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World

Algeria: Wildfire rips through country, killing 42 people including soldiers

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Dozens of separate fires have raged through forest areas across northern Algeria since Monday night and Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud accused arsonists of igniting the flames, without providing more details on the allegations.

“Only criminal hands can be behind the simultaneous outbreak of about 50 fires across several localities,” he said.

Last week, a European Union atmosphere monitor said the Mediterranean had become a wildfire hotspot as massive blazes engulfed forests in Turkey and Greece, aided by a heatwave.

Residents of the Tizi Ouzou region in Kabylie used tree branches to try to smother burning patches of forest or hurled water from plastic containers in a desperate effort to douse the fire.

The soldiers were killed in different areas, some while trying to extinguish the flames and others after they were cut off by the spreading fire, Kabylie residents said. The Defense Ministry said more soldiers had been badly injured with burns.

Several houses were burnt as families were escaping to hotels, youth hostels and university residences, witnesses said, adding that a dense smoke hampered the visibility of fire crews.

“We had a horror night. My house is completely burnt,” said Mohamed Kaci, who had fled with his family from the village of Azazga to a hotel.

Speaking on state television on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane said the death toll had risen to 42, including 25 members of the military. The government was in “advanced talks with (foreign) partners to hire planes and help speed up the process of extinguishing fires,” he added.

Firefighters and the army were still trying to contain the blazes, and Beldjoud said the priority was to avoid more victims. He vowed to compensate those affected.

Smaller fires have ravaged forests in at least 16 provinces of the North African country since Monday night.

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World

Wildfires in Algeria leave 42 dead, including 25 soldiers

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ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — At least 25 soldiers died saving residents from wildfires ravaging mountain forests and villages east of Algeria’s capital, the president announced Tuesday night as the civilian toll rose to at least 17.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune tweeted that the soldiers were “martyrs” who saved 100 people from the fires in two areas of Kabyle, the region that is home to the North African nation’s Berber population. Eleven other soldiers were burned fighting the fires, four of them seriously, the Defense Ministry said.

Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane later said on state TV that 17 civilians had lost their lives, raising the count of citizens from seven previously and bringing the total death toll to 42. He provided no details.

The mountainous Kabyle region, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algeria’s capital of Algiers, is dotted with difficult-to-access villages and with temperatures rising has had limited water. Some villagers were fleeing, while others tried to hold back the flames themselves, using buckets, branches and rudimentary tools. The region has no water-dumping planes.

The deaths and injuries Tuesday occurred mainly around Kabyle’s capital of Tizi-Ouzou, which is flanked by mountains, and also in Bejaia, which borders the Mediterranean Sea, the president said.

The prime minister told state television that initial reports from security services showed the fires in Kabyle were “highly synchronized,” adding that “leads one to believe these were criminal acts.” Earlier, Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud traveled to Kabyle to assess the situation and also blamed the fires there on arson.

“Thirty fires at the same time in the same region can’t be by chance,” Beldjoud said on national television, although no arrests were announced.

There were no immediate details to explain the high death toll among the military. A photo pictured on the site of the Liberte daily showed a soldier with a shovel dousing sputtering flames with dirt, his automatic weapon slung over his shoulder.

Dozens of blazes sprang up Monday in Kabyle and elsewhere, and Algerian authorities sent in the army to help citizens battle blazes and evacuate. Multiple fires were burning through forests and devouring olive trees, cattle and chickens that provide the livelihoods of families in the Kabyle region.

The Civil Protection authority counted 41 blazes in 18 wilayas, or regions, as of Monday night, with 21 of them burning around Tizi Ouzou.

A 92-year-old woman living in the Kabyle mountain village of Ait Saada said the scene Monday night looked like “the end of the world.”

“We were afraid,” Fatima Aoudia told The Associated Press. “The entire hill was transformed into a giant blaze.”

Aoudia compared the scene to bombings by French troops during Algeria’s brutal independence war, which ended in 1962.

