Fear stirs as Buddist extremists hold their first meeting since Easter terrorist attacks

There have been increased levels of anti-Muslim violence in Sri-Lanka in recent weeks reports Arab News. The increase in violence has in part been blamed on Buddist groups, thought to be an act of retaliation following the April attack that killed more than 250 people.

Police lined the streets on Sunday and the Army was on standby as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) gathered. The head of the BBS had called for more than 10 000 Clergymen to attend the meeting.

Many Muslim shopkeepers and business owners reportedly closed on Sunday out of fear of violence from hard-line groups such as the BBS.  The BBS is one of the hard-line groups leading the campaign against extremism.

Read the full story on Arab News

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Washington wants German troops to replace departing US in Syria

Russian Broadcaster, RT News reports the US has formally asked Berlin to take their place in the Syria conflict as US troops start to diminish. The US is currently reaching out to coalition members that are anti IS that would be willing to send troops there.

Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey, praised Germany as an important partner against IS. Jeffery hinted that Germany’s contribution could be air support, logistics, training and technical assistance. Suggesting that German troops would not have a direct part in military combat.

The German government is expected to respond later this month.

Read the full story at RT News

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Greek elections: a Landslide victory for the centre-right party

Arab News reports, Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras admitted defeat during Sunday’s general election after New Democracy party won by a landslide. Early results showed the New Democrats were on their way to a landslide victory from just 40 per cent of the polls.

The results cut short Tsipras’s bid to lead Greece on into the post-bailout era. Tsipras presided over the fraught rescue by international creditors at the height of the European debt crisis.

“Greece is exiting 10 years of crisis and the new government will have the heavy task to give a chance to the country to recover completely or to sink,” one voter said.
According to BBC New, there was only a  57% turnout in the election, one of the lowest figures in decades.

Read the full story at Arab News

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Tunisia bans the full-face veil in concerns over safety

Tunisia has banned women from wearing a niqab in public institutions citing concerns over public safety, CNN reported. The rule, which has gone into effect immediately, follows reports that one of the terrorists’ had worn a niqab to disguise themselves. Twin suicide bombings in the Capital, Tunis, targeted Tunisia’s security force. The suicide bombings killed one person and injured several others.

Sky News reported that the banning of the veil in Tunisia follows similar moves by a number of European countries. Denmark, The Neverlands and France have also banned the niqab to some degree.

Read the full story at CNN

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Chinese Protest: Thousands march to inform mainland China

Aljazeera News report: Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters marched at a train terminal used for transit to mainland China. The protesters wanted to inform visitors of the resistance to the extradition bill that was proposed.

The protest was an attempt to show mainland China the peaceful nature of the mass protests. Mainland China’s restricted media means most of the rallies have been absent from the news.

“Most mainlanders do not know what we are fighting for, and this will be a very slow, educational process. It’s like running a marathon” said Edward Chin.

Whilst the massive rally was peaceful, late on Sunday violence erupted between police and the, mostly young, protesters. Police brutality towards the protesters was called into question on June 12 protest. 

Read the full story at Aljazeera

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