DAILY HERITAGE JULY 9, 2020

Inside JULY 9, 2020.qxp_Layout 1 7/8/20 8:47 PM Page 4
•Indian cobras are among the species
which kill most people each year
'More than one million' died of snake bites in India
AN ESTIMATED 1.2 million
people have died from snake bites
in India in the past 20 years, a
new study has found.
Nearly half of the victims
were between 30 and 69 years
old, and a quarter of them were
children, the study says.
Russell's vipers, kraits and cobras
were responsible for most
deaths. The remaining deaths
were caused by at least 12 other
species of snakes.
So many of the attacks proved
fatal because they happened in
areas without swift access to
medical care.
Half of the deaths occurred
in the monsoon season between
June and September, when snakes
are known to come out. And
most victims were bitten in the
legs.
The study, published in the
open access journal eLife, was
conducted by leading Indian and
international experts. It's based
on data collected from India's
ambitious Million Death Study.
BBC
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Burkina Faso: 180 bodies
found in 'killing field'
AT LEAST 180 bodies
have been found
in mass graves in
northern Burkina
Faso where soldiers
are fighting jihadists,
a Human Rights Watch
(HRW) report says.
"Available evidence suggests
government forces were involved
in mass extrajudicial executions,"
HRW says.
Over seven months, the bodies
had been dumped near the town of
Djibo in groups of up to 20, before
being buried by local residents.
Burkina Faso's defence minister
suggested militants might be to
blame.
"It is difficult for the population
to distinguish between armed terrorist
groups and the defence and
security forces," Chérif Moumina
Sy told the campaign group in response
to the findings.
But the minister said the government
would investigate the allegations.
•Soldiers have been fighting jihadists in the north since 2016
Burkina Faso, a landlocked
country in West Africa, has been
fighting Islamist insurgents with
ties to al-Qaeda and the Islamic
State group since 2016.
Corinne Dufka, Sahel director at
HRW, said Djibo had been turned
into a "killing field".
The campaign group said the
government should seek assistance
from the UN and others to conduct
proper exhumations, return
the remains to families and hold
those responsible to account.BBC
•FBI Director Christopher Wray
FBI director: China is
'greatest threat' to US
THE DIRECTOR of the
FBI has said that acts of espionage
and theft by China's
government pose the "greatest
long-term threat" to the
future of the US.
Speaking to the Hudson
Institute in Washington,
Christopher Wray described
a multi-pronged disruption
campaign.
He said China had begun
targeting Chinese nationals
living abroad, coercing their
return, and was working to
compromise US coronavirus
research.
"The stakes could not be
higher," Mr Wray said.
"China is engaged in a
whole-of-state effort to become
the world's only superpower
by any means
necessary," he added.
The Hong Kong crisis
and the new world order
In a nearly hour-long
speech on Tuesday, the FBI
director outlined a stark picture
of Chinese interference,
a far-reaching campaign of
economic espionage, data
and monetary theft and illegal
political activities, using
bribery and blackmail to influence
US policy. BBC
Coronavirus: Belgrade protesters storm Serb Parliament over curfew
POLICE AND protesters have
been hurt in riots that broke out
outside the National Assembly in
the Serbian capital Belgrade.
The protests began peacefully
on Tuesday evening and included
students and families, angered by a
decision to re-impose a weekend
curfew because of a rise in coronavirus
infections.
Protesters broke into the assembly,
prompting police to intervene.
Clashes erupted and police
fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
• The protests started peacefully but clashes erupted after police
managed to clear the assembly
Far-right nationalists have been
blamed for stirring up the unrest
and storming the assembly building.
Serbian media said they included
an MP who has pushed
anti-vaccine and anti-5G conspiracy
theories.
On Tuesday, Serbia saw its
deadliest day so far in the pandemic.
President Vucic announced
in a televised address that there
had been 13 further deaths and
120 people were on ventilators,
with 4,000 people being treated in
hospital.
The situation was most alarming
in Belgrade, he said, before imposing
a ban on gatherings of
more than five people from
Wednesday, with a curfew in force
from 18:00 local time (16:00
GMT) on Friday until 05:00 on
Monday morning. For now, the
curfew will apply only to the capital,
but Mr Vucic is keen for it to
be extended nationally.
Serbia has seen a dramatic rise
in cases and authorities have announced
a state of emergency in
several towns and cities.BBC