“These burned down forests. It’s a part of me that is gone,” Aoudia said. “It’s a drama for humanity, for nature. It’s a disaster.”

An opposition party with roots in the Kabyle region, the RCD, denounced authorities’ slow response to the rash of blazes as citizens organized local drives to collect bottled water and other supplies. Calls for help, including from Algerians living abroad, went out on social media, one in English trending on Twitter with the hashtag #PrayforAlgeria. Photos and videos posted showed plumes of dark smoke and orange skies rising above hillside villages or soldiers in army fatigues without protective clothing.

Climate scientists say there is little doubt climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and storms. A worsening drought and heat — both linked to climate change — are driving wildfires in the U.S. West and Russia’s northern region of Siberia. Extreme heat is also fueling the massive fires in Greece and Turkey.

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World

Wildfires in Algeria leave 42 dead, including 25 soldiers

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ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — At least 25 soldiers died saving residents from wildfires ravaging mountain forests and villages east of Algeria’s capital, the president announced Tuesday night as the civilian toll rose to at least 17.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune tweeted that the soldiers were “martyrs” who saved 100 people from the fires in two areas of Kabyle, the region that is home to the North African nation’s Berber population. Eleven other soldiers were burned fighting the fires, four of them seriously, the Defense Ministry said.

Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane later said on state TV that 17 civilians had lost their lives, raising the count of citizens from seven previously and bringing the total death toll to 42. He provided no details.

The mountainous Kabyle region, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algeria’s capital of Algiers, is dotted with difficult-to-access villages and with temperatures rising has had limited water. Some villagers were fleeing, while others tried to hold back the flames themselves, using buckets, branches and rudimentary tools. The region has no water-dumping planes.

The deaths and injuries Tuesday occurred mainly around Kabyle’s capital of Tizi-Ouzou, which is flanked by mountains, and also in Bejaia, which borders the Mediterranean Sea, the president said.

The prime minister told state television that initial reports from security services showed the fires in Kabyle were “highly synchronized,” adding that “leads one to believe these were criminal acts.” Earlier, Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud traveled to Kabyle to assess the situation and also blamed the fires there on arson.

“Thirty fires at the same time in the same region can’t be by chance,” Beldjoud said on national television, although no arrests were announced.

There were no immediate details to explain the high death toll among the military. A photo pictured on the site of the Liberte daily showed a soldier with a shovel dousing sputtering flames with dirt, his automatic weapon slung over his shoulder.

Dozens of blazes sprang up Monday in Kabyle and elsewhere, and Algerian authorities sent in the army to help citizens battle blazes and evacuate. Multiple fires were burning through forests and devouring olive trees, cattle and chickens that provide the livelihoods of families in the Kabyle region.

The Civil Protection authority counted 41 blazes in 18 wilayas, or regions, as of Monday night, with 21 of them burning around Tizi Ouzou.

A 92-year-old woman living in the Kabyle mountain village of Ait Saada said the scene Monday night looked like “the end of the world.”

“We were afraid,” Fatima Aoudia told The Associated Press. “The entire hill was transformed into a giant blaze.”

Aoudia compared the scene to bombings by French troops during Algeria’s brutal independence war, which ended in 1962.

“These burned down forests. It’s a part of me that is gone,” Aoudia said. “It’s a drama for humanity, for nature. It’s a disaster.”

An opposition party with roots in the Kabyle region, the RCD, denounced authorities’ slow response to the rash of blazes as citizens organized local drives to collect bottled water and other supplies. Calls for help, including from Algerians living abroad, went out on social media, one in English trending on Twitter with the hashtag #PrayforAlgeria. Photos and videos posted showed plumes of dark smoke and orange skies rising above hillside villages or soldiers in army fatigues without protective clothing.

Climate scientists say there is little doubt climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and storms. A worsening drought and heat — both linked to climate change — are driving wildfires in the U.S. West and Russia’s northern region of Siberia. Extreme heat is also fueling the massive fires in Greece and Turkey.

___

Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate.

