The week at a glance ... International

last updated 8 January 2015

Beijing

Internet even less free: China said this week that it would soon begin requiring Internet providers to report leaks of what the government deems to be state secrets—that is, anything that could possibly damage Chinese interests. An amendment to the state secrets law says companies must detect and delete any improperly disclosed information, as well as report offenders to the authorities. That suggests that Internet and telecom companies will have to scan all e-mails and text messages for possible secrets. “Obviously, it adds another tool that authorities would have to snoop on people,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, publisher of Danwei.org, a website about Chinese media and the Internet. “But I don’t think anybody thinks that their communications are safe from the prying eyes of the government.”

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Suicide submariners? The South Korean warship that sank in March following a massive explosion may have been taken out by a North Korean suicide squad, according to the Seoul Chosun Ilbo, the nation’s largest newspaper. The paper quoted unnamed naval sources who said the North had employed specially trained teams of “human torpedoes,” one of whom rammed the vessel. Meanwhile, a team of civilian and military investigators conducting salvage of the wreck said the ship appeared to have suffered a “non-contact external explosion,” suggesting some kind of torpedo. Seoul has still not directly blamed Pyongyang for the blast, which claimed 46 crew members, and the North has denied involvement.

Baghdad

Who won? Seven weeks after Iraq’s elections, the results were thrown into doubt after a special election court disqualified one of the winning candidates. The Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, led by Ayad Allawi, had enjoyed a two-seat lead over the bloc led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But the court disqualified an Iraqiya candidate for allegedly being a loyalist of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, and it said it could bar others as well. That would put al-Maliki’s Shiite-backed group in the majority and allow him to stay on as prime minister—if he can form a coalition with smaller parties. Allawi’s group was furious. “It is tantamount to an assassination of the democratic process,” said Iraqiya member Haidar al-Mulla. Iraqiya is appealing to the federal court, which means final results will be delayed for at least several more weeks.

Sanaa, Yemen

Attack on British diplomat: Britain’s ambassador to Yemen, Timothy Torlot, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt this week when a suicide bomber blew himself up as the ambassadorial convoy was passing by. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Yemeni officials said it appeared to be the work of al Qaida’s Yemeni branch. The group also distributed a video this week showing “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab training in the Yemeni desert, firing weapons at targets marked with the Jewish Star of David, the British flag, and the U.N. logo. The video supports Abdulmutallab’s statement to the FBI that there are “others like me” who trained in Yemen to attack Western targets. Abdulmutallab has confessed to the failed bombing attempt of a Detroit-bound airplane last Christmas.

Nairobi, Kenya

Racial profiling: Kenya is scrambling to repair relations with Dubai after it deported four members of Dubai’s royal family, mistaking them for possible terrorists. The royals were heading for a vacation at a Kenyan resort, but when they arrived at Moi International Airport three weeks ago, immigration officials interrogated them for hours and then expelled them as terror suspects. In response, the United Arab Emirates has now slapped visa restrictions on Kenyans, which is a huge blow to the many Kenyan merchants who buy their goods in Dubai. Kenya’s Foreign Ministry said the immigration officials made a “stupid mistake” and sent a team of diplomats to Dubai to make amends.

Khartoum, Sudan

Al-Bashir wins: Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has become the first world leader to be re-elected while facing international charges of crimes against humanity. Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges relating to the slaughter in Darfur, was declared the winner in an election held a few weeks ago—an unsurprising result given that his rivals boycotted the race. A parallel vote to elect the president of the semi-autonomous south was also won by the incumbent, Salva Kiir, with 93 percent of the vote. The U.S., Britain, and Norway, which brokered the 2005 deal that ended Sudan’s civil war between the north and the south and mandated the elections, voiced “serious concerns” over the conduct of the voting. But they indicated they would accept the official results.