News in Brief

Date: 08 August 2021 - 22:02

News ID: ۹۳۱۶۴

KADUNA (Dispatches) – A lawyer of Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky says the Nigerian government is seeking to file a new lawsuit against the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria as part of attempts to prevent him from leaving the country for medical treatment. “We have news that the Nigerian government is planning to file a lawsuit against Sheikh Zakzaky and submit it to a higher court in Nigeria, which means that it wants to file a new lawsuit against Sheikh,” Ishaq Adam, a member of Sheikh Zakzaky’s defense team, told the Islam Times news website. Asked whether the new lawsuit has reached the court, Adam said, “No, so far we have not received this complaint, not even the judge of the Supreme Court, and this issue has only been published in the Nigerian news circles and media.” The lawyer elaborated on the aim of the lawsuit and said the Nigerian government wanted to “continue the trial of Sheikh Zakzaky or re-arrest him.” On July 28, the high court in Nigeria’s central state of Kaduna acquitted Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife, Mallimah Zeenat, of all the charges brought against them back in 2015 and ordered them released.

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WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The U.S. Army in Europe and Africa has announced plans to retain six military sites that were previously scheduled to be returned to Germany and Belgium in face of growing demand for facilities on the continent. A seventh military facility in Germany will be transferred to the U.S. Air Force, said an Army statement as cited in an AP report. The sites were originally announced for closure in 2015 and, in one case, 2010, the report noted, adding, however, that the decision was reassessed by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden as demand for more military installations in Europe outgrew construction and renovation. The announcement came after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a months-long “global posture” review just days after taking office back in January. That review is not yet complete, but is expected to be finished by next fall. The review, according to the report, will assess how the U.S. military “can best arrange and support its worldwide network of troops, weapons, bases and alliances to align with changing foreign policy and security threats” set forth by the Biden administration. This is while the administration has reiterated that it views China – rather than terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda or the Daesh -- as the top national security challenge, and that the posture review could involve additional movement of U.S. troops and military assets to the Pacific region.

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CHICAGO (Dispatches) – A shooting incident has left an officer killed and another critically injured in Chicago, Illinois, amid a spike in gun violence across the U.S. According to the police, the incident took place at around 9pm on Saturday as the officers were conducting a traffic stop on the city’s South Side. “The Chicago Police Department has lost one of our own in an incomprehensible act of violence. A 29-year-old female officer assigned to the Community Safety Team was shot and killed in the line of duty Saturday night. A second officer was also shot and is in critical condition,” Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown said in a statement. The officers were taken to a hospital, where the female one was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Two suspects were taken into custody shortly after the shooting, according to police communications from the scene. Chicago has continued to struggle this summer with gun violence. Three people were fatally shot and 17 others were injured in four separate incidents in a single night last month. The incidents of mass shootings have seen an alarming surge in the U.S. in recent years, reigniting the debate over gun control laws and misuse of lethal weapons.

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CHIBOK (AFP) – One of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants more than seven years ago is free and has been reunited with her family, a state governor’s office says. Nearly 300 schoolgirls, most aged between 12 and 17, were abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014 from Chibok in northeast Nigeria, sparking an international outcry and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign for their release. Over the years, many of the girls were released or found by the military, but more than 100 are still missing, Amnesty International said in April to mark the seven year anniversary of the abduction. Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum said in a statement that Ruth Ngladar Pogu surrendered to the military last month along with a person she said she had married. “I am extremely excited both as Borno’s Governor and father of all sons and daughters of the state, and also as a father to daughters,” the statement said. “I know the feeling of families of those still under captivity but we have to remain hopeful especially with today’s development.” Nigeria’s armed forces are still fighting to end the 12-year insurgency in the country’s northeast, a conflict that has left 40,000 people dead and displaced more than two million others. Mass kidnappings in Nigeria have again made international headlines this year as heavily armed criminal gangs have targeted schools and colleges to abduct students for ransom.

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SOUTH HAMGYONG (Dispatches) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has mobilized the military to carry out relief work in areas recently hit by heavy rains, amid concerns over food shortages. Kim issued the order on Sunday to “render powerful national material and financial support to South Hamgyong Province in its recovery campaign,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). More than a thousand homes were damaged and about 5,000 people evacuated after heavy rains caused flooding in the southern province, the news agency reported, adding that “hundreds of hectares of farmland” were submerged or lost in the region. Officials discussed “emergency measures to promptly stabilize the living of people in the disaster-hit areas, further tightening emergency epidemic prevention work and minimizing the damage to crops,” the report said. Natural disasters tend to have a greater impact on North Korea, which is under harsh sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. The U.S. has spearheaded those sanctions.