The death toll in the suicide attack perpetrated this Sunday, July 30, during a well-attended meeting of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) religious party in northern Pakistan, has risen to 44 and the number of wounded is estimated at more than 100. The attack took place in the city of Khar, on the border with Afghanistan, around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, according to an official from the local police station, Aziz Khan, told EFE.

The Khiber Pakhtunjua Police pointed to the Islamic State on Monday as the possible perpetrator of the attack. “We continue to investigate and collect information about the explosion. The initial investigation shows that the Islamic State, a proscribed organization, was involved,” the authorities said in statements collected by the Geo TV network, according to ercoge EP. In addition, they have reported the arrest of three suspects and that the competent agents are collecting more evidence at the scene of the suicide attack.

Among the deceased is the party leader in Jar, Maulana Ziaulá Khan, and the general secretary of the party in Nawagai, Hamidullah Haqqani.. Other party leaders were also present, such as Maulana Jamaludin or Senator Abdur Rashid, as explained by the JUI-F spokesman in Khiber Pakhtunjua, Abdul Yalil Jan.

The leader of the JUI-F calls his followers to cry

The JUI-F is led by the cleric Fazal ur Rehman, one of the most prominent Islamist exponents in the country's politics and a junior partner in the government coalition.. In his first reaction to the attack, the cleric has demanded from the country's prime minister, Shebhaz Sharif, and the acting chief minister of the state, Azam Khan, an immediate investigation into what happened before calling on his supporters to calm down.

Sharif has announced that he has ordered to investigate what happened and identify those responsible. The Border Corps is on alert and one of its top officials, General Nur Wali Jan, has traveled to Bajaur to monitor the situation.. The president of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has urged the Government to bring the “responsible and terrorists” to justice and has conveyed his condolences to the families of the deceased.

Jíber-Pajtunjua, one of the most conflictive borders

Pakistan has experienced an increase in armed violence since the Afghan Taliban came to power in Kabul in August 2021, which reignited attacks by its Pakistani ideological brethren, especially in the Afghan border provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The province of Khíber-Pajtunjua, bordering Afghanistan, is one of the most conflictive in the country and is the base of operations for the Tehrik and Taliban (TTP), known as the “Pakistani Taliban”, which have increased their attacks after giving up The ceasefire ended in November 2022.

271 attacks during the first half of the year

The TTP group, which differs from the Afghan Taliban in organizational matters but follows the same rigorous interpretation of Sunni Islam, brings together more than a dozen Islamist militant groups operating in Pakistan, where they have killed some 70,000 people in two decades of violence.

The country witnessed 271 attacks by armed militants in the first half of the year, killing 389 people and injuring 656 others, according to a report released in early July by the Pakistan Institute for Security and Conflict Studies.. A significant increase in the figures compared to the same period in 2022, when Pakistan suffered 151 attacks that caused 293 deaths and 487 injuries.

In recent years, Africa has become the continent of the future, as it had been labeled in the fervor of colonial independence, the forgotten Continent that only importers of cheap raw materials and some diplomats remembered when they collected the votes of their governments considered Third World to get out of some jam in the United Nations debates.

But the situation seems to be changing, at least in the interests of some of the great powers to exercise their influence, if not their control over governments that are always precarious, and each one competing to be in the best position to take advantage of the distressing situations in suffered by the vast majority of countries and particularly their inhabitants.

While the natives risk their lives and families migrating to the rich European north, where danger and more bearable poverty await them, some superpowers take advantage to control their future, naturally for their own benefit.. It must be said that much of the blame lies with the former colonizers, particularly the United Kingdom and France, which as soon as they forcibly gave in to decolonize, forgot about the problems they left behind.

Now some governments, such as Macron's in France, are trying to recover their influence with little success and, as has been shown in Mali, demonstrating an inability to exercise it.. On the other hand, others, first China and then Russia, signed up to replace them.. China promised fictitious aid to improve public infrastructure, which was immediately revealed to be botched, and offering credit to governments whose corrupt incumbents were quick to squander, leaving their countries in debt.

And now it is Russia, Putin's Russia, which has infiltrated and has not stopped doing so, and put its mercenary armies of the Wagner Group to guarantee the presidents of the unstable republics, of which there are many, the military protection necessary to stay in power, guaranteeing that some remain in office forever and others favoring being overthrown by military coups as has occurred in Sudan and is currently occurring in Niger. This weekend it was published in the international press, after a pompously named Russia-Africa summit, that forty out of fifty-five African countries have their stability under the indirect control of Putin.

After killing the sub-inspector, the agent went to another carriage and shot three passengers dead.

The attacker has been captured by the police when he was trying to flee with the help of railway police officers.

“In an unfortunate incident on 31 July 2023, on the No. 12956 Jaipur – Mumbai Superfast Express train, his partner Tika Ram was shot by escort agent Chetan Kumar,” a Western Railway spokesman said.. “We regret that Agent Tika Ram and three passengers were shot. Officer Chetan Kumar got off near Dahisar and tried to run away after pulling the alarm chain, but was detained along with the gun.”

