Leyte in November.

“The pieces of evidence, both testimonial and the forensic evidence, all agree. We believe we have a very strong case,” said Ferdinand Lavin, the NBI’s deputy director.

Prosecutors will rule whether there is enough evidence to indict the policemen.

The finding contradicted claims by the accused and President Rodrigo Duterte that the victims were killed in a gun battle.

Duterte had accused Espinosa, mayor of the town of Albuera in the eastern province of Leyte, of being a drug lord. He had initially given police “shoot-to-kill” orders if Espinosa did not surrender, prompting the mayor to turn himself in.

NBI said the policemen most likely planted pistols and illegal drugs in their jail cells to justify a police raid.

{{‘Shoot-to-kill’}}

A few days before police raided the Leyte jail, authorities made a thorough search of the detention centre but found no guns or illegal drugs, so it was impossible for Espinosa and Yap to have weapons and narcotics in their cells, the NBI said.

Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a promise to kill thousands of criminals to prevent the Philippines from becoming a narco-state.

Monday’s accusations deepened concerns that police were carrying out summary executions as part of Duterte’s controversial “war on drugs”, which has claimed more than 5,100 lives in about five months.

In a speech late on Monday, Duterte defended the police who killed Espinosa and said he believed their version of events.

“Do not force me to believe the theories and assumptions, even with the witnesses, that the mayor was killed [illegally] in the prison,” he said.

Duterte had previously signalled that he was happy Espinosa had been shot dead.

“You have here a guy, a government employee, using his office and money of government, cooking [illegal drugs] and destroying the lives of so many millions of Filipinos. So what is there for me to say about it?” he said last month.

Duterte’s police chief initially stood down the police officer in charge of the raid pending an investigation, but the president immediately reinstated him.

{Government forces further push into rebel-held areas as Russia and China veto ceasefire plan for besieged Aleppo.}

Syrian government forces gained more ground in the battle for Aleppo on Monday, as Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that sought a seven-day truce in the battered city.

Three weeks into their offensive, the army and allied militias seized the Qadi Askar neighbourhood overnight and were in control of about two-thirds of the former rebel territory in east Aleppo.

“The Syrian government and its allies are now about 800 metres from the citadel … They’re now in control of about 60 percent of what used to be the rebel-controlled east,” Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said, reporting from Gaziantep along the Turkey-Syria border.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the latest advances had left the large al-Shaar neighbourhood effectively encircled by government forces.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the army was attacking both from inside east Aleppo as well as from the government-held western districts.

“The regime is draining the rebel fighters of ammunition by opening many fronts at the same time,” he said.

The rebels defending al-Shaar may be forced to abandon it or risk being cut off from the other areas.

The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment.

“The regime advanced [into al-Shaar] and there were clashes all night. The clashes are still going on,” Zakaria Malahifji, a Turkey-based official with the Aleppo rebel group Fastaqim, told Reuters news agency.

A fighter with the Nour al-Din al-Zinki group in Aleppo said government forces had made advances on several fronts, putting al-Shaar under pressure, but it had not yet been besieged.

A rebel official in a third rebel group, the Jabha Shamiya, said al-Shaar had effectively fallen since government forces seized nearby areas that control access to it.

“Karm al-Jabal and al-Shaar are considered fallen,” the official with the Jabha Shamiya group told Reuters, speaking from Turkey.

President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have made steady gains since launching the assault to retake all of rebel-held east Aleppo nearly three weeks ago. Its loss would mark the biggest defeat for rebel forces in Syria’s five-year civil war.

Tens of thousands of east Aleppo residents have fled to other parts of the city to escape the fighting, which has raised widespread international concern.

Russia vetoed Monday’s resolution arguing that ceasefire would allow rebels to regroup, and that time was needed for talks between Washington and Moscow.

It was the sixth time Russia has vetoed a Security Council resolution on Syria since 2011 and the fifth time China has blocked action. The remaining 11 council members voted in favour.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had slammed the proposed temporary truce as a “provocative step”.

“Taking into account all aspects and the current development of the situation, the draft resolution coming against the backdrop of the Russian-American initiative is for the most part a provocative step that undermines Russian-American efforts,” Lavrov told a press conference.

He also said Moscow was confident that it would reach a deal with Washington in talks this week on the withdrawal of all rebels from eastern part of the city, adding that rebel fighters who refused to leave the city would be treated as “terrorists”.

“We know that Russia and the US consider [Jabhat] Fateh al-Sham a ‘terrorist’ organisation, which was formerly known as al-Nusra Front and linked to al-Qaeda. Now they’re saying, ‘if you don’t leave, all of you are going to be treated as terrorists,’” said Al Jazeera’s Dekker.

