International
Sudan Closes Schools as Massive Protests Continue Over Student Killings
Published
4 years agoon
By
Lili Stenn
- The people of Sudan launched a new wave of protests after paramilitary security forces shot and killed six people, including five schoolchildren, during a protest lead by students against food and fuel shortages.
- The military council shut down schools in Sudan for an indeterminate amount of time following the attacks.
- Protestors and other leaders are calling for the attackers to be held accountable, with thousands marching in Khartoum Thursday.
- Negotiations between military and protest leaders were canceled Tuesday because of the attacks, but are expected to resume Thursday.
Protests Break Out After Schoolchildren Killed
Protests have broken out all over Sudan this week after five school children and one adult were killed in a shooting Monday when paramilitary forces opened fire on a peaceful student-led demonstration against food and fuel shortages in the city of El-Obeid.
The attacks also left more than 60 injured, according to opposition-linked medics.
However, the violence did not deter the protestors. Videos circulated later in the day showing students protesting in front of the hospital where those injured in the shooting had been taken.
After hearing of the violence, demonstrators in the Sundanese capital Khartoum also took to the streets to protest the killings.
At least 5 were killed, including 4 school children & 1 medic, after #Hemeti's notorious paramilitary #RSF Janjaweed militia opened fire on a protest in El-Obeid, North Kordofan state, #Sudan's 🇸🇩 opposition-linked doctors’ committee @Sd_Doctors https://t.co/Ksx4NLJwxV
— Saad (@SaadAbedine) July 29, 2019
Demonstrations in Khartoum against the killing of protesters in El Obeid, western #Sudan, where snipers shot at least 5 during demonstrations against power outages #SudanUprising #KeepEyesOnSudan #السودان #تسقط_بس https://t.co/xJghRB9Bz0
— Isma'il Kushkush (@ikushkush) July 29, 2019
The protests in Khartoum and El-Obeid continued the next day. Protesters in both cities were met with security forces who fired tear gas and live ammunition at them.
Schools were later shut down and a curfew was imposed in El-Obeid. According to The Guardian, a state of emergency was also declared, the army was deployed, and the internet was cut off.
On Tuesday, Sudan’s Transitionary Military Council (TMC), which has been running the country since President Omar al-Bashir was ousted by a military coup in April, ordered that schools be shut down nationwide.
“Orders have been given to governors of all states to shut kindergartens, primary and high schools from tomorrow [Wednesday] until further notice,” the TMC reportedly told Sudan’s news agency SUNA in a statement.
Responses
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the TMC, condemned the attacks in a quote to SUNA.
“What happened in El-Obeid is a regrettable and upsetting matter and the killing of peaceful citizens is unacceptable and rejected and a crime that requires immediate and deterrent accountability,” he said.
A representative for Sudan from the United Nation’s children’s agency UNICEF also criticized the violence.
“I am devastated about the fatal shooting that led to the death of at least five high-school children and scores of serious injuries in El-Obeid,” the representative said. “The children, aged between 15 and 17 years old, were protesting the commencement of the school year amid the political uncertainty in Sudan. No child should be buried in their school uniform.”
UNICEF also called for an investigation into the killings, adding in the statement, “UNICEF calls on the government to investigate and hold all perpetrators of violence against children accountable.”
That request was echoed by the UK embassy in Sudan.
Tragic reports of killings in El Obeid today.
— UK in Sudan 🇬🇧 (@UKinSudan) July 29, 2019
Vital this incident is investigated independently and thoroughly. Those responsible must be held to account.#Sudan
The African Union’s (AU) mediator for Sudan additionally called for a trial for those responsible for killing the school children. The AU also urged opposition and military leaders to resume negotiations which had been canceled on Tuesday.
Military and protests leaders agreed to a power-sharing deal early last month to establish a joint military-civilian sovereign council to govern Sudan until elections in three years. However, negotiations have been ongoing as the two sides continue to hammer out some key issues.
Sudan Military and Opposition Reach Power-Sharing Deal
— Rogue Rocket (@TheRogueRocket) July 5, 2019
READ MORE: https://t.co/TmuRrt1Z4m pic.twitter.com/TKvPNqEwmm
Protests have also continued intermittently throughout that process.
More Protests as Negotiations Resume
While some opposition leaders reportedly did not want the talks to resume after Monday’s violence, Reuters reported Thursday that the leaders are set to resume talks later that same day.
Reuters added that opposition leaders had said they had resolved some major sticking points and were getting closer to a deal.
Since Monday, thousands of people have continued to protest the killings all across the country.
On Thursday, thousands of protestors reportedly took to the streets of Khartoum again to condemn the killings and call for a government to be formed immediately after protest leaders called for a “million-man march.”
See what others are saying: (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (The Guardian)
International
200 Children Seeking Asylum in the U.K. Are Missing
Published
1 week agoon
January 26, 2023By
Star Pralle
The missing include at least 13 children under the age of 16.
Children Missing From Hotels
There are 200 asylum-seeking children missing from government care in the United Kingdom according to the parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Home Office.
When children are seeking asylum in the U.K. alone or separated from their parents, the government puts them up in hotel rooms for temporary accommodation. They have done so since 2021 and have temporarily accommodated 4,600 children in that time. However, Simon Murray, the parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Home Office, said that 200 of the children placed in those hotels are missing, including at least 13 who are under the age of 16.
In response to this information, a collection of more than 100 charities sent a letter to the Prime Minister demanding the end of the procedure of placing kids in hotels over safety concerns. The letter says that these children are at risk of trafficking and exploitation by staying in these hotels alone.
Other officials have echoed these concerns, claiming these hotels are targets for organized crime where people use these vulnerable children for labor or trafficking.