The French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, has assured this Sunday that the Government has no intention of evacuating its citizens from Niger after the protests at its Embassy in Niamey, as she declared during an interview on the RTL network.

“There is no decision to evacuate (…). The era of coups in Africa must end. Is not acceptable. They threaten the security of the country and the stability of the region. France, as always, protects its citizens,” added Colonna.

There are currently between 500 and 600 French citizens in Niger, not counting the French troops from the anti-terrorist operation Barkhane, who arrived from Mali a few months ago.

“They have all been contacted. Precautionary measures are taken, as always in these situations. These measures will be reinforced if necessary, but there is no evacuation decision at the time I am speaking to you,” the minister said, referring to the French who are still in the country.

On Sunday, a demonstration of thousands of people gathered around the French Embassy in the country's capital, where the participants, cheering for Russia and President Vladimir Putin, stoned the diplomatic mission and set fire to one of the their tickets, in addition to having displayed slogans against France.

That is why the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, stated this Sunday that he “will not tolerate any attack against France and its interests” and that Paris “will immediately respond” to any act of violence against “French citizens, the Army , diplomats and French rights of way”.

The protests take place on a day when the heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have suspended all their relations with Niger after the coup in a harsh statement warning the coup leaders that they have a period of seven days to restore the now ousted Mohamed Bazoum as president of the country or else they will take additional measures, among which do not rule out the use of force.

The European Union appeals to the constitutional order

The French government had already announced this Saturday, in unison with the European Union, the suspension of humanitarian and security aid to Niger and demanded that the coup leaders immediately restore constitutional order.

Mohamed Bazoum has been held since Wednesday, when a group of members of the Presidential Guard of Niger staged a coup. This action has been motivated by the deepening of the economic and security crisis in the country, which is facing an increase in the operations of the branches of the terrorist groups Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

The coup has once again fueled concerns about political instability in Niger, a country that has been rocked by four other coups since it gained independence from France in 1960, as well as several failed attempts, the last of which was in 2021. days before Bazoum took office.

At least ten people have died this Sunday when a bus plunged into an abyss due to “an oversight” of the driver in the department of Piura, in northern Peru, the National Police reported.

“After the mistake and fall into an abyss of a bus, registered at kilometer 35 of the Fernando Belaúnde highway, in the district of Huarmaca, in Piura, police officers from Alta Montaña Chiclayo have been carrying out rescue work to locate the victims,” the police said on their Twitter account.

The officer of the Huarmaca district police station, in the Piura region, Manuel Alfaro, has told local media that at least ten people have been reported dead in the accident.

The Superintendency of Land Transport of People, Cargo and Goods (Sutran) has announced that according to the first investigations, the vehicle with a V1M963 license plate was heading from the northern department of San Martín to Tumbes, on the border with Ecuador.

The bus had everything in order

According to this institution, the vehicle, which belonged to the company Transporte Especial Cotrina Buss EIRL, presented the Mandatory Traffic Accident Insurance (SOAT), the Vehicle Technical Inspection Certificate and valid MTC authorization.

“The entity deeply regrets the loss of human life and has activated all the intervention protocols in coordination with the competent authorities,” Sutran said.

Local media have reported that the vehicle was carrying 50 passengers and that it rolled down a 50-meter-high abyss.

The death toll could continue to rise and there are about twenty injured, according to some local media.

“Sutran continues with the investigations established within the framework of its powers, and the coordination with the institutions involved in order to determine the responsibilities of the case,” the statement concluded.

Several explosions could be heard on the night from Sunday to Monday in the Kharkov region, in eastern Ukraine, due to the impact of projectiles launched by Russian forces.. Ukrainian authorities have issued a nationwide air strike alert.

“The occupiers are attacking. Attention, residents of the city and Kharkiv region, stay in the shelters!”, said the head of the Kharkiv military region, Oleg Sinegubov, according to the Ukrainian news agency RBC-Ukraine.

This Sunday the impact of S-300 anti-aircraft projectiles was reported in that same area, as indicated by General Serhii Melnik. The possible damage caused is being investigated.

The Ukrainian Air Force has also issued a nationwide alert for possible missile impact, for which they have urged the population to take shelter in shelters.

The city council of Palermo, in Sicily, southern Italy, has issued an ordinance this Sunday in which it advises not to eat in the next 15 days eggs and meat that come from the Bellocampo area, where the fire of a huge landfill has caused the presence of dioxins in the atmosphere.

The ordinance also requires that fruits and vegetables grown in an area of 4 kilometers from the Bellolampo landfill be washed very well, as well as peel the fruit.

This measure has been issued after the Regional Environment Agency (ARPA) detected the presence of dioxins in the samples taken in the hours after the fire at the landfill.

