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Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/22/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-to-vaccinate-troops-as-polio-seen-in-gaza

At least 40 Haitians have been killed at sea and several people were injured after their boat caught fire, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. The boat, which was carrying more than 80 people, departed from Fort Saint-Michel in northern Haiti on Wednesday for the Turks and Caicos islands, a 250km (155-mile) journey, the IOM said on Friday, citing the country’s migration authority. The boat caught fire off the coast of Cap-Haitien in Haiti’s north, according to the United Nations migration agency, which said 41 people were rescued by the Haitian coastguard. Eleven people were being treated for injuries, including burns. People on the boat used matches to light candles in a ritual to ask for safe passage, leading gasoline-filled drums to catch fire and explode, Jean-Henry Petit, who heads the civil protection office in northern Haiti, told the Miami Herald newspaper. “This devastating event highlights the risks faced by children, women, and men migrating through irregular routes, demonstrating the crucial need for safe and legal pathways for migration,” said Gregoire Goodstein, IOM’s chief in the country. Haiti has, for years, been roiled by violence with armed gangs fighting for control of territory. In February, gangs launched coordinated attacks in the capital, Port-au-Prince, taking control of police stations and key access roads, opening fire at the main airport, and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee. More than 570,000 Haitians have been internally displaced as a result of the violence, according to the UN. “Haiti’s socioeconomic situation is in agony. The extreme violence over the past months has only brought Haitians to resort to desperate measures even more,” said Goodstein. Several hundred Kenyan police officers have arrived in Haiti as part of a UN-mandated mission to help police in the Caribbean nation fight the gangs. The IOM said that more than 86,000 migrants and refugees have been forcibly returned to Haiti by neighbouring countries this year. In March alone, despite a surge in violence and the closure of airports throughout the country, forced returns increased by 46 percent, reaching 13,000 people. Since February 29, the coastguard in the north has observed an increase in the number of attempts and departures by boat. Coastguards from countries in the region, including the United States, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos islands, and Jamaica, have also reported a growing number of boats originating from Haiti being intercepted at sea. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/20/at-least-40-haitians-killed-in-boat-fire-un-migration-agency-says

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday offered Pakistan’s support to Oman in the elimination of terrorism in all of its forms. The statement came after the ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman, Fahad Sulaiman Khalaf Al Kharusi, paid a courtesy call on PM Shehbaz earlier today. The premier strongly condemned the dastardly terrorist attack on a mosque in the Wadi Kabir district of Muscat on July 16 and appreciated Oman’s swift response and cooperation with the Pakistan mission in the repatriation of the bodies of the deceased and treatment of the injured. The attack claimed the lives of six people, including four Pakistani nationals, and left over 30 injured, nearly all of whom were Pakistanis. PM Shehbaz said Pakistan had itself been the victim of terrorism for the past several decades. During the meeting, the prime minister conveyed his best wishes for Sultan Haitham bin Tariq while recalling his telephonic conversations with the Sultan on Eidul Adha and Eidul Fitr earlier in the year. The premier also reiterated his invitation to the Sultan of Oman for an official visit to Pakistan at his earliest convenience. On the bilateral front, PM Shehbaz stressed, saying: “Pakistan and Oman enjoy close, brotherly ties with a shared history, faith and culture.” He expressed Pakistan’s desire to further strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries, particularly in trade, investment, energy, and defence. In this regard, the premier thanked the ambassador for encouraging a trade and investment delegation that will visit Pakistan next week. He assured the visiting dignitary that the relevant Pakistani authorities would extend full cooperation to the delegation while seeking mutually beneficial outcomes. The Omani envoy thanked the prime minister for receiving him and conveyed to him the greetings of the Sultan of Oman. He reaffirmed his country’s desire to further enhance its trade and investment relations with Pakistan. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1211250-pakistan-extends-support-to-oman-in-combating-terrorism-after-imambargah-attack

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/20/israels-war-on-gaza-live-calls-grow-on-israel-to-end-palestine-occupation

