A Venezuelan veterinarian has been arrested in Spain after remaining fugitive for years. The man, identified only as 33-year-old Andrés L.E., is charged with implanting packets of liquid heroin in puppies traveling from Colombia to the United States to be sold as pets, in order to smuggle the drug into America.
A new study has found that, in addition to causing thousands of deaths and continuing nearly unabated in parts of West Africa, the Ebola virus has resulted in at least 74,000 cases of malaria going untreated, with those infected too fearful of being quarantined for Ebola to seek medical care.
Supporters of the world’s wealthiest terrorist group, the Islamic State (ISIS), have begun circulating images on social media, confirmed by anti-ISIS activists, of gold coins minted within ISIS strongholds, allegedly a “currency” that will be put to use in the near future.
Chinese state media outlet the People’s Daily released a report this week claiming that artificial island construction and the usurpation of international waters in the South China Sea would improve “marine meteorological monitoring, warning, forecasting, prediction and scientific research,” and benefit all neighboring countries with claims in the region.
Yang Xiaoyun, a 65-year-old retired schoolteacher, traveled 1,500 across China to the Yulin Dog Festival, where she bought 100 dogs with $1,000 and saved them from being dismembered alive, cooked, and served with lychees to celebrate the summer solstice.
Two teen girls interrupted afternoon prayers at a mosque in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, with explosives, killing between ten and 30 people. The girls are believed to have been sent by Boko Haram, and one of the girls allegedly pulled away from the attack, ensuring that only she was killed.
Thousands of Greeks rallied in Athens’ Syntagma Square on Monday demanding their government find a solution to their debt crisis that would allow Greece to remain in the Euro. The protest highlights the persistent demand from the Greek people that they remain within the Eurozone, even as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ negotiation tactics put that reality in jeopardy.
The government of Chad has intensified its efforts against the jihadist terrorist group Boko Haram following a bomb attack on the nation’s capital, N’Djamena. After banning the Islamic burqa veil, Chad announced a new series of air strikes against the terror group along the borders with Nigeria and Niger, and has begun efforts to detain “beggars” and foreigners to increase safety in the capital.
Following protests from Guyana that the socialist Venezuelan government is attempting to usurp international waters for itself, the Colombian government issued a statement this weekend rejecting a Venezuelan decree claiming waters off the coast of Colombia for itself.
Kenyan law enforcement is offering ten million Kenyan shillings–slightly more than $100,000–for information which could lead to the capture of Andreas Martin Mueller, a German national who left his homeland to fight for the jihadist group al-Shabaab and remains on the run after an attack on a military base.
UN-organized peace talks between the competing Sunni and Shiite sides of the growing Yemeni civil war ended explosively after a journalist threw a shoe at a Houthi leader, prompting a melee between multiple parties at the resulting press conference. United Nations mediators nonetheless stated they were optimistic the two sides would resolve to end violence.
Following a bizarre statement that the “reclamation” of South China Sea areas historically not belonging to China is near completion, the Chinese government announced the passing of a new law which would require all private, civilian maritime vessels to be ready for military use “in cases of emergency.” Such a move converts civilian ships into military ships at any time.
Days after an unprecedented attack on Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, Boko Haram has raided multiple villages in neighboring Niger, also a member of the coalition helping Nigeria eradicate the Islamist terror group. At least 38 people were killed in the attack, with dozens now displaced as homes and businesses were burned.
Thailand has confirmed its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) following travel warnings issued against South Korea by Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, as that nation struggles to limit the number of cases of the deadly disease, which takes an estimated 40% of the lives it touches.
Uruguayan authorities removed what is being described as an “incomplete” explosive device left near the Israeli Embassy in that country. While the artifact itself was deemed harmless due to faulty construction, it is the third such bomb scare for that nation’s Israeli Embassy this year.
As the 2016 election in Uganda approach, officials have begun working to crack down on an increasingly popular witchcraft trend in the African nation: child sacrifice, typically the result of extreme mutilations while the child is alive that leaves them unable to recover.
Officials in the Dominican Republic have promised they would not enact “mass deportations” of over 200,000 illegal Haitian migrants after the conclusion of a “regularlization” program meant to provide adequate paperwork to foreigners who had been living and working in the country illegally.
The government of Chad, a mostly Muslim African nation, has banned the wearing of the Islamic full-face veil, or burqa, across the nation, as well as any “religious turbans” that may be used to hide explosives. The move follows a deadly attack in the nation’s capital, N’Djamena, believed to have been orchestrated by jihadist terror group Boko Haram.
Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described a move by France to keep illegal migrants trapped in Italy and out of France as a “slap in the face” this week, while the nation’s Prime Minister hinted at the possibility of providing the migrants with temporary residence passes that would allow them to legally enter the rest of the European Union, stating Italy was considering some form of “Plan B.”
The Islamic State’s conquests in Iraq and Syria– from the largest metropolitan areas to the most unassuming villages of both nations– have raised alarm around the world. And as the Kurdish forces on the ground lament a lack of resources necessary to finish the job, their call has summoned a broad coalition of Western military veterans using the internet to fund trips to the front lines of the war on ISIS.
Five Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IL) jihadists attempted to take advantage of the open Akçakale border crossing between Turkey and Syria to escape Kurdish forces in the latter, only to be arrested on the other side by the Turkish government. The ISIS contingent on the Syrian border is in disarray, as Kurdish forces have officially retaken the pivotal town of Tal Abyad.
As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan arrives this week, Chinese officials are reportedly forcing everyone from Communist Party members to schoolteachers to vow they will not participate in the traditional fast during this month, or exhibit their religion in any way. The ban follows similar restrictions in western Xinjiang province last year.
The Chinese government announced in an official statement on Tuesday that it would “complete” the usurpation of Philippine, Vietnamese, and territory of other nations in the South China Sea “soon.” No timeline was given, nor were any geographic limits set to the expansion in the Spratly and Paracel Islands.
As Turkey’s majority Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) scrambles to build a coalition government in the legislature, the largest minority party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has suggested pairing up with other minority parties to keep the AKP out of the ruling coalition entirely.
Doctors in Port Loko, a northwestern region of Sierra Leone outside Freetown, are reporting a significant drop in the number of mothers bringing their children to hospitals for routine vaccinations. The mothers, they say, fear exposing their children to a resurgent Ebola virus, and in keeping them from hospitals are risking triggering the spread of polio or measles.
