NEWS OF THE DAY
1. Iraq protests: Security forces shot and killed at least one protester in the country’s south on Monday as the antigovernment protest movement enters a critical stage. Security forces fired live rounds to disperse crowds near alAin University in the city of Nasiriyah, killing a demonstrator, two medical officials said. The latest death comes as tensions continue to escalate between the demonstrators and the followers of leading radical cleric Muqtada alSadr. At least eight protesters were killed in the southern city of Najaf last Wednesday, when followers of alSadr fired on the rally. AlSadr initially threw his weight behind the uprising but recently repositioned himself toward the political establishment after political elites selected Mohammed Allawi as prime ministerdesignate, a candidate he endorsed.
2. Egypt crackdown: Lawmakers on Monday gave initial approval for toughening already draconian antiterrorism laws, with amendments that include life sentences and capital punishment for funding terrorism, the staterun news agency said. The sweeping antiterrorism law was enacted in August 2015, establishing an extremely broad definition of terrorism. The law and the amendments are widely seen as part of an unprecedented crackdown on dissent waged by President Abdel Fattah elSissi since coming to power in 2013.
3. Activists attacked: Conservationists on a Sea Shepherd vessel seeking to protect the endangered vaquita porpoise came under gunfire from poachers in the upper Gulf of California. The confrontation took place Saturday in an area designated as a refuge for the vaquita. Officials from the Mexican navy, federal police and environmental protection agency were also on board the M/V Sharpie. According to Sea Shepherd, four skiffs began to chase the vessel, swerving around it. At least two shots fired from the skiffs landed in the water near the Sea Shepherd vessel, which was not hit during the incident. No one onboard was injured.
4. Exofficer killed: A former military police officer being investigated for his possible involvement in the 2018 murder of a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman was killed by special forces in Brazil’s state of Bahia. Authorities had been looking for Adriano Magalhes da Nbrega, who is thought to be involved in the killing of Marielle Franco, a prominent activist for AfroBrazilian and LGBT rights, and her driver. The assassination shocked many Brazilians and sparked protests. The state’s Secretary for Public Security said an elite squad of officers, known by its acronym BOPE, found da Nbrega in the city of Esplanada. Da Nbrega was a former member of BOPE in Rio. He was killed after resisting arrest and shooting at police, the secretary said. Franco was an outspoken critic of Rio’s violent police forces and paramilitary groups.
5. South Korea politics: The highestlevel North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea will join its main opposition party and run in April parliamentary elections, party officials said Monday. Thae Yong Ho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, came to South Korea in 2016 with his family. He since has given media interviews and written articles highly critical of North Korea’s authoritarian government, led by Kim Jong Un. The conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party said Thae has decided to join the party and run in a Seoul constituency in the April 15 election. If Thae is elected, he would become the second North Korean defector to win a seat in South Korea’s singlechamber National Assembly, after Cho MyungChul, who came to South Korea in 1994.