A spokesperson for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) confirmed Friday that the bodies of four Pakistanis, who died in a rare attack at a mosque in Muscat, Oman, have been repatriated to Pakistan. The assault — for which the terrorist organisation Daesh took responsibility and Pakistan labelled as a “dastardly” terror attack — occurred on Monday evening at the Ali bin Abi Talib mosque in the Wadi al-Kabir neighbourhood of Muscat. The Royal Oman Police said the three gunmen — all Omani nationals — were brothers and “were killed due to their insistence on resisting security personnel”. It said that police investigations had indicated the three gunmen were “influenced by misguided ideas”. The six people killed by the gunmen were four Pakistani nationals, an Indian, and a police officer responding to the attack. Twenty-eight others were injured. In the statement, the PIA said the body of deceased Syed Qaiser had been brought to Karachi and would later be transported to Lahore. Meanwhile, the bodies of Ghulam Abbas and Hasan Abbas have been transported to Islamabad, while Suleman Nawaz’s to Lahore. It was the first known operation claimed by the Daesh group in the sultanate, which is among the most stable countries in the Middle East. Monday’s attack came ahead of Ashura, an annual day of mourning that commemorates the seventh-century martyrdom of Imam Hussain, his family, and companions in the battle of Karbala. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1211133-remains-of-pakistanis-slain-in-oman-terror-attack-return-home

Dozens of people have been killed in Bangladesh as nationwide student protests over the allocation of civil service jobs took an increasingly violent turn. On Friday student demonstrators continued to clash with police and pro-government activists after days of protests, with government buildings torched and telecommunications severely disrupted. “Everything remains very volatile, intense, and it’s very critical right now,” said Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from the capital, Dhaka. “Just a quarter mile from where I am, there are about six universities, which were demonstrating since morning, and we can still hear gunfire, stun grenades and all sorts of noises coming from that area because the students refused to leave.” The death toll from Thursday’s violence had risen to 32, the AFP news agency reported on Friday. That number could not be immediately verified. Al Jazeera had previously reported that at least 19 protesters were killed by Thursday night, with the majority in the capital, Dhaka. Others were killed in protests in nearby Narayanganj and the eastern city of Chittagong. The death toll could rise with reports of clashes in nearly half of the country’s 64 districts. More than 1,000 people have been injured. A police statement issued after a near-total shutdown of the nation’s internet – imposed by the government on Thursday – said protesters had torched, vandalised and carried out “destructive activities” on numerous police and government offices. Among them was the Dhaka headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which remains offline after hundreds of students stormed the premises and set fire to a building. The police statement said that if the destruction continued, they would “be forced to make maximum use of law”. Police issued a daylong ban on all public rallies in Dhaka on Friday, Commissioner Habibur Rahman told AFP. Telecommunications networks were reportedly down, with only some voice calls working in the country and no mobile data or broadband on Friday morning. Calls from overseas were mostly not getting connected. Social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp were not loading. Student protesters said they would extend their calls to impose a national shutdown on Friday, and urged mosques across the country to hold funeral prayers for those who have been killed. Government ‘conciliatory’ The nationwide agitation, the biggest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected earlier this year, has been fuelled by high youth unemployment, with about a fifth of the country’s 170 million population out of work or education. Protesters are demanding the state stop setting aside 30 percent of government jobs for allies of Hasina’s Awami League party, which led the country’s independence movement. The jobs are reserved for family members of veterans who fought for the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971. A further 26 percent of jobs are allocated to women, disabled people and ethnic minorities. This leaves about 3,000 positions for which 400,000 graduates compete in the civil services exam. Students pushing for a merit-based system have been demonstrating for weeks but the protests escalated after violence broke out on the campus of Dhaka University on Monday, with students violently clashing with police and the student wing of the Awami League. The government shut all public and private universities indefinitely on Wednesday and sent riot police and the Border Guard paramilitary force to campuses. Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury said the government had been “conciliatory”. “The law minister announced that the prime minister has instructed him to come to a compromise and sit down with the quota protesters,” he said. But students he had spoken to said they wanted “police and pro-government student-wing members brought to justice” before they would “even consider sitting with the government”. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/19/bangladesh-student-protests-over-jobs-escalate-telecoms-disrupted

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/19/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-bombs-un-run-school-refugee-camp-in-gaza

