Police in northwestern Pakistan say an angry mob Wednesday led by local Islamist clerics vandalized and set on fire a Hindu temple.
The attack took place in district Karak of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Witnesses said area police dispersed the crowd of about 1,000 people, but not before they demolished the minority community’s worship place.
A post-attack video clip circulating on social media showed the large group of people assaulting and tearing down the walls of the Hindu temple. Police confirmed an under-construction adjacent private home of a Hindu also was demolished.
Residents said the minority community had intended to extend the worship place and sought formal permission from the district administration.
The move reportedly drew strong denunciation from leaders of local Islamic parties, who organized Wednesday’s mob to demand the removal of the century-old temple.
The district police chief told reporters the attack was under investigation and promised legal action against “all the people who took the law in their hands.”
Pakistani Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari denounced the attack and urged provincial authorities to bring to justice those responsible.
“We as a govt have a responsibility to ensure safety & security of all our citizens & their places of worship,” she tweeted.
The Hindu temple had previously been attacked and destroyed in 1997, before it was reconstructed in 2015 on orders of Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
Extremist attacks on the worship places of minority communities in majority-Muslim Pakistan are not uncommon.
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Month: December 2020
Vladimir Putin: President for Life?
For Russians, the past year saw a national vote to approve changes to their constitution … including an amendment granting longtime leader Vladimir Putin the right to remain president through the year 2036. And as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, the question now is … will he?Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montanana
Producer: Henry Hernandez
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British Lawmakers Approve Trade Deal with EU
Britain’s House of Commons voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a trade deal with the European Union, the last major step in London’s yearslong split from the continent’s 27-member governing body. With a day to spare, lawmakers voted 521-73 in favor of the Brexit deal that Britain reached with the EU last week. It will become British law after passing through the unelected House of Lords and gets a formal royal assent from Queen Elizabeth. Britain left the EU almost a year ago, but its economic split will be finalized Thursday at midnight in Brussels. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, and European Council President Charles Michel show signed EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreements at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Dec. 30, 2020.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel signed the agreement in Brussels early Wednesday. The documents were then flown by a Royal Air Force plane to London for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to add his signature. “The agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union has displayed an unprecedented level of unity,” Michel said. “It is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the fundamental interests of the European Union and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies.” Johnson heralded the pact as “a new relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals.” UK chief trade negotiator David Frost looks on as Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson signs the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement at 10 Downing Street, London, Dec. 30, 2020.It has been 4 1/2 years since Britain voted 52% to 48% to leave the bloc it joined in 1973. Starting Friday on New Year’s Day, the trade deal ensures that Britain and the EU can continue to trade goods without tariffs or quotas. That should help protect the $894 billion in annual British-EU trade, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it. But Brexit will also bring inconvenience, such as the need for tourists to have insurance when traveling between the EU and Britain and for companies to fill out millions of new customs declarations. But Johnson said Brexit would turn Britain from “a half-hearted, sometimes obstructive member of the EU” into “a friendly neighbor — the best friend and ally the EU could have.” He said Britain would now “trade and cooperate with our European neighbors on the closest terms of friendship and goodwill, whilst retaining sovereign control of our laws and our national destiny.”
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Uganda Authorities Arrest Bobi Wine During Campaign Stop
Ugandan soldiers arrested opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine during a campaign stop Wednesday in the Kalangala district. This is the third time Wine has been arrested since launching his campaign to unseat President Yoweri Museveni. “Kalangala is not one of the districts where campaigns were banned,” said Joel Senyonyi, spokesperson of Wine’s National Unity Platform party or NUP. “So, he went to campaign, but to his shock when he got there, the military surrounded him and arrested the entire team, 90 of them. Took them to different places. We understand he’s being airlifted, we don’t know to where.” FILE – Yoweri Museveni, who has been president of Uganda since 1986, speaks at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Sept. 4, 2019.Senyonyi says the Museveni government is trying to frighten the NUP. “But clearly all these are illegal acts being done by the regime, to intimidate us, to break our resolve,” he said. “But we are a lot more resolute than before. We’ll keep pressing him, we’ll keep going. Mr. Museveni must go.” The Ugandan police in a statement asked the public to disregard what they call false claims by the National Unity Platform that Wine has been arrested. Police say Wine was restrained for continuously holding massive rallies amid the threat of coronavirus, in what police called a total disregard of the electoral commission and Ministry of Health guidelines. The police say Wine is being transferred to his home in the capital, Kampala. They also say that part of Wine’s advance team was arrested because they were caught on camera deflating the tires of police motor vehicles, inciting violence, obstructing police officers on duty, violating the health and safety protocols, and various traffic offenses. Human rights lawyer releasedEarlier in the day, human rights lawyer Nicholas Opio was released on bail after nine days in prison. Authorities have charged Opio with money laundering, but critics say he is being prosecuted for his support of the opposition. A court in process hears a bail application of human rights lawyer Nicholas Opio, on screen, who faces charges of money laundering, in Kampala, Uganda, Dec. 30, 2020. (Halima Athumani/VOA)According to the human rights organization Chapter Four, at the time of his arrest Opio was collecting evidence surrounding killings and arrests that occurred during two days of protests last month. Fifty-six people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces after Wine was arrested in mid-November. Critics say the Ugandan government has been targeting civil society organizations and leaders, particularly those who have taken part in election activities. Uganda holds a presidential election on January 14.