Russia has said all rebel groups must leave the area before it allows any access to humanitarian aid.

The Observatory says at least 319 people – including 44 children – have been killed in east Aleppo since the offensive began some three weeks ago.

Rebel fire on the government-held west of the city has killed 69 people, including 28 children, in the same period, the monitor says.

The White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, said that at least 24 people were killed and 85 injured in air strikes and shelling on Monday.

The latest government offensive has added to the misery in east Aleppo, which has been targeted by relentless government fire since it fell to rebels in 2012.

The city’s east was surrounded by government forces in mid-July, and no aid has entered the area since.

International aid provisions have been exhausted and other food supplies are dwindling, meaning many residents are surviving on a single meal a day.

Violence has continued elsewhere in the country alongside the Aleppo fighting, with at least 72 people killed in air strikes and barrel bomb attacks across the northwestern province of Idlib on Sunday, the Observatory said.

Most of those killed died in air strikes on the towns of Maaret al-Numan and Kafr Nabal, the monitor said, adding that those strikes appeared to have been carried out by Russia.

{Government-commissioned report raises concerns about lack of integration among local communities in the UK.}

A report sanctioned by the British government has said that the country has failed to keep up with the changes brought by immigration.

Dame Louise Casey published her findings on Monday more than a year after the report was commissioned by the former Prime Minister David Cameron.

The report raised concerns about the economic and social plight of many ethnic minorities living in Britain, but also strongly criticised cultural attitudes within those communities, specifically among Muslims.

Casey said “Cultural and religious practices” were holding many women within those communities back from making progress.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Monday morning, Casey, a former government official, blamed, the “misogyny and patriarchy” of some men in Muslim communities for leaving women socially and economically isolated.

She said such practices ran “contrary to British values”, and sometimes broke the country’s laws.

Casey set out a list of recommendations to address the issue, that included making new immigrants swear an oath to integrate into British society.

Responding to the report, the Muslim Council of Britain, said it would “carefully consider the details of Dame Louise’s findings and offer a substantive response” despite it being “championed by those who pursue a divisive agenda”.

“Any initiative that facilitates better integration of all Britons should be welcomed, and we certainly endorse the few, fair and supportable suggestions proposed by the Casey Review,” said the council’s chairman Harun Khan.

“This includes the promotion of the English language … and a range of measures to tackle exclusion, inequality and segregation in school placements.”

Khan said religion could be used to fight cultural practices such as forced marriages, but warned that the report failed to address the role played by white British communities in segregation.

“We need to improve integration, and it needs to involve the active participation of all Britons, not just Muslims.”

“As former Prime Minister David Cameron has stated, “integration is a two-way street”. The report has little discussion on white flight, and could have delved deeper into the economic structural barriers to integration.”

{{Political reaction}}

The Casey report drew positive reaction from across the political spectrum but for disparate reasons.

Far-right groups and populist newspapers focused on the report’s findings on the Muslim community, specifically the high concentration of Muslims in certain areas.

Labour Party MP Chuka Umunna said that the report demonstrated how the “lack of integration adversely impacts” society as a whole.

“A lack of integration deprives people of jobs and opportunities, increases isolation, ill-health and anxiety,” Umunna said.

“Above all, it is sapping our communities of trust at a time when, in an uncertain and changing world, it is all too easy to blame ‘the other’ for all our problems.”

The UK’s Communities Secretary Sajid Javid praised Casey for her “valuable contribution” and said he would be studying her findings “closely”.

“Our country has long been home to lots of different cultures and communities, but all of us have to be part of one society – British society,” Javid said.

{Celebrations marking the ruling continue as many worry government will overrule the army’s decision.}

In a remarkable feat of organisation on Sunday, thousands of people joined hands and formed a ring, a “prayer circle” around a camp at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers.

They were there to pray and show their support of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and other Plains Native tribes who objected to plans to put a crude oil pipeline across the Missouri.

The sun blazed on a snowy landscape and flags fluttered from hundreds of native tribes, activist groups and supporters from as far afield as the Canadian Arctic, Peru and Palestine. Then something remarkable happened.

A ring of people several kilometres long started cheering and raising their linked hands in celebration. The tribal chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, Dave Archambault, had just accounted the decision by US Army Corps of Engineers to deny a permit to put the pipeline under the river, at least in the current spot.

“This is it, this is why we’ve come,” shouted Mary from Minnesota, a teacher. Arnie, a pigtailed member of the Ojibway tribe from the same state, said his prayers had been answered.

