On 16 October, assailants in Port-au-Prince, Haiti kidnapped 17 members of an Ohio-based Anabaptist Christian aid group, including five children. The victims include 16 Americans and one Canadian. Local police suspect the involvement of the 400 Mawozo gang, who also kidnapped five priests and two nuns earlier this year.
At approximately 1100 local time, sniper fire was reported against members and supporters of Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah and the Amal Movement near the Palace of Justice in the Tayouneh area of Beirut, southeast of the city center.
On Saturday, 18 September, 2021, upwards of 700 people will return to the U.S. Capitol to rally in support of defendants charged in connection with the January 6 storming of the Capitol building following the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" rally. The demonstration is planned for noon at Union Square, which encompasses the U.S. Capitol. Multiple road closures will be in effect.
Hurricane Ida hit the Louisiana coast on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, bringing sustained 150 mph winds, massive storm surge, and torrential rains. As a result, more than one million customers remain without power in southeastern Louisiana, including in New Orleans, where all eight major transmission lines into the city have failed. Similarly, nearly 450,000 people are without running water in Louisiana. Several people have died as a result of the storm, and further fatalities are expected.
The impact was felt in Mississippi as well, where multiple ports are at "Status Zulu", meaning no vessels may enter or transit the port without approval from the Coast Guard. Those under Port Status Zulu include the ports of Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula, and Bienville.