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Afghan Pilot Gunned Down in Kandahar
An Afghan air force pilot was gunned down Wednesday in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. Police confirmed to VOA the killing of a member of the military but did not share any other details. A security source, who did not want to be named, said Massoud Atal, a military helicopter pilot, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen roughly a kilometer away from the governor’s house on Wednesday. Atal was a resident of Kandahar and was trained in the Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates. No group has claimed responsibility for the pilot’s death. Targeted killings, especially of journalists and activists, have been on the rise in Afghanistan recently. At least five journalists have been killed in the country in the last two months. On Tuesday, Afghan Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi blamed the increase in attacks on the Taliban. Briefing the Afghan Senate, Andarabi said suspects arrested in relation to the recent killings have revealed that the Taliban has created a cell to target people such as journalists, government employees, and civil society activists. The killings are taking place just as the Taliban is set to begin a second round of peace talks with an Afghan government-sanctioned negotiating team in Doha on January 5, 2021. The two teams agreed upon the code of conduct in the first round and will start negotiating the agenda of the talks. The government side is expected to demand that a cease-fire, or a significant reduction in violence, be the top agenda item. The Taliban have resisted announcing a cease-fire.
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Thousands Flock to India’s Taj Mahal Despite Coronavirus Fears
India has raised the number of visitors it will allow into the Taj Mahal monument to 15,000 per day despite warnings from health officials that overcrowding at tourist sites could lead to a rise in coronavirus cases.
The 17th-century mausoleum, one of India’s most popular tourist destinations, was shut in March after the government imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
When it reopened in September, visitors were initially only allowed back under strict restrictions but local officials said numbers had swelled in recent weeks, pushing them to increase the cap on tourists from 10,000 per day.
“The limit has been increased to 15,000 tickets per day so that every tourist can get the ticket and admire the monument,” government archaeologist Vasant Kumar Swarnkar said.
On Wednesday, thousands of tourists, many without masks, flocked to the white marble monument, crowding around a ticket window. Families also strolled through the gardens surrounding the Taj Mahal.
Federal health officials warned on Tuesday that over-crowding at tourist spots could lead to another spike in coronavirus cases, with concern over the new, more infectious strain from Britain that has been detected in India.
India has recorded the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus cases after the United States and nearly 148,500 people have died. But daily cases have hit a six-month low after a peak of around 98,000 in September.
For tourists like Pawan Gaur, who travelled to Agra from the western state of Rajasthan, visiting the Taj Mahal was a way of relaxing after what he said was a difficult year.
“People were bored of staying home during the pandemic,” he said.