“This is about praying for peace, praying for the right outcome, using non violence instead of guns and anger,” he said. He and Mary kept their hands tightly linked even as they spoke.

Over at the council fire – one of the seven sacred sites of fire that give the camp its name in the Sioux language – people were packed in tightly around a drum circle. Members of the Standing Rock nation in traditional clothing pounded the bison skin drums and sang songs of healing and victory.

“A big shout out to all who came here to support us,” said a chief in full-feathered headdress. “To the veterans, the faith leaders, the people from all 50 states, Canada, Mexico and around the world. Thank you.”

War-whoops and cheers rang out. The mood was ecstatic.

But away from the crowd, there were murmurs of disbelief and scepticism. Chase Iron Eyes, a lawyer and member of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, said his concerns were rooted deeply in Native American history, in the many broken promises of US governments over centuries.

“They are already violating our treaty by even considering this project,” he said. “This camp is on our land, the pipeline route on both sides of the river, goes through our land. This is only a small victory and we have to keep up this action, we can’t trust government or energy companies.”

Others spoke grimly of the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, continuing to drill and dig a tunnel beneath the Missouri River along the route that the US Army Corps of Engineers had denied.

People suggested that any fines that might be levelled against the project for ignoring the denial of the permit would be miniscule and short-lived. An incoming Trump administration, they said, would just approve the project again and the whole cycle of construction, resistance and protest would continue.

Sure enough late on Sunday night, Energy Transfer Partners issued a scathing, almost contemptuous statement. It said the US Army Corps of Engineers had made an “overt political” and blamed the outgoing Obama Administration, which, it said, had been unsupportive of the project in the past.

The company suggested it would indeed ignore the ruling, that it was “fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion … without any additional re-routing in and around Lake Oahe [the reservoir on the Missouri that the line was supposed to cross]”.

Then came the kicker.

“Nothing this administration has done … changes this in any way.”

It’s hard not to see that as a firm statement that work would continue, no matter what, and all barriers would be removed once President Donald Trump was in office.

Republican Party officials in North Dakota were no less blunt. One member of Congress, Kevin Cramer referred to the permit denial as a “chilling decision” and looked forward to next year when “adults” would be in charge in the White House.

As Monday morning dawned at the Oceti Sakowin camp, any air of celebration seemed to blown away by howling winds from the north. A snowstorm was the prelude to a week of deep Arctic temperatures. Trucks were still delivering firewood and men were making oil drums into stoves for warmth and cooking.

“We’re here for the long haul,” said one of those working on the stoves, “this isn’t over. We won’t leave until they do.” He pointed towards a line of hills to the north, where pipeline construction vehicles, floodlights and police Humvees were barely visible through the snow.

As he spoke, Reuters news agency was reporting that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said he would be reviewing the Army Corps of Engineers decision after he takes office in January.

As organisers here at the camp debate their next steps, it’s going to be interesting to see how many of the thousands now here will continue to brave the cold winds, and the resolve of a new government in Washington.

{Boat packed with at least 31 people reportedly chased by a Myanmar army speedboat as it tried to reach Bangladesh.}

Dozens have been reported missing, feared drowned, after a boat packed with Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar and trying to reach Bangladesh sank in a border river, according to the AFP news agency.

A Bangladeshi fisherman told AFP that he had rescued on Monday one woman, who told him that the “overcrowded” boat had sunk in the Naf river, after it was chased by a Myanmar army speedboat.

“We heard a woman’s desperate cry for help in the morning while we were fishing in the Naf. We quickly paddled to the spot and saw she was fighting to stay afloat,” fisherman Suman Das said by phone.

“The woman told us that their boat was overcrowded with Rohingya villagers who tried to cross the river to enter Bangladesh.”

The woman did not know what had happened to the others, and Das could not say how many people were on the boat.

But the private UNB news agency, quoting a Bangladeshi village councillor, said there were at least 31 Rohingya on board.

A Rohingya source told AFP by phone that the bodies of 13 women and children, two of whom had bullet wounds, had washed ashore in his village on Myanmar’s side of the Naf.

This could not be independently confirmed, however, and Bangladesh police and border guards said they were not aware of the incident.

An estimated 30,000 Rohingya have been forced to leave their homes since a bloody October crackdown by the Myanmar army in the western Rakhine state, where many of them live.

At least 10,000 have arrived in Bangladesh, the United Nations said last week, although Bangladesh said it has prevented large numbers from entering.

Myanmar has denied allegations of abuse, but has also banned foreign journalists and independent investigators from accessing the area to investigate.