Uyghurs in China

Uyghurs in China

 

Mehbube Abla, a 38-year-old Uyghur from Ghulja, a city in western Xinjiang. In 2004, she left China to study abroad and has never returned. All the members of her family who stayed in Xinjiang have been imprisoned.

There are 11 million Uyghurs, a Muslim Turkich nation, living in the western province of Xinjiang in China. Widely portrayed as “motherland separatists” or simply “terrorists” in Chinese mainstream media, this group has been targeted more systematically since Xi Jinping became president of China in 2012.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Uyghurs have been deprived of basic human rights, including freedom of religion, of movement, and also of using their native language. And according to various testimonies and sources, over 1 million Uyghurs – as well as other Muslim minorities  are in internment camps. Some camp detainees are also sent to Xinjiang’s vast prison system.

Given the secrecy surrounding these internment camps, which China describes as “vocational training centers“, the exact number of people currently detained is difficult to ascertain, but hundreds are believed to have died in internment. More detailed information is available in the Xinjiang Victims Database.

Abla is active on social media, where she advocates for Uyghurs’ human rights. 

Russian military lashes out at UN over aid to Aleppo

Russian military lashes out at UN over aid to Aleppo

The Russian military is criticizing the United Nations for dragging its feet on delivering humanitarian aid to the areas of Aleppo, which have been recently seized by Syrian government forces.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that the Russian military has been the only source of food, medicine and other supplies for 90,000 residents of Aleppo's neighborhoods seized by the Syrian army this week.

In Friday's statement, Konashenkov called on Jan Egeland, a senior U.N. aid official for Syria, to move faster to provide aid to the area.

Russian-backed Syrian government troops have made significant gains in the rebel-held eastern part of the city since the weekend.

Afghan official says Taliban militants kill 23 civilians

Afghan official says Taliban militants kill 23 civilians

An Afghan police official says that Taliban militants have killed 23 civilians in Kandahar Province in the last 48 hours.

Gen. Abdul Raziq Kandahar said Friday that the killings took place in different areas of the Nash district. He did not provide further details.

Raziq said that around 29 Taliban fighters and six members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in ongoing battles in the district in recent days.

2 Filipino militants who left bomb near US Embassy captured

2 Filipino militants who left bomb near US Embassy captured

Philippine police say they have captured two local sympathizers of the Islamic State group who they alleged tried to detonate a bomb near the U.S. Embassy and prompted authorities to raise a terror alert.

National police chief Ronald de la Rosa says the militants, who were arrested Wednesday, left the homemade bomb made from an 81mm mortar round in a trash can near the embassy after failing to detonate it at the nearby Rizal Park, their initial target. The bomb also failed to explode near the embassy.

Dela Rosa said Thursday that Rashid Kilala and Jiaher Guinar, who belong to a small Muslim armed group called Ansar Al-khilafa Philippines, wanted to impress the Islamic State group and divert the military's focus from an offensive against fellow militants in the south.

Syrian government presses on in Aleppo, thousands displaced

Syrian government presses on in Aleppo, thousands displaced

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Aleppo as pro-government Syrian forces press on with their campaign to reclaim the divided city.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Wednesday more than 50,000 out of an estimated quarter-million inhabitants have been displaced by attacks on rebel-held eastern Aleppo over the past 4 days. Many of them fled to safer ground in areas under government or Kurdish control.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says around 20,000 people have fled.

The Lebanese Al-Manar TV channel reported from the Aleppo countryside that pro-government forces were advancing in the southern portion of the city's rebel enclave.

The government has seized much of the northern half of the enclave in a swift advance that began Saturday.

7 injured by turbulence as China airliner approaches Sydney

7 injured by turbulence as China airliner approaches Sydney

Officials say seven people were injured when a Chinese airliner hit turbulence at it approached Sydney airport.

China Eastern Airlines general manager Kathy Zhang said five passengers and two crew members were taken to a hospital after Flight 777 from Kunming in China landed Tuesday. She said all are in stable condition.

The Ambulance Service said in a statement that three complained of neck pain and the others suffered back pain, a minor head injury, a jaw laceration and a wrist injury.

Lufthansa pilots on strike again, 816 flights canceled

Lufthansa pilots on strike again, 816 flights canceled

Pilots at German airline Lufthansa are on strike again after a two-day break in their campaign of walkouts.

The company has canceled 816 short-haul flights scheduled for Tuesday. The walkout by the Cockpit union is to be followed Wednesday by a strike hitting both short-haul and long-haul services.

Lufthansa has canceled 890 flights scheduled Wednesday.

The strikes follow four consecutive days of walkouts last week. Lufthansa and Cockpit are far apart in a pay dispute that has dragged on for more than two years.

Lufthansa on Monday failed to persuade a Munich court to issue an injunction blocking the latest strike. The company says that around 82,000 passengers will be affected by Tuesday's walkout and 98,000 by Wednesday's.

Spain: Police arrest 4 suspected of IS armed group links

Spain: Police arrest 4 suspected of IS armed group links

Spain's Interior Ministry says police have arrested four people suspected of having links to an illegal migration network believed to have been used by the Islamic State group to move militants to Europe, including those involved in last year's Paris attacks.

A ministry statement said the four had links with the so-called "Syrian refugee route" that the Islamic group is thought to have used to get the Paris attackers to Europe via the Greek island of Leros in October 2015.

Police believe the four arrested Monday had contacts with two extremists arrested in Salzburg, Austria, shortly after the November 2015 attacks.

Two were arrested in towns in northwestern Spain and two others in the southeastern city of Almeria.

No details on their identities were released.