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Putin Signs Amendments to ‘Foreign Agents’ Law
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law legislation that human rights watchdogs and opposition politicians have said will undermine democratic processes.The legislation, which came into force on December 30, included a series of amendments to the controversial law on “foreign agents” to allow individuals and public entities to be recognized as “foreign agents” if they are considered to be engaged in political activities “in the interests of a foreign state.”Entities that have received the label will be required to report their activities and face financial audits.Putin Signs Amendments Allowing Large Fines for ‘Foreign Agents’ Law ViolationsCritics say law is used to muzzle dissent, discourage the free exchange of ideas and a free pressPutin signed a separate bill imposing penalties of up to five years in prison to those identified as “foreign agents” who do not register as such or fail to report on their activities.Grounds for being recognized as a “foreign agent” could be holding rallies or political debates, providing opinions on state policies, actions promoting a certain outcome in an election or referendum, or participation as an electoral observer or in political parties if they are done in the interest of a foreign entity.Amnesty International has slammed the proposed legislation, saying it would “drastically limit and damage the work not only of civil society organizations that receive funds from outside Russia but many other groups as well.”Critics say the “foreign agent” law, originally passed in 2012 and since expanded through amendments, has been arbitrarily applied to target Russian civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and political activists.Putin also signed a bill allowing media regulator Roskomnadzor to partially or fully restrict or slow access to foreign websites that “discriminate against Russian media.”The legislation is expected to affect major social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
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Britain Drug Regulatory Agency Approves Second COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use
The year 2020 is ending with good news about two more potential vaccines that could slowly bring an end to the global COVID-19 pandemic that has killed nearly 1.8 million people out of a total of nearly 82 million infections. Britain’s medical regulatory agency announced Wednesday that it has granted emergency authorization of a coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Late-stage clinical trials of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine revealed it to be 70% effective against COVID-19. The vaccine had a 62% efficacy rate for participants given a full two doses, but tests of a smaller sub-group revealed it to be 90% effective when given a half-dose followed by a full dose weeks later. The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine is the second to be approved by Britain for its mass inoculation effort, which began earlier this month with the vaccine developed by U.S.-based Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. The new vaccine will be distributed across the country within days, with Britain having already ordered 100 million doses. Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which needs to be stored in super-cold refrigerators at temperatures below 70 degrees Celsius, the newly approved vaccine can be stored at normal temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, making it easier to transport and administer to people in poorer and remote nations. But the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has come under intense scrutiny over the number of people who took part in the smaller sub-group, which was just 2,741, and whether it is effective for people over age 55. In a related development, Chinese state-owned drug maker Sinopharm is seeking regulatory approval for its COVID-19 vaccine after it was found to be 79.3 percent effective against the disease in a final large-scale clinical trial. The vaccine, developed by Sinopharm’s subsidiary Beijing Biological Products Institute, is one of five vaccines developed by Chinese companies that have already been administered to more than one million people in China under its emergency use program while still undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials. The United Arab Emirates granted emergency use approval for a Sinopharm-developed vaccine earlier this month after it was shown to be 86% effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of the virus in a late-stage clinical trial back in September. Wednesday’s vaccine news comes just days after several European Union countries began inoculating its citizens after receiving a first shipment of 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Vaccinations also began Wednesday in Singapore, with a 46-year-old nurse the first in the city-state to be inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The nurse is one of more than 30 staffers at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases to receive the first dose of two-shot vaccine, with the second dose to be delivered sometime in January. Singapore, which has one of the lowest rates of total infections with just 58,569, including 29 deaths, is the first Asian nation to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It expects to have enough vaccine doses for all its 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, another potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S.-based drug maker Novavax has begun final-stage testing in the United States. The trials involving 30,000 volunteers will focus on high-risk older adults, as well as people from Black and Hispanic communities who have been disproportionately affected by the virus.
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Argentina’s Senate Votes to Legalize Abortion
Argentina’s Senate voted early Wednesday to legalize abortion, setting off cheers from the crowd of thousands of people gathered outside who supported the measure.
The 38-29 vote came after 12 hours of debate.
The bill allows abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy. After that time, abortions are allowed in cases of rape or if the mother’s life is in danger.
The country’s lower house approved the measure earlier this month, and President Alberto Fernández supported it.
Fernández tweeted after the vote that “safe, legal and free abortion is now the law,” and that Argentina is “a better society that expands women’s rights and guarantees public health.”
Argentina is the largest country in Latin America to legalize abortion.
Pope Francis, who is from Argentina, reflected the Catholic Church’s opposition in a tweet before the vote. He wrote, “The Son of God was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God.”