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World

Australian soldiers to help with virus checks as PM sets plan to freedom

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  • Daily cases fall for first time in nearly a week
  • Military called to help enforce lockdown
  • PM says 80% vaccination rate needed before reopening borders

SYDNEY, July 30 (Reuters) – Australian soldiers will help to enforce coronavirus isolation orders in the hard-hit city of Sydney, police said on Friday, as resentment seethed in some communities over new curbs to stem the highly contagious Delta variant.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison held out hope of better times with a four-stage plan back to freedom but said 80% of adults would have to be vaccinated before the border can begin to open.

Sydney’s five million people are under a strict stay-at-home order because of a worrying surge of nearly 3,000 infections since the middle of June. read more

Authorities have this week outlined even tighter restrictions for some worst-affected suburbs, including mandatory testing and mask-wearing outdoors.

From Monday, some 300 army personnel will help police go door to door to ensure people who have tested positive are isolating, New South Wales police commissioner Mick Fuller told a news conference.

“The sheer volume of increase over the last week, the level of compliance has gone from hundreds into thousands,” he said.

The military personnel will not be armed and will be under police command, he said.

Australia had handled the coronavirus crisis much better than many other developed countries, with just over 34,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths. But it has been achieved that largely by sealing its border to all but a trickle of people since the pandemic began.

A vaccination drive that got off to a slow start because of a shortage of doses – only 18% of adults are fully vaccinated – coupled with the emergence of the virulent Delta variant have triggered new clusters, shaken public confidence and stirred anger.

Sydney’s latest surge of cases has been traced back to an unmasked, unvaccinated airport driver who got infected last month. Since then, Australia’s biggest city has reported 13 deaths.

On Friday, Sydney entered its sixth week of a nine-week lockdown with 170 new cases, down from a record 239 a day earlier. Of the new cases, at least 42 spent time in the community while infectious.

State health minister Brad Hazzard said people were waiting too long to get tested after developing symptoms.

FRUSTRATION OVER CURBS

The outbreak has crossed Sydney from the affluent beachside district of Bondi to the poorer western suburbs, where community leaders said residents felt unfairly targeted by the new curbs.

“They’ve got no other ideas than to bring in the military as a last resort because they’re lost for answers on issues they created,” said Steve Christou, mayor of the Cumberland area, where 60% of its 240,000 residents were born overseas.

“They are a poor community, they are a vulnerable community, and they don’t deserve these lockdowns or these extended and harsh measures,” he said in a telephone interview.

People in the western suburbs have been told to stay within 5 km (3 miles) of home and have a virus test every three days in order to be allowed to do essential work outside the area.

Police have also been given powers to close businesses breaking the rules.

With anger rising, the prime minister set out a four-stage escape route to freedom.

Australia is now in phase A, or the suppression phase of the plan, with large parts of the country plunging in and out of lockdowns to stamp out the virus, Morrison told a news conference.

Phase B would be reached when 70% of adults are vaccinated, which Morrison said would mean greater freedoms and special rights for the inoculated. He did not specify a timeframe but said phase B could be reached by Christmas.

“Lockdowns in phase B are less likely, but they are possible,” he said.

Morrison said the border would be gradually reopened in phase C of the plan, when 80% of adults have been vaccinated.

“We are vaccinating the nation, and that enables the nation to be able to move forward … to the types of freedoms that we’re seeking,” he said.

Reporting by Renju Jose, Byron Kaye and Swati Pandey; Editing by Sam Holmes, Richard Pullin, Robert Birsel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Ethiopia’s Tigray forces say they freed 1,000 captured soldiers

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OLBIA, Italy July 17 (Reuters) – Forces in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have released around 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting, the head of its ruling party said, as both sides prepared for a showdown over contested land in the west of the region.

Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters by satellite phone late on Friday that they have released 1,000 low-ranking soldiers.

“More than 5,000 (soldiers) are still with us, and we will keep the senior officers who will face trial,” he said.

