World
67 journalists killed around the world so far in 2022
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has renewed its call on the international community for concrete action to protect the safety and freedoms of journalists as it recorded a spike in the numbers of journalists killed or imprisoned during 2022.
On Saturday, the IFJ released the latest figures, to mark International Human Rights Day, and stated 67 journalists and media workers had been killed in the line of duty in 2022 compared to 47 last year.
According to the IFJ, the war in Ukraine accounts for 12 media fatalities, the highest number in the 21 countries where deadly incidents have been recorded. In Mexico and Haiti a surge in killings was recorded with 11 and six killed respectively.
In Asia Pacific, the new leadership in the Philippines brought no respite to deadly attacks on journalists with four killings while five journalists lost their lives in the political crisis in Pakistan.
The Middle East and Arab World saw the killings of media professionals rise from three last year to five, including the shooting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
The IFJ’s list also shows that political repression has reared its head during 2022 from China to Belarus, and from Egypt to Hong Kong, Iran, Myanmar, Turkey and Russia in a bid to silence media and crush protests for freedom.
Journalists have been among the first victims of the crackdowns with at least 375 journalists and media workers currently behind bars, IFJ reported.
China and its allies in Hong Kong top the list with 84 journalists in jail, followed by Myanmar (64), Turkey (51), Iran (34), Belarus (33), Egypt (23), Russia and occupied Crimea (29), Saudi Arabia (11), Yemen (10), Syria (9) and India (7).
World
Death toll from migrant rush into Spanish enclave in North Africa rises to 72
Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.
The death toll from a mass rush of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week reached at least 72 on Sunday, as five more bodies were found along the North African coast, officials said, Reuters reported.
The number of fatalities was considerably higher than what was announced by Moroccan authorities on Sunday.
More than 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea in an unprecedented surge that began on Thursday at one of the European Union’s only two land borders with Africa, prompting alarm across the bloc. More than 48,000 returned to Morocco within 48 hours and more did so over the weekend, Spanish authorities said.
The Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, told reporters on Sunday that, in addition to the 72 fatalities, more than 1,000 people had been treated by health services. The situation in the enclave had improved markedly, he said, but more remained to be done to re-establish normality.
Some migrants drowned and others were crushed while trying to climb a breakwater and border fence. Many had been driven to migrate by economic hardship and encouraged by social media rumours.
Morocco’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 11 people had died, mostly by drowning while trying to cross into Spanish territory, noting that it was fact-checking reports on deaths from the other side of the border, read the report.
The ministry blamed the rush of migrants on social media misinformation, human trafficking networks and misinterpretation of a Spanish ruling banning immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea. That statement is similar to the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s comments on the matter.
Moroccan authorities set the number of those involved in the crossing at 40,000, far lower than the figure used by Spanish officials, adding that 1,135 were stopped from entering Melilla, another Spanish enclave.
The statement reiterated that Morocco was committed to countering illegal migration and called for the burden of managing migration to be shared.
“It pains me deeply that young people are dying at sea. It’s not right that, in the year 2026, women with children as young as two months old should be crossing the sea only to die,” Karima Abenaz, a French national in Ceuta with family in Morocco, said while holding back tears.
“In Morocco, there’s food, there’s everything we need,” she added. “If we don’t have a decent job, we should go on strike and demand our rights from the government. We shouldn’t be dying at sea, it’s not right.”
Ceuta leader Juan Jesus Vivas told the newspaper El Pais the city’s morgue had received 88 corpses, including some who had died in earlier, smaller attempts to reach the territory in hazardous night-time swims over the past two weeks. He said Moroccan authorities were also recovering bodies from the sea, but no official information was available.
Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.
Twenty-two European Union member states wrote a letter asking for coordinated action to protect external borders and other measures after the Ceuta incident. Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for one month, Reuters reported.
Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants than most other EU countries, introducing a programme to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.
It has rejected suggestions that the scheme encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying that those who entered the enclave irregularly could not travel on to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.
World
Three killed, two injured in shooting at Idaho shopping center
Authorities said at least two other people were wounded and transported for medical treatment. Their conditions were not immediately released.
Three people, including the suspected gunman, were killed and at least two others were injured after a shooting at a busy shopping area in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, local authorities said.
The incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m. local time near an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in a high-traffic commercial district, according to Josh Palmer, the city’s public information coordinator.
Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said the suspected shooter was among the dead and confirmed that the threat to the community had been eliminated.
“At this point, the shooter is no longer a threat,” Hicks told reporters, adding that investigators are working to identify the suspect and determine a motive for the attack.
Authorities said at least two other people were wounded and transported for medical treatment. Their conditions were not immediately released.
Following the shooting, the Twin Falls Police Department temporarily closed roads surrounding the scene, including a nearby bridge, as officers secured the area and launched an investigation.
Twin Falls, with a population of about 47,400, is located in Idaho’s Magic Valley region.
Police have not yet released additional details about the victims or the circumstances surrounding the shooting, and the investigation remains ongoing.
World
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