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US ‘Stands Ready’ to Try Militant Behind Daniel Pearl Murder
The U.S. Attorney General said Tuesday the United States “stands ready” to try a militant convicted of murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl whose release was ordered by a Pakistani court. The decision by Sindh High Court to release the accused comes months after it sparked outrage for overturning the murder conviction and death sentence of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and acquitted three other men connected to the case. The four are being held under the emergency orders of the local government while an ongoing appeal against their acquittals is heard in the Supreme Court, but defense lawyers argued against their continued detention in the south of the country. “We remain grateful for the Pakistani government’s actions to appeal such rulings to ensure that (Sheikh) and his co-defendants are held accountable,” acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement, calling the acquittals “an affront to terrorism victims everywhere.” FILE – Pakistani police escort Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted in the 2002 killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl, as he exits a court in Karachi, Pakistan, March 29, 2002.”If, however, those efforts do not succeed, the United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here,” the statement said. “We cannot allow him to evade justice for his role in Daniel Pearl’s abduction and murder.” Sheikh, a British-born jihadist who once studied at the London School of Economics and had been involved in previous kidnappings of foreigners, was arrested days after Pearl’s abduction and later sentenced to death by hanging. In January 2011, a report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University following an investigation into his death made chilling revelations and said that the wrong men had been convicted for Pearl’s murder. The investigation, led by Pearl’s friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Asra Nomani and a Georgetown University professor, claimed the reporter was murdered by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, not Sheikh. Pearl was South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story about Islamist militants. A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the U.S. consulate nearly a month later.
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Boko Haram Landmines Kill 11 Nigerian Security Personnel
Landmines planted by Boko Haram jihadists have killed 11 security personnel, including four soldiers in northeast Nigeria, security sources said Tuesday.Seven hunters recruited to help the military fight the Islamist insurgents were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a landmine in the village of Kayamla, outside Borno State’s capital Maiduguri.”Seven hunters died in the explosion and nine others are badly injured,” Babakura Kolo, the head of a local anti-jihadist militia, told AFP.”Their vehicle hit a landmine as they were pursuing Boko Haram insurgents,” he added.Another local militiaman confirmed the incident.Four Nigerian soldiers were killed on Monday when their vehicle hit a landmine planted by Boko Haram fighters in Logomani village near the border with Cameroon, two security sources told AFP.There has been a sharp increase in attacks in northeast Nigeria since the start of the month.Last week 40 loggers were kidnapped and three killed near the Cameroonian border.On Christmas Eve, Boko Haram killed 11 people, burnt a church and seized a priest in a village near Chibok, where it notoriously kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls six years ago.Boko Haram and a splinter group known as ISWAP have killed 36,000 people in the northeast and forced roughly two million to flee since 2009, according to the United Nations.
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Bangladesh Relocates 2nd Group of Rohingya Refugees
Bangladesh has moved a second group of Rohingya refugees to a low-lying island in the Bay of Bengal, despite strong opposition by international human rights activists.Officials say more than 1,800 Rohingyas arrived at Bhasan Char aboard several ships Tuesday, a day after leaving the overcrowded, squalid camps in the Cox’s Bazar district.Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said Monday the refugees are being relocated to what he called a “beautiful resort.”Momen maintained that the island was “100 times better” than the camps where the refugees are presently housed, and that they had “appealed” to be taken to Bhashan Char.But the refugees themselves and humanitarian workers have said that some of the Rohingya had been coerced to accept going there.Earlier this month, the first group of more than 1,600 Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar were taken to Bhashan Char.International and local humanitarian agencies, as well as rights groups, have objected to the move, saying the island, which is several hours away from the mainland by boat, is flood-prone, subject to frequent cyclones and could be submerged during a high tide.Bhashan Char emerged from the sea 20 years ago and has never been inhabited.More than 730,000 Rohingya have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state for neighboring Bangladesh after attacks by Rohingya militants against state security forces in August 2017 led to brutal military “clearance operations” that the U.N. said was tantamount to “ethnic cleansing.”Myanmar has repeatedly denied the ethnic cleansing charge, saying its troops targeted Rohingya militants.
