Saturday

November 21, 2015

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Brussels lockdown

Belgium raises its terror alert level to the highest level in the capital Brussels and deploys soldiers on the streets of major Belgian cities such as Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. As part of the emergency measures, the Belgian government is advising people in the Brussels area to avoid crowded places, which includes concerts, train stations, airports, public transportation, and busy shopping streets, warning of an "imminent threat". (France 24) (BNO News)

The Brussels Metro is closed as part of the state of alert. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

November 2015 Paris attacks

Recruitment into the French Army increases after the attacks. (Channel News Asia)

Ahmet Dahmani is detained by Turkish police in the resort of Antalya on suspicion of being an ISIL scout ahead of the Paris attacks. (Sky News)

French police release seven of the eight people arrested during Wednesday's raid of a flat where the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks was hiding. The man who said he was in charge of the property is still being held. (Reuters)

2015 Bamako hotel attack

Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Mali, says at least 19 people were killed in the attack along with two of the attackers. Earlier reports indicated that 27 people died. (CNN)

Ukrainian crisis

Crimea is without power after transmission towers in Ukraine's Kherson Oblast were blown up by unknown people. The Crimean Emergencies Ministry declares a state of emergency due to the power outage and puts rescue teams on high alert. (RT)

Boko Haram insurgency

A suicide bomb attack in Fotokol, a town in Cameroon's Far North Region near the Nigerian border kills at least nine people. (Daily Mail)

Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)

A Palestinian terrorist stabs four people, including a 13-year-old girl, in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Gat; he flees and evades police for five hours before being arrested. (Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

British singer Adele's album 25 is released. (Billboard)[permanent dead link]

Muslim cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of al-Azhar in Egypt, says violence has no link to authentic Islam, terrorism is a life philosophy whose adherents were willing to die and is an intellectual and psychological disease that uses religion as a front. (Reuters)

Miss World 2015

Miss World Canada Anastasia Lin says that she is prevented from competing in China by the Chinese authorities after she spoke up against human rights abuses in the country. (BBC)