He said the soldiers had been driven to Tigray’s southern border with the Amhara region on Friday, but did not say who received them or how the release was negotiated.

Reuters could not independently confirm his account.

A military spokesman said he was not immediately available to comment on Saturday, and the spokesman for the Amhara regional administration said he had no information on the release.

Officials in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office and a government taskforce on Tigray did not answer calls seeking comment.

Fighting broke out in Tigray in November when the government accused the TPLF of attacking military bases across the region, which the party denied. The government declared victory three weeks later when it took control of the regional capital, Mekelle, but the TPLF kept fighting.

In a dramatic turn, the TPLF retook Mekelle and most of Tigray at the end of June, after the government pulled out its soldiers and declared a unilateral ceasefire. read more

However, the TPLF vowed to keep fighting until it had regained control of disputed territory in the south and west of Tigray that was seized during the fighting by the government’s allies from Amhara.

Abiy said this week that the military would repel any TPLF threat, effectively abandoning the self-declared truce. Amhara and three other regions said they were mobilizing forces to support the national army in its fight against the TPLF. read more

Thousands of people have died in the fighting; around 2 million have been displaced and more than 5 million rely on emergency food aid.

On Saturday, the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Addis Ababa’s Police Commissioner Getu Argaw Debela as saying they had arrested 323 people suspected of supporting the TPLF, weapons possession or violating the constitution, among other charges.

Debela said police had also shut businesses belonging to the suspects while they investigated them.

This week, Reuters reported that police had detained hundreds of Tigrayans in Addis Ababa since late June, when federal government troops lost control of the Tigray capital. read more

On Friday, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry issued a statement accusing aid groups of arming rebels.

“Some aid agencies have been actively engaged in a destructive role. We have also confirmed that they have been using aid as a cover and are arming the rebel groups to prolong the conflicts,” it said.

The statement did not identify the groups and there was no immediate response from the agencies that operate in Tigray. The United Nations humanitarian organization OCHA did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.N. has said desperately needed aid is being blocked at checkpoints as convoys travel through government-held territory. Ethiopian authorities say the aid needs to be checked.

Giulia Paravicini reported from Olbia and George Obulutsa from Nairobi; Additional reporting by Tiksa Negeri; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Katharine Houreld, Frances Kerry and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

After Sudden Defeat, Captured Ethiopian Soldiers Are Marched to Prison

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MEKELLE, Ethiopia — Thousands of Ethiopian prisoners of war were paraded through the regional capital of Tigray on Friday as jubilant crowds lined the streets to jeer the captives and cheer the Tigrayan forces who only days earlier had routed one of Africa’s most powerful armies.

Many of the soldiers bowed their heads and cast their eyes downward. Some had to be carried on stretchers, and others wore bandages freshly stained with blood.

The swift defeat of the Ethiopian forces was a stunning reversal in a civil war that has led to the displacement of nearly two million people in the Tigray region, widespread hunger and reports that civilians were subjected to atrocities and sexual violence.

The parade of prisoners served as a pointed rebuke to Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who had proclaimed in a speech on Tuesday in the national capital, Addis Ababa, that reports of his troops’ defeat were “a lie.” He had declared a unilateral cease-fire, he insisted, for humanitarian reasons.

Mr. Abiy had actually declared victory last year, only about a month after he initiated the military operation in Tigray in November — but the fighting had continued for seven more months.

Flanked by Tigrayan fighters, the columns of defeated Ethiopian soldiers had been marching for four days from the quickly established battlefield camps where they had been held since the fighting ended this week. They flooded the streets of the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, and were taken to a large prison on the northern edge of the city.

A 14-year-old dashed out into the street to run alongside the column, shouting her admiration for the leader of the Tigrayan forces, calling him a “lion.”

“All these soldiers tried to kill us,” the young woman, Mearge Gebroemedhin, said a few moments later, referring to the Ethiopian government forces. “But the Tigrayan soldiers showed their mercy. I am proud of our soldiers.”

While some in the crowd jeered the soldiers, the onlookers focused much of their anger on the Ethiopian prime minister, Mr. Abiy.

Nearly eight months before, Mr. Abiy had sent his forces to Mekelle to wrest power from the region’s leaders, declaring the move was necessary because the Tigrayans had held local elections without permission from the federal government, and had tried to capture an Ethiopian military base.

Now the victorious Tigrayan leaders are back in Mekelle, reoccupying their former offices.

In a lengthy, exclusive interview soon after he arrived from his holdout in the mountains, Debretsion Gebremichael, the leader of the ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, said that his fighters had captured more than 6,000 Ethiopian soldiers.

He said that Tigrayan officials have been in touch with the International Committee of the Red Cross, and would soon release the low-ranking soldiers, but would keep officers in custody.

Under the Geneva Conventions, prisoners of war must be given food and clothing, and protected from violence, intimidation and “public curiosity.” There was no immediate indication that the Ethiopian soldiers had been mistreated, or whether marching them through the streets of Mekelle amounted to a violation of the Conventions.

Ever since Ethiopia announced a unilateral cease-fire on Monday and pulled its troops out of Mekelle, Tigray has experienced electricity, telecommunications and internet blackouts. The consequences will exacerbate an already dire humanitarian situation, according to the United Nations.

International aid agencies warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe and said it was unclear if the rebel victory would allow international assistance to start reaching those most in need in the Tigray region, which is bordered by Eritrea to the north and Sudan to the west.

The U.N. said that at least 350,000 people in the conflict-ravaged region had entered a state of famine. The U.S. Agency for International Development put its estimate for those facing famine conditions at 900,000.

On Thursday, a bridge was destroyed that provided vital access over the Tekeze River to the town of Shire in central Tigray, where the U.N. estimates there are between 400,000 and 600,000 internally displaced people living in dire conditions.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the bridge had been destroyed by troops belonging to the Amhara Special Forces and the army of Eritrea, the country to the north of Tigray, which had fought as allies with the Ethiopian troops.

“The bridge’s destruction will have an impact,” said Claire Nevill, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program.

One aid agency employee who was traveling through Tigray on Thursday said that there was “little to nothing” entering the region at the moment and that food trucks had been prevented from getting there by troops along the border with the Amhara region.

In the interview, Mr. Debretsion said that Tigrayan leaders were working to bring in international aid as swiftly as possible.

Analysts say that Mr. Abiy, who has served as Ethiopia’s prime minister since 2018 and who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with Eritrea and instituting domestic democratic reforms, now faces tremendous political challenges.

The alliance Ethiopia forged with Eritrea and fighters in the Amhara region could fracture as Ethiopian troops continue to pull back from direct engagement, and Tigray fighters go on the offensive.

“The Amhara support for him will eventually dwindle,” said Mehari Taddele Maru, a professor of governance and geopolitics at the European University Institute. “The one thing that was holding things together in the Amhara region was the anti-Tigray sentiment. Once the Tigray matter is out of the game, the glue that held his support together is no longer there.”

Getachew Reda, a senior Tigrayan leader, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that Tigray’s forces would not hesitate to enter Eritrea, and even might try to advance toward its capital, if that is what it would take to keep Eritrean troops from attacking again. And he claimed that in recent days, Tigrayan forces had killed many Ethiopian troops and militia fighters.

Since June 30, fighting has continued between Tigrayan and Eritrean forces in northwestern Tigray, close to the contested towns of Badme and Shiraro, U.N. security documents show.

“We want to degrade as many enemy capabilities as possible,” Mr. Getachew said. “We are still in hot pursuit so that enemy forces will not pose a threat to our Tigray in any way.”

As Friday wore on, many of the marching Ethiopian soldiers who arrived at the jail appeared hungry and exhausted. They were put in cells, men separated from women.

They had passed through a gauntlet of Tigrayans celebrating their capture. Adanay Hagos, 23, who had walked alongside the soldiers yelling at them, later explained that he was so angry because some of his friends had been killed by Eritrean troops allied with the Ethiopian army.

“This is just one step,” he said. “They invaded our land from the west and the south. Until they leave, the war is not over.”

Simon Marks contributed reporting from Brussels.

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Entertainment

Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s Bucky Queerbait Is Nothing New

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Bucky Barnes, just after rolling through some German fields with his best friend Sam Wilson.
Screenshot: Marvel Studios

For years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s textual approach to LGBTQ+ characters has been heavy on speculation and light on actual representation. Fans have spent years and years shipping Avengers with other Avengers in romantic crossovers to rival Endgame, while the studio has either asked them to wait, or offered them a Russo brother in trying times. So far, it seems like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s taking the former approach—although it could end up giving fans the latter.

The first two episodes of the new Disney+ series have been a lot of setting up, but one thing that’s been clear throughout is that the series wants to sell the chemistry of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s titular heroes as not just teammates, but goofy, occasionally homoerotically-charged buddy cop pals.

As Gavia Baker-Whitelaw notes over at The Daily Dot, episode two, in particular, emphasizes the shipping vibe between the two heroes for laughs and attempts at gravitas. Sam and Bucky rolling together in the fields just outside of Munich after their scrap with the Flag Smashers is played as a quick gag, as is Doctor Raynor’s impromptu (and intimate) therapy technique between the two afterward, albeit one that opens up a level of reflection for Bucky unlike anything else in his treatment in the show so far.

But there’s more to The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s queer theory vibes than a few gags—especially when it comes to Bucky Barnes. Marvel fans have long considered the potential for Bucky to be seen as a queer character, casting him as a sort of lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers foil for Steve Rogers ever since Stan debuted in Captain America: The First Avenger. Even as Avengers: Endgame took Steve Rogers’ personal arc down a path away from Bucky, the theory has lingered, only to heat up again with the arrival of the new show. In the first episode of the Disney+ series, Bucky goes on a cut-short date with a waitress from a local sushi place, only to comment that his foray into the world of modern online dating apps lead “to lot of weird pictures,” only to add “I mean, tiger photos?”

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Fans longing for a queer version of the character immediately latched on to the line, positioning it as a reference to the mid-2010s phenomenon of a primarily masculine trend of dating profile pictures, especially on Tinder, of men posing with big cats in an attempt to attract potential matches. If Bucky was seeing lots of pictures of people posing for tiger selfies, these folks reasoned, then it was very likely that Bucky Barnes had swiped right on more than a few men, seemingly, but quietly hinting at the character’s bisexuality. The chatter grew enough that, speaking to NME last week, lead writer Malcolm Spellman addressed the rumors.

“I’m not diving down rabbit holes,” Spellman said. “But just keep watching…”

So, will The Falcon and The Winter Soldier reveal one of its lead characters to be a queer man? We don’t know yet, and creatives like Spellman certainly aren’t telling. But it’s not really surprising to anyone at this point that Marvel creatives would dance around rather than confirm a smattering of queer representation in their work for the studio. After all, this has been part and parcel of the push-and-pull in asking for visible LGBTQ+ representation in Marvel’s work for over a decade at this point. Time and time again, actors have played vague about the potential for queer romantic partnerships, only for executives to tell fans that one day, textual representation will come.

For the most part, they’re still waiting. Avengers: Endgame made waves for the first on-screen LGBTQ character in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie for all the wrong reasons, when the pre-hyped moment of queer representation was ultimately revealed as a seconds-long cameo by co-director Joe Russo. Since then, as Marvel laid out “Phase 4” of its moviemaking plans and beyond, the game has once again been one of patience on fans’ behalves. Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie was confirmed to be queer at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, but audiences will have to wait until 2022 to potentially see that acknowledgment on-screen in Thor: Love and Thunder. Eternals, Marvel’s cosmic-tinged team-up of obscure Jack Kirby comics characters, is still on track to release later this year, and will feature Bryan Tyree Henry’s superheroic Phastos as a married queer man, sharing the franchise’s first on-screen queer kiss with his husband, played by Haaz Sleiman.

Those are all still promises of things to come for queer Marvel fans looking to see people like themselves in the stories they love. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier may yet join them, or, like many opportunities before it, become part of Marvel’s long history of queerbaiting audiences. I guess, as is the Marvel manner, we’ll just have to wait and see.

For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.



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World

Archaeologists uncover skeletons of WWII-era nuns murdered by Russian soldiers

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Polish archaeologists have recently identified previously uncovered skeletons of three Catholic nuns who were killed by Russian soldiers at the end of World War II. 

The Russian army invaded Poland in 1944 after Germany’s occupation, hoping to gain control by imprisoning, exiling and assassinating Polish soldiers, civilians and members of its religious community.

Historical records from 1945 — the year of VE Day — showed that the soldiers had murdered seven nuns from the order of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Researchers first searched a site in Gdańsk last summer, and Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) reported that they had found the remains of Sister Charytyna.

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In October 2020, further excavation at a local parish cemetery in Orneta exposed the additional remains of who are thought to be Sister Generosa, Sister Krzysztofora and Sister Liberia, according to an IPN statement.

The three nuns all served at the Marian Hospital in Olsztyn where they worked as nurses before their deaths in the winter of 1945.

Two areas were designated for archeological work after the team’s documentation of burials including the former living quarters of the St. Catherine Sisters.

However, the archaeologists would have to dig deeper and finding the nuns required a “temporary exhumation” of second burials. 

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In December, IPN announced that they had located the remains of who they believe are the last three nuns: Sister Rolanda, Sister Gunhilda and Sister Bona.

During the exhumation, the crew found religious artifacts including “religious medals, crucifixes, elements of religious clothing and religious rosaries.”

Pathologists at the Forensic Medicine Institute in Gdańsk will now examine the skeletons to confirm their identities and gain a better understanding of their lives and the devastating nature of their deaths.

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Some facts are already known by IPN, which reported Sister Generosa had been locked in the hospital’s attic and “mistreated.”

Sister Krzysztofora died at 42 after soldiers gouged out her eyes, cut out her tongue and stabbed her with bayonets 16 times. Sister Liberia was shot after leaving an air raid shelter.

IPN notes that Catholic clergy in Poland are seeking beatification for the slain St. Catherine sisters.

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World

China detains six people for ‘insulting’ soldiers killed in India border clash

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Police said six people were detained for up to 15 days across China, with another accused currently living overseas facing detention upon their return.

Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the government has cracked down on voices that criticize national heroes or question the official narrative about them.

In 2018, China passed a law that bans people from “insulting or slandering heroes and martyrs.” Originally a civil matter, the law will be made a criminal offense in an amendment to the country’s criminal law, which comes into effect next month. Under that amendment, people who “insult, slander or use other means to infringe the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs and damage the public interest of society” can be jailed for up to three years.

The detentions underline Beijing’s sensitivity about the border clash with India — the deadliest between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in more than 40 years.

For eight months, the Chinese military did not disclose any details on the death toll of the bloody hand-to-hand conflict with Indian troops in the Galwan Valley area in the Himalayas. New Delhi previously said at least 20 Indian soldiers died during the brawl.

On Friday, China’s official army newspaper revealed that four People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers were killed in the clash, and were given posthumous awards. A regimental commander who was seriously injured also received an award, according to the report.

In an ensuing propaganda campaign, Chinese state media outlets rushed to eulogize the five PLA soldiers for their loyalty, valor and sacrifice, publishing lengthy, emotive reports on their life stories.

State media also published Beijing’s account of the event, blaming Indian troops for violating an agreement with China and crossing the border into the Chinese side to set up tents. According to the PLA Daily, the Chinese side was at first outnumbered by Indian troops who attacked with steel tubes, clubs and rocks. But as PLA reinforcements arrived, they eventually “defeated” the Indian soldiers and chased them away.

The Indian military has not responded to CNN’s request for comment. Delhi has previously blamed Beijing for the skirmish.

However, not every Chinese citizen is convinced by Beijing’s account of the incident.

On Friday morning, a popular blogger with 2.5 million followers on China’s Twitter-like Weibo raised questions over the official death toll, suggesting the real figure might be higher than four. “This is why India dares to publicize the number and names of their casualties, because from India’s point of view, they won with a smaller cost,” he wrote.

By the evening, police in the eastern city of Nanjing had detained the blogger, identified by his surname Qiu, for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” — an offense commonly used by the Chinese government to target dissent and criticism.

Writing on its official Weibo account Saturday, the Nanjing police claimed that Qiu had “distorted the truth” and “caused extremely abominable impact on society,” adding that he had confessed to his “unlawful act.”

Weibo said on Friday evening it had shut down Qiu’s account, which he used to post the remarks, as well as an additional account he owns.

According to police, four Weibo users in total were detained for their posts or comments on other people’s posts. Two others were detained for their comments in group chats on WeChat, China’s popular messaging app, after other group members reported them to the police. The other person was caught by the internet police in an “online patrol” after he posted on his personal WeChat feed.

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World

4 Chinese soldiers died in bloody India border clash, China reveals

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The two sides fought with fists, stones, and nailed-studded bamboo poles, in what was the deadliest border clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in more than 40 years. New Delhi previously said at least 20 Indian soldiers died during the brawl in the Galwan Valley area.
On Friday, China’s official army newspaper, PLA Daily, said a battalion commander, Chen Hongjun, and three soldiers — Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran — had died in the “fierce struggle” defending the border, and were given posthumous awards.
An award was also given to Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, who was seriously injured in the clash, according to the report.

PLA Daily did not reveal the soldiers’ ranks.

According to the PLA Daily report, “foreign military” troops violated an agreement with China and crossed the border into the Chinese side to set up tents. The report also claimed that when Qi led a few PLA soldiers to negotiate, the Indian side deployed more soldiers in an attempt to force the Chinese troops to concede.

China and India have blamed each other for the skirmish.

A source in the Indian military previously told CNN that the dispute started over a Chinese tent that was constructed the night before the clash. Indian troops, according to the source, tore it down. The next day, Chinese soldiers armed with stones and bamboo sticks with nails returned, the source said, and attacked unprepared Indian troops. CNN is unable to independently confirm this account of events.

Disputed border

India and China share a 2,100 mile-long (3,379-kilometer) border in the Himalayas, which in places is poorly defined and hotly disputed. Both sides claim territory on either side of it.

The June 2020 clash erupted near Pangong Tso, a strategically important lake located some 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) above sea level, which spans an area stretching from the Indian territory of Ladakh to Chinese-controlled Tibet, in the greater Kashmir region where India, China and Pakistan all claim territory.

In 1962, India and China went to war over this remote, inhospitable stretch of land, eventually establishing the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border straddled by Pangong Tso. However, the two countries do not agree on the LAC’s precise location and both regularly accuse the other of overstepping it, or seeking to expand their territory. Since then, they have had a history of mostly non-lethal scuffles over the position of the border.

In September, the two countries agreed to stop sending more troops to the border, following an escalation in tensions between New Delhi and Beijing. The situation was temporarily resolved, with the two sides engaging in several rounds of talks.

But another “minor” face-off erupted between the two sides in January, according to the Indian Army, though it said that “was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols.”

On February 10, China’s Defense Ministry said the two countries had started to disengage along the south and north shores of Pangong Tso after reaching an agreement with India.

According to satellite images, China has withdrawn troops, dismantled infrastructure and vacated camps along the disputed border.

Satellite photos taken on January 30 by US-based Maxar Technologies showed a number of Chinese deployments along Pangong Tso. In new images taken on Tuesday, dozens of vehicles and building structures had been removed, leaving empty land.

CNN’s Brad Lendon, James Griffiths and Jessie Yeung contributed reporting.

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