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Taliban Denounces Western-Style Kabul Fashion Show
Afghanistan’s radical Taliban has angrily reacted to a rare fashion show held recently in Kabul, where young girls and boys, mostly in Western clothes, took part in the ramp walk.In a commentary published on its official website, the Islamist insurgent group condemned last week’s event as a demonstration of “obscene Western culture” that “trampled all religious and Afghan values.”Fashion shows are not uncommon in the war-ravaged country, but they have always featured male and female models in loosely fitted traditional Afghan dresses. The Taliban statement vowed to defend all religious and national cultural values. “The aspirations of the proponents and viewers of the modeling show will be destroyed, God willing,” it warned. Organizers of Saturday’s private show said it was arranged to select “Mr. and Miss Afghanistan 2020” from a group of 60 participants.“The youth should be trained and introduced to the modeling world, as well as to TV and (the) movie industry in Afghanistan,” Afrasiab Arabzada, a show organizer, told the local TOLO television channel.The Taliban introduced a harsh Islamic governance system in the country during its five-year-rule from 1996 to 2001. The group banned music and barred girls from receiving an education and women from working outdoors.The controversy over the fashion show comes as the Taliban and representatives of the Afghan government are due to resume peace talks in Qatar on January 5, after a break of three weeks.The two Afghan warring sides, however, announced before pausing the process on December 14 that they had agreed on the rules for conducting future negotiations. Members of Kabul’s negotiating team have since been quoted by the Afghan media as claiming the Taliban’s ideology and views have not changed.“The Taliban have the same views they had 25 years ago about women, music, arts, elections, freedom of speech and human rights,” a recent TOLO TV report quoted unnamed government negotiators.The Taliban denies it opposes education for girls or intends to undermine women’s rights.The so-called intra-Afghan peace talks are a crucial outcome of the agreement the United States signed with the Taliban in February this year, aimed at ending nearly two decades of war.The Taliban has promised to reduce violence and negotiate a political power-sharing deal with Kabul to end four decades of hostilities in Afghanistan. The Taliban is also bound under the deal to fight terrorism on Afghan soil and renounce ties with al-Qaida.In return, all U.S. and allied troops are required to leave the country by May 2021. In recent days, however, Afghan and U.S. officials have criticized a sustained spike in insurgent violence as a threat to the peace process.Top Afghan security officials Tuesday told the Afghan Senate that the Taliban had launched more than 18,000 attacks, including suicide bombings and targeted killings, in the last 10 months.They also accused the insurgents of being behind a string of attacks that targeted and killed high-profile civil society activists, journalists and government officials in recent weeks.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the allegations as “enemy propaganda” to malign his group. He told VOA that the number of insurgent attacks in 2020 was the lowest since the beginning of the war.“Unlike the past, we have not carried out big attacks and bombings in (Afghan) cities, including Kabul, in the outgoing year,” Mujahid said. “However, in areas where the fighting is taking place, we are only defending ourselves against enemy aggression or taking defensive measures to stop them from establishing bases in our (Taliban) areas.”
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Argentina’s Senate Poised to Vote on Legalizing Abortion
Argentina was on the cusp of legalizing abortion Tuesday over the objections of its influential Roman Catholic Church, with the Senate preparing to vote on a measure that has the backing of the ruling party and already has passed in the lower house.
If passed, the bill would make Argentina the first big country in predominantly Catholic Latin America to allow abortion on demand. The vote is expected to be close after what was expected to be a marathon debate, beginning at 4 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) and likely to stretch into Wednesday morning.
Demonstrators both for and against the bill came from around the country to stand vigil in front of the Senate building in Buenos Aires. Argentine senators attend a session to debate an abortion bill in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 29, 2020.”Argentina is a pro-life country,” one woman, who said she was from Cordoba province, told local television as she sat in a folding chair under an umbrella sheltering her from the Southern Hemisphere summer sun. She and others who knelt in prayer nearby said they were against the proposed change in law.
Maria Angela Guerrero of the Campaign for Legal Abortion activist group, speaking to reporters in front of the Senate, said she was “cautiously optimistic” the bill would pass.
On the other side of the debate is the Catholic Church, which is calling on senators to reject the proposal to allow women to end pregnancies up to the 14th week. Argentina is the birthplace of Pope Francis.
Argentine law now allows abortion only when there is a serious risk to the health of the mother or in cases of rape.
A woman against an abortion bill prays as Argentina’s Senate prepares to vote on a measure that has the backing of the ruling party and has already passed the lower house, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 29, 2020.Legal abortion is extremely rare in Latin America because of the long history of opposition by the Church. Across the region, abortions are available on demand only in Communist Cuba, comparatively tiny Uruguay, and some parts of Mexico.
The change in law has been rejected by Argentina’s Congress before, but this is the first time such a bill is being presented to lawmakers with support from the ruling government. In 2018, before center-left Peronist Alberto Fernandez was elected president, a similar bill was rejected by a slim margin.
The measure is accompanied by side legislation aimed at assisting women who want to continue their pregnancies and face severe economic or social difficulties.
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Earthquake in Croatia Kills 5
Five people, including a 12-year-old girl, died after a magnitude-6.4 earthquake swept through central Croatia Tuesday, destroying several buildings, injuring at least 20 people and causing tremors in neighboring countries, according to officials.
The epicenter of the quake, Petrinja, a town of about 25,000 people, sustained the worst damage. On Monday it was hit by a 5.2 quake. Tuesday’s quake saw people run out onto rubble-covered streets for safety.
“The biggest part of central Petrinja is in a red zone, which means that most of the buildings are not usable,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said when he and other government ministers arrived in Petrinja after the earthquake.
State television reports four people were killed In Glina. The prime minister confirmed the fifth casualty was a young girl in Petrinja.
The army has been dispatched to the area to help rescue people from the rubble. At least two people are seriously injured. Rescue operations also are underway in Sisak, a neighboring town.
Some injured people have been treated for “fractures, concussions and some have had to be operated on,” said Tomislav Fabijanic, head of emergency medical services in Sisak.
Plenkovic said people will have to be moved from Petrinja “because it was unsafe” to be here.”
The government says it also has made arrangements for people displaced by the quake to find accommodations. The Croatian army is providing about 500 places for victims, while others will be housed in hotels and other habitable places, according to the government.
Twelve countries including Serbia, Slovenia, Austria and Bosnia also felt tremors, according to Hina, Croatia’s news agency.
Buildings shook for a couple of minutes in the city of Graz and the Carinthia province in Austria. Local news media report residents said their furniture and furnishings shook for several minutes.
In Slovenia, the STA news agency reports authorities shut down its nuclear power plant as a precautionary measure.
Croatia’s Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said the country has sought help from the European Union and is awaiting assistance.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter she spoke with Plenkovic and instructed an envoy to travel to Croatia as soon as possible.
Earthquakes are not uncommon in Croatia, but ones as strong as this have not been felt since the 1990s, when the village of Ston was destroyed.
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Security Experts Dispute Authorities Claims Over Nigerian Schoolboy Abductions
Nigerian security experts are casting doubt on the claim by authorities that tensions between farmers and cattle herders led to the recent wave of kidnappings in the northwestern state of Katsina. More than 300 schoolboys were abducted earlier this month but later released. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.Authorities in Katsina initially blamed the mass abduction of 344 schoolboys on gangs of bandits who have kidnapped other people for ransom in the northwestern Nigerian state.Then officials reversed course, tying the abductions to cattle herders at odds with farmers about how to use the land. Fresh Kidnapping of 80 Students in Nigeria Shows Worsening Insecurities Experts say security chiefs incompetent to handle the situation But retired police commissioner and security analyst Lawrence Alobi disagrees with the idea that herders carried out the attack.”The herdsmen don’t have any problem with the school authorities or the students,” said Alobi. “Their problem is with farmers, where they can graze their cattle. So, I don’t know the relationship between the abduction of those students and the farmers clash.”Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the abduction of the schoolboys and released a video footage showing some of the abducted boys before their release.The claim, if verified, would mark a turning point for the group, which to date has been active almost exclusively in the northeast of the country.Security expert Kabir Adamu says he believes the abductions were carried out by bandits acting on orders from Boko Haram sect leader Abubakar Shekau.”The call may have been placed at his direction. What is more important is who makes the calls,” Adamu said. “So, if the bandit groups that carried out the attacks have subjected themselves to the authority of Shekau, then it means he’s the one who finally made the call.”Conflicts between cattle herders and crop farmers have lingered in Nigeria for many years, and thousands of been killed during violent clashes over grazing land.The Miyetti Allah cattle herders association did not speak about the accusations from police, but the group played a role in negotiating the release of the schoolboys.Alobi says blaming farmers and herders clashes for abductions may be downplaying or dismissing the possibility of expanding extremism in other regions of the country.”The government is trying to play on the psychology of the people to allay fears, but I think the government should be sincere to the people so that everything will be based on facts,” said Alobi.Nigerian authorities in 2016 declared that Boko Haram was technically defeated and recently refuted the group’s claims over the kidnapping, describing it as whimpers from a dying horse.But security experts will be monitoring the situation closely to see what happens next.
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