According to the ordinance, it is necessary to avoid “taking food of animal origin (meat, eggs, dairy products) originating from the affected area and produced after July 24 and avoid using feed and fodder from the affected area, if exposed to possible contamination.

In addition, the municipality establishes that “all street surfaces and public and private open spaces must be subject to careful washing.”

Since the beginning of the emergency, firefighters have been collecting samples for the detection of toxic substances in order to identify possible elements dangerous to health.

The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, has assured this Sunday that the war in his country is progressively receding until it reaches Russian territory in a “natural, fair and inevitable” phenomenon hours after the interception of two Ukrainian drones in the Russian capital , Moscow.

“Ukraine is getting stronger. Little by little, the war is returning to the territory of Russia, to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” he said during his visit to a military hospital in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. .

There, the president had “the honor” of visiting the “wounded warriors of Ukraine”, whom he thanked for their defense of the country.

The president took the opportunity shortly after to thank Pope Francis for his message in support of the reopening of the Black Sea grain corridor after Russia withdrew from the agreement and suspended its activities, important for countries in need of food.

“The reaction of the world's religious leaders to the terror of Russian missiles and the destruction of Ukrainian agricultural products is extremely important to protect the entire world, and especially the peoples of Africa and Asia, who suffer the most from the threat of hunger, of a food crisis,” declared the president.

The German Minister of Education, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, has warned of the risk that Chinese students studying at German universities thanks to scholarships from Beijing carry out espionage work in the scientific field.

“In science and research, China is increasingly becoming a competitor and a systemic rival,” the Liberal minister told the Bayern media group this weekend.

The Minister of Education welcomed a decision by the Friedrich Alexander University (FAU) of Erlangen-Nürnberg (south) to exclude all those doctoral students who finance their studies exclusively through the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) scholarships ).

Said institution, which depends on the Ministry of Education of Beijing, grants aid to students of scientific careers to study their doctorates abroad, according to Stark-Watzinger, with the strategic objective of acquiring technological knowledge that favors their country.

“The FAU's decision should also encourage other institutions to review their cooperation relations with the CSC,” said the minister, who has urged universities, research institutes and mediating organizations to take the same step.

The FAU's decision to exclude Chinese students receiving scholarships from the CSC has been in force since June 1 and has affected several dozen people, the university center announced this week.

The University of Erlangen-Nürnberg has not indicated that possible cases of espionage have been detected, but justified the decision with the desire that certain research projects now comply with export control regulations for dual-use civil and military.

Several German investigative media recently published the information that, in order to qualify for a CSC scholarship, Chinese doctoral students must sign contracts pledging to be loyal to their country and follow the instructions of Chinese embassies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this Sunday that the country's Navy will add 30 new ships this year, as confirmed in a speech at the naval parade in Saint Petersburg on the occasion of Navy Day.

“Today, Russia confidently fulfills the large-scale tasks of its national maritime policy and constantly increases the power of its fleet.. This year alone, 30 ships of different classes will join its composition,” Putin said in a speech broadcast live on television.

From a rostrum installed on one of the embankments of the Neva River, the president, who previously reviewed the ships aboard a boat, congratulated the members of the Navy and all the citizens of Russia on the occasion of the Day of the Navy.

“For centuries our fleet has been and remains the indestructible guardian of the borders of the Motherland, its pride and glory,” Putin said, also thanking the Navy personnel for the impeccable fulfillment of their tasks and their devotion to Homeland.

“For the sake of Russia, our sailors give all their strength, show true heroism, fight bravely, like our great ancestors,” stressed the president, who did not make any direct reference to the war in Ukraine in his speech.

The naval parades on the occasion of Navy Day have been held this Sunday in the main ports of Russia. Nearly 40 ships, including boats and submarines, have participated in the St. Petersburg naval parade and in the Kronshtad roadstead, in the Neva Bay.

Putin rules out a ceasefire

On the other hand, the Russian leader affirmed on Saturday night that there cannot be a ceasefire at a time when the Ukrainian Army attacks, when commenting on the peace initiative of African countries in a meeting with Russian media.

“There are things that are difficult or impossible to do. For example, one of the points (of the African initiative) is a ceasefire. But the Ukrainian army is attacking, it is attacking, as they say, it is carrying out a major strategic offensive,” the president said, quoted by the official TASS news agency.

In these circumstances, he added, Russia cannot be asked for a ceasefire: “We cannot cease fire when they attack us.” At the same time, he has stressed that the Ukrainian troops have not made progress on any of the fronts.

“Everywhere the enemy has been stopped and repulsed,” Putin stressed, assuring that the Ukrainian forces suffer numerous casualties and that in some sectors the Russian troops go on the counteroffensive.

The president has once again insisted that Russia has never refused to enter into peace talks with Ukraine, which -he stressed- by decree has prohibited holding negotiations with Moscow.