The government in the Indian union territory of Jammu & Kashmir issued an order Dec. 25 extending the suspension of high-speed 4G internet services for a further two weeks. The order is efffective across the territory, excluding the districts of Ganderbal… Read moreIndia extends internet restrictions in Kashmir
China has mobilized thousands of troops backed up by armored vehicles to a contested area along the border with India in the Himalayas, where troops last month hurled stones at each other across the unmarked boundary known as the Line of Actual Control… Read moreHimalayan border conflicts escalate
Amnesty International condemned China for banning family members from visiting the resting places of people who perished in the 1989 Tiananmen Square repression. This is the first time in 37 years that the Chinese authorities have banned the visit. According to the Tiananmen Mothers group, the authorities notified family members of people who lost their lives in the 1989 massacre that they cannot travel to Beijing's Wan'an Cemetery or conduct any commemoration in the cemetery. (Photo: Hong Kong Alliance via Amnesty International)
The Zionist-fascist convergence under Bibi's regime is getting too blatant even for the habitually pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League, whose leader stayed away from a supposed "International Conference on Combating Antisemitism" held in Jerusalem under auspices of the Israeli government, headlining Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu—and also featuring several figures from the European and American xenophobic (and even anti-Semitic!) far right. (Image via frgdr Blog. Hebrew lettering in background spells names of places in Europe where Jews were exterminated.)
While Pope Leo XIV's castigation of warmongers has so far failed to turn around the hawks in the current US administration, it has won Cameroonians a temporary reprieve from secessionist violence. To mark the pope's visit, anglophone separatist groups said they would pause their fighting and allow the free movement of people. The pontiff may have stopped short of trying to mediate the nearly decade-long conflict in the majority French-speaking country, but he did urge President Paul Biya to root out corruption—and then lashed out at foreign exploitation of the continent. Leo also returned to his spiritual feud with the US administration. "Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," he told a gathering at Saint Joseph Cathedral in the city of Bamenda, within the conflicted region. (Photo: Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa)
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced a state of emergency following a wave of coups and attempted coups that have struck several member states of the regional bloc. The declaration was made during the 55th session of the ECOWAS Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, by the president of the bloc, Gambian diplomat Omar Touray. Since 2020, several military coups d'etat have taken place in West Africa, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. A coup attempt was launched days before the ECOWAS declaration in Benin, but was thwarted by Nigerian military intervention. A regional crisis is driven by armed insurgencies, economic hardship, and weak institutions, creating viable ground for military rule. (Map: World Sites Atlas)
Regional NGO alliance the People's Coalition for the Sahel is demanding the immediate return alive of human rights defender Daouda Diallo, secretary general of Burkina Faso's Collective Against Impunity & Stigmatization of Communities (CISC). The CISC announced that Diallo was abducted on a Ouagadougo street by at least four unidentified men in civilian clothes. Diallo's CISC has been riasing the alarm about ethnically targeted killings in Burkina Faso under the military regimes that have been in power since a January 2022 coup. It is believed Diallo may have been "requisitioned" by the armed forces to participate in the very counterinsurgency campaign that his group has been protesting. (Image: CISC via OHCR)
India's government has flooded the northern state of Jammu & Kashmir with troops and cut off internet access upon announcing the revocation of its constitutionally protected autonomy, and plans to divide the disputed territory into two new political entities with reduced power. Article 370 of India's constitution grants Jammu & Kashmir a high degree of autonomy, a concession to the demands of the territory's Muslim majority, many of whom favor independence or union with Pakistan. In addition to abrogating Article 370, Delhi announced plans for a bill to divide India-controlled Kashmir into two "union territories," which have less powers of self-government than states. A reduced Jammu & Kashmir Union territory would continue, at least, to have a legislature. But it would be separated from the Buddhist-majority region of Ladakh, which is to become its own union territory, without a legislature. Complicating matters further is that the populace of Ladakh itself is divided along sectarian and regional lines. News of the plan to separate Ladakh from Jammu & Kashmir was met with jubilation in the principal Buddhist town of Leh, but with foreboding in Kargil, an enclave within Ladakh inhabited by Ismaili Muslims. (Map via Wikipedia)
As India and Pakistan exchange military strikes in the wake of last week's massive suicide blast in Kashmir, many cities across India report cases of targeted violence against Kashmiri students and businesses by right-wing groups. Members of Yuva Sena, youth wing of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena, attacked Kashmiri students in Maharashtra. Colleges in Dehradun and Bhopal expelled Kashmiri students for posting objectionable content on social media about the suicide attack. A video surfaced on social media showing a Kashmiri man being beaten in Kolkata, West Bengal, by a mob which forced him to chant patriotic slogans like "Vande Mataram" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai" ("Mother, I praise thee" and "Victory to Mother India," two phrases appropriated by the Hindu-nationalist right). (Photo via KashmirWatch)
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock from three minutes to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight.
The India branch of Amnesty International closed its office after being accused of "sedition" by Hindu fundamentalists over its reports on human rights abuses in Kashmir.
Inter-caste violence and protests mount in India as corporate interests seize untitled peasant lands, increasing economic pressure on rural communities.
