Mexican drug lord, “El Chapo”, was recaptured in Los Mochis, Mexico
El Chapo has been infamous for escaping through underground tunnels. (Image courtesy of HO/AFP/Getty Images)
Last Friday, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a Mexican drug lord, was recaptured after his six-month escape from a maximum security Mexican prison. Guzman’s location was given away partly because he was working on a biographical movie. He was captured in a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis after a shootout where five Mexican marines were killed, and one was wounded. Mexican Attorney General Ariely Gomez ordered for Guzman to be taken back to Altiplano. Guzman escaped Altiplano in July 2015 through a nearly mile long tunnel from his prison shower to a nearby construction site. The U.S. Administration has expressed that they are “extremely pleased” with the arrest but the U.S. Justice Department not yet said if they will push for an extradition of Guzman.
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Merkel to lessen the requirements for the deportation of asylum seekers
The series of sexual assaults on New Year’s Eve sparked anti-immigration protests. (Image courtesy of Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters.)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed changes to legislation to make it easier to deport asylum seekers who have committed crimes. In 2015, she had been defined by her open-door migrant policy and allowed over a million refugees to enter Germany. The current legislation only allows asylum-seekers to be deported if they have been sentenced to a minimum three-year imprisonment time and if their life is not at risk in their home country. Revision of the legislation comes after a series of sexual assaults on women in Cologne by men who appeared to be North-African or Arab. Islamic groups in Germany have expressed their fear for that the actions of the few may negatively affect many. Peter Sutherland, the UN Special Representative for Migration, commented that the changes are “entirely appropriate” but added that “one must not overreact against a whole category of people.”
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Belgian officials release information on the abandoned hideout of Salah Abdeslam
Salah Abdeslam is the subject of an international manhunt. (Image courtesy of French police.)
On Friday, 8 January, Belgian police officers revealed the hideout of fugitive Salah Abdeslam, the alleged mastermind behind the 13 November Paris bombings. He is believed to have played a major part in organizing the logistics of the attacks. Salah Abdeslam hid in a Brussels apartment after leaving Paris the morning after the attacks. The apartment was found to have traces of the same highly volatile material as was used in the bombs as well as the fugitive’s fingerprints. These announcements are made partly to clear up confusion as there were false rumours in Brussel tabloids. Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said the evidence from the apartment “has helped us get further in the investigation.”
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Three injured in knife attack at Egypt hotel resort by suspected ISIS militants
The assailants arrived outside the beach resort by sea (Image courtesy of Independent)
Two Austrian and one Swedish tourist was injured in an attack at the Bella Vista hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada that is popular with European tourists. Two attackers reportedly carrying black ISIS flags entered the hotel lobby wielding knives. Hotel security shot one of the attackers dead and wounded the other. No terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Egypt’s tourism industry has been badly hit by attacks on tourists, such as a recent bus attack by ISIS in Cairo.
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US covert drone war shifts focus to conflicts in Syria and Iraq
The drone strikes are estimated to have killed between 2 489 and 2 989 people since 2004 (Image courtesy of US Navy)
Covert drone strikes in Pakistan have dropped to their lowest level in eight years with 13 attacks in 2015 compared to a peak of 128 in 2010. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s annual analysis keeps tabs on the CIA’s drone war and its casualties in places such as Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen where American forces are carrying out attacks. The bureau believes that the increased strikes in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq have stretched U.S. resources, prompting a decrease in drone strikes in Pakistan.
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