Sixteen people were killed after a fire broke out at a shopping mall in southwest China on Wednesday, according to Chinese state media. Dramatic images showed a huge column of black smoke billowing from the 14-story building in the city of Zigong, Sichuan province. Several people were also seen gathered on a balcony. About 30 people were rescued from the blaze after nearly 300 emergency workers and dozens of vehicles were dispatched from the local fire department to the scene, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Preliminary investigations suggest the fire was caused by construction work, CCTV said, citing local authorities. Rescuers work at the site of the fire in China’s Zigong city on July 17, 2024. Visual China Group/Getty Images In a statement Thursday, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management urged rescue workers and provincial officials to determine the cause of the fire as soon as possible, and to learn lessons to ensure greater security in the future. Such incidents are not uncommon in China, where enforcement of safety standards is often lax. In January, a fire at a mixed-use building in southeast China killed at least 39 people just days after another blaze at a boarding school in central Henan province killed 13 children. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/17/china/china-shopping-mall-deadly-fire-intl/index.html

After a deadly terrorist attack on Bannu Cantonment two days ago, Pakistan has issued a “strong demarche” to Afghanistan and demanded the Afghan Taliban-led interim government to take “immediate action” against the perpetrators of the terror incident. At least eight Pakistan Army soldiers had embraced martyrdom as security forces effectively thwarted a terrorist attack at Bannu Cantonment killing all 10 militants two days ago, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Tuesday. The terrorists attacked the Bannu Cantonment in the early hours of July 15 but their attempt to enter the facility was effectively thwarted by the security forces personnel, resultantly the militants rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the cantonment, the military’s media wing had said. In a statement today, the Foreign Office said the deputy head of mission of the embassy of Afghanistan in Islamabad was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today to deliver Pakistan’s strong demarche over the deadly terrorist attack on Bannu Cantonment. The FO said the terrorist attack was carried out by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group based in Afghanistan. The militant group along with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians and law enforcement officials in multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, the statement added. Islamabad urged Kabul to “fully investigate and take immediate, robust and effective action against the perpetrators of the Bannu attack and to prevent the recurrence of such attacks against Pakistan using the territory of Afghanistan”. Pakistan reiterated its serious concerns over the presence of terror outfits inside Afghanistan that continue to threaten Pakistan’s security. “Such incidents also go against the spirit of bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries,” it read. The FO spokesperson added that the “Bannu Cantonment attack is yet another reminder of the serious threat posed by terrorism to regional peace and security”. Reiterating the call for decisive action against terrorism, the statement said Pakistan “remains steadfast in its commitment to combat this menace and to uphold its security against all threats”. ‘Major catastrophe prevented’ The ISPR had said that the Bannu suicide blast led to the collapse of a portion of the wall and damaged the adjoining infrastructure, resulting in the martyrdom of eight brave sons of soil. “This timely and effective response by the security forces prevented a major catastrophe, saving precious innocent lives. The gallant and selfless action of the security forces is a testament to their unrelenting resolve in the fight against terrorism,” read the statement. The attack, as per the ISPR, was carried out by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group operating from Afghanistan and has used the neighbouring country’s territory to carry out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan in the past as well. It is to be noted that Pakistan, back in November 2023, had summoned the head of the Afghan diplomatic mission in Islamabad and demanded the extradition of terrorist Gul Bahadur — the leader of a faction of the outlawed TTP. Bannu Cantt attack comes as Islamabad time again called on the Afghan Taliban administration in Kabul to prevent its soil from being used by various banned outfits responsible for terrorist attacks against Pakistan. Last month, the government approved the launching of operation “Azm-e-Istehkam”, a renewed national anti-terror drive, in light of the surge in terrorist attacks in the country in recent months. The country, during the second quarter of 2024 witnessed 380 violence-linked fatalities and 220 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, resulting from as many as 240 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations, said a Security Studies (CRSS) Annual Security report. This includes 236 fatalities among civilians and security forces personnel, the report said. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces – both bordering Afghanistan, were the epicentres of violence, accounting for nearly 92% of all fatalities and 87% of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) during this period. Individually, the former suffered 67% and the latter 25% of all fatalities in Q2, 2024. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1210697-islamabad-urges-kabul-to-take-immediate-action-against-terrorists-involved-in-bannu-attack

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/7/18/israels-war-on-gaza-live-all-rules-of-war-broken-as-gaza-schools-bombed