Parliament Calls Incident “Horrific”
Murray told the House of Lords on Monday that despite the media reports, his department does not know of any kidnapping cases, though they are investigating. He went on to say there are many reasons why children go missing.
However, lawmakers were not appeased by Murray’s assurances. In a later debate, one member of Parliament called the missing cases “horrific” and another said that it was “putting children at risk.” The children’s commissioner for England also reportedly chimed in asking for, quote “assurances on the steps being taken to safeguard the children.”
Murray went on to say that the use of hotels for asylum-seeking children will hopefully be phased out as soon as possible but did not give a timeline.
The nonprofit Refugee Council called on the government in a tweet to spare no expense in the location of these missing kids.
See what others are saying: (Washington Post) (The Guardian) (The Telegraph)
International
100,000 U.K. Nurses Launch Biggest Strike in NHS History
Published
2 months agoon
December 15, 2022By
Chris Tolve
Opposition leader Keir Starmer called the strike “a badge of shame on this government.”
The NHS Grinds to a Halt
Some 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the United Kingdom’s largest nursing union, launched a historic 12-hour strike Thursday after the government refused to negotiate on higher pay.
The work stoppage, which spans England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, is only the second in the RCN’s 106-year history and the largest the NHS has ever seen. It marks the breaking point for many underpaid nurses and the culmination of a years-long decline in the NHS’s quality of care, put under increasing stress by severe staffing shortages.
Although most NHS staff in England and Wales received a pay rise of around £1,400 this year, worth about 4% on average for nurses, they say it has not kept up with inflation as Britain plunges deeper into a cost-of-living crisis.
When inflation is accounted for, nurses’ pay dropped 1.2% every year from 2010 to 2017, according to the Health Foundation.
Meanwhile, the number of patients waiting for care has reached a record 7.2 million in England, or over one in eight residents, more than double what it was seven years ago.
In July, the cross-party Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee estimated the staffing shortfall could be as high as 50,000 nurses and 12,000 doctors, what one MP called the “greatest workforce crisis in history.”
Many nurses argue that boosting pay will help hospitals recruit more staff.
The RCN demanded a pay raise 5% above the retail rate of inflation, which amounts to a 19% increase, but both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the government’s health secretary have claimed that’s not affordable.
During Thursday’s strike, partial staffing continued to remain open for urgent care such as chemotherapy, kidney dialysis, and children’s accident and neonatal units.
Sunak and Starmer Brawl in Parliament
Labor leader Keir Starmer grilled Sunak during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on the upcoming strike.
“Tomorrow will be the first-ever nationwide nurse’s strike,” he said. “All the Prime Minister has to do to stop that is to open the door and discuss pay with them. If he did, the whole country would breathe a sigh of relief. Why won’t he?”
“We have consistently spoken to all the unions involved in all the pay disputes that there are,” Sunak replied. “Last year, when everyone else in the public sector had a public sector pay freeze, the nurses received a three-percent pay rise.”
Starmer fired back: “Nurses going on strike is a badge of shame for this government. Instead of showing leadership, he’s playing games with people’s health.”
Sunak called Starmer’s demand that he reopen negotiations with the RCN “just simply a political formula for avoiding taking a position on this issue.”
“If he thinks the strikes are wrong, he should say so,” Sunak said. “If he thinks it’s right that pay demands of nineteen percent are met, then he should say so. What’s weak, Mr. Speaker, is he’s not strong enough to stand up to the union.”
While Starmer has called on Sunak to negotiate with the RCN, he has not explicitly backed the 19% pay raise himself.
Unless the government returns to the bargaining table, the RCN plans to launch a second round of strikes on Dec. 20 to be followed by ambulance strikes that Wednesday and the next.
If the government still refuses to budge, the union said in a statement that nurses will strike for longer periods in more places starting in January, disrupting more health services.
Other industries are also set to see work stoppages this month, including workers on railways, buses, highways, and borders, as well as teachers, postal workers, baggage handlers, and paramedics.
See what others are saying: (BBC) (CNN) (The Guardian)
International
Fortnite Developer Sued By Parents for Making the Game as “Addictive as Possible”
Published
2 months agoon
December 15, 2022By
Star Pralle
One child mentioned in the lawsuit played over 7,700 rounds of Fortnite in two years.
Epic Games Sued
A Quebec City judge recently approved a 2019 class-action lawsuit accusing Fortnite developer Epic Games of deliberately making Fortnite addictive.
The parents who brought forward the lawsuit claim their children have become so obsessed with the game that in some cases, they’ve stopped eating, showering, or socializing. The lawsuit claims that these kids have played thousands of games since Fortnite’s release in 2017. In one example, a teenager played over 7,700 games in less than two years.
If the lawsuit succeeds, players addicted to Fortnite living in Quebec since September 2017 could receive compensation. The plaintiff’s attorney, Philippe Caron, reports that over 200 parents outside the lawsuit have reached out to him, saying their child’s well-being has diminished since downloading Fortnite. He told The Washington Post that they are very confident about their case.
Epic Games Responds
“We plan to fight this in court,” Natalie Munoz, a spokesperson for Epic Games said to The Post, “We believe the evidence will show that this case is meritless.”
Munoz also said that Fortnite does allow parents to supervise their child’s playtime and require permission for purchases.
The parents involved in the lawsuit are claiming that they were not aware of the dangers playing Fortnite could pose for their children.
“If she had been informed by the defendants of the risks and dangers associated with the use of FORTNITE,” the lawsuit says of one guardian. “She would have categorically refused to allow the game to be downloaded.”
See what others are saying: (BBC) (The Washington Post) (Deadline)

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