International
Dagustan, a powder gag in the North Caucasus
The terrorist attacks that this Sunday claimed about twenty deaths in Dagestan, the most explosive republic in the Russian North Caucasus, once again put Russia’s security forces in strain, embraced in a exhausting military campaign in Ukraine.
And the recent history of Dagestan, a Muslim republic bathed by the Caspian and bordering Georgia and Azerbaijan, is dotted with terrorist actions, some of great magnitude such as the incursion led by the Chechen Shamil Basayev, which broke out the second war in Chechnya (1999-2009).
More than 96 percent of the inhabitants of Dagestan, a name that means “land of mountains”, are Muslims.
With just over 50,000 square kilometers and 3.2 million inhabitants, it is the most populous republic in the North Caucasus and its population is made up of a multitude of ethnic groups, as evidenced by its 15 official languages, including Russian.
The neighborhood with Chechnya, which in 1991 proclaimed its independence from Russia, granted Dagestan a key role in the two wars fought in the neighboring region.
Precisely in the Daguestani city of Jasaviurt, bordering Chechnya, Russia signed in 1996 the ceasefire agreement with the Chechen independence fighters, which the following year materialized in a peace treaty.
Dagestan was also the territory chosen by Basayev in 1999 to launch an armed incursion and proclaim, with the support of the Islamic State, the creation of a caliphate in the Caucasus.
Although in Chechnia, where Russia after almost ten years of war managed to impose its order, Islamist attacks were considerably reduced, the same has not happened in Dagestan.
On May 3, 2012, thirteen people died and more than 120 were injured in a double car bomb attack on a police post in Majachkalá, the Republican capital.
Sunday’s attacks against two Orthodox churches and two synagogues were not the first perpetrated against temples in Dagestan: on February 18, 2018, a man armed with a knife and a hunting shotgun killed five women in an Orthodox church in the city of Kiszliar, an attack claimed by the Islamic State.
In addition, in October 2023, a mob broke into the airport of the Dagestan capital and surrounded a hotel in search of Israeli citizens in protest against the bombing of the Gaza Strip
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
Central America4 days agoCosta Rica faces historic vote on lifting presidential immunity for Rodrigo Chaves
-
International2 days agoIsrael says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
-
International4 days agoTrump administration blasts judge’s ruling reinstating TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua
-
International4 days agoStudy finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
-
International1 day agoU.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
-
International2 days agoSeven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
-
International1 day ago
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction