News Watch

Militants attacked a military post in northern Burkina Faso on Nov. 14, killing 49 military police officers and four civilians. No group was identified as being responsible for the attack, but a number of Islamist militant groups allied with al Qaeda or Daesh (ISIL) are present in the area or across the nearby borders with Mali and Niger. It was the deadliest militant attack in Burkina Faso since Islamist militants first began operating in the country in 2017.

Another military outpost...

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Soldiers fired on protesters in Khartoum, Sudan, on Nov. 17, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens of others. Many thousands of people had joined the protest against the military-appointed government that took power after a coup on Oct. 25. Since that date, there have been almost daily protests, many resulting in the military’s firing on civilians. Protests continued at press time.

On Nov. 21, Abdalla Hamdok, who had been the prime minister of the transitional...

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Violent protests occurred in Europe, mostly in Central European countries, as some nations went back into full lockdown to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the approach to Christmas. Numbers of daily new cases had already risen to record levels throughout Europe before the lockdowns were ordered.

In Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria, protesters erected street barriers and set fires, clashing with police in multiple cities. Other countries, such as Italy, Croatia and Germany...

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Three suicide bombers in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, blew themselves up near the country’s Parliament and the city’s police headquarters on Nov. 16, killing three people and injuring more than 30. A fourth person with a suicide vest was found and arrested following the event.

Authorities blamed the Allied Democratic Forces for the attack, a militant group based in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo that has sworn allegiance to Daesh (ISIL) in recent years....

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A suicide bomber detonated his bomb in a taxi outside of a hospital in Liverpool, England, on Nov. 14, killing only himself and injuring the taxi driver, who was an innocent victim. After the bombing, the UK government raised their terrorism alert level to “severe.”

The bomber was identified as an asylum seeker from Iraq who was not on any watch lists, though he had been held for a mental-health check in the past. Though the incident is being called an act of terrorism,...

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A gunfight erupted on a beach at a resort in Cancun, Mexico, on Nov. 4, with two suspected gang members killed. Police blamed the violence on rival drug gangs. The fight was visible from the resort, where staff quickly ushered guests inside to seek cover. No guests were injured by gunfire, but one guest was treated for a head wound received while taking cover.

According to some reports, members of both groups had been spotted around the hotel carrying rifles hours before the shooting...

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Mt. Semeru, on the island of Java, Indonesia, erupted on Dec. 5, blanketing nearby villages in ash and causing lahars, deadly flows of mud and ash. At least 22 people were killed and more than 50 were injured, with dozens of people still missing at press time. Many villages were completely buried with ash up to the roofs of homes.

Semeru is in a nearly constant state of activity, regularly producing magma and sending ash clouds into the air. However, this eruption was particularly...

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A record-breaking storm struck British Columbia, Canada, on Nov. 15, causing severe flooding and landslides. The amount of rain that fell in 24 hours was as much as the average monthly rainfall for November in that province, Canada’s westernmost. At least one woman was killed when her car was washed off a road, and two people were missing at press time. Thousands of farm animals, including chickens and cattle, died in floods.

The port city of Vancouver was completely cut off due...

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