International Headlines November 24

Treasury Freezes Somalian Extremist Assets

The U.S. Department of Treasury has this week taken action against three members of al-Shabaab, an extremist group in Somalia. Publicly identifying them this week, any assets these three individuals hold under U.S. jurisdiction have been frozen and Americans are banned from engaging in any financial transactions with them. Al-Shabaab is linked with al-Qaida and uses violent and brutal tactics to undermine the Somali government.

Judge Convicts White South African For Killings

A judge in South Africa has sentenced 19-year-old white South African Johan Nel to four life terms in jail for shooting dead four black South Africans in January, the BBC reports. Among his victims were a 3-month-old baby, and a 10-year-old boy. Witnesses told the court he was verbally abusive too, making racist comments while shooting. Judge Ronald Hendricks and the prosecuting lawyer are under police protection after receiving more than 50 calls, all from white people, threatening death if a life sentence was handed down.

Vietnam To Enforce Child Limitation Policy

Vietnam is enforcing a two-child policy, in an attempt to control population growth putting a strain on the country’s public services, the BBC reports. A similar policy was introduced in the 1960s, but has only been loosely enforced for the past few years. Punishment for violating the policy has not been officially announced, but may include fines or demotion at work.

Indian Leaders Confident About Economics

Two of India’s most powerful politicians, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an economics graduate of Oxford and Cambridge universities, and Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress party, insisted the country would shrug off the global recession but said the world’s poor should not pay for the “profligacy” of rich nations, the Guardian reports. Gandhi lavished praise on her late mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, for her decision as prime minister in 1969 to nationalize India’s banks, saying, “Every passing day bears out the wisdom of that decision. Public sector financial institutions have given our economy the stability and resilience we are now witnessing in the face of the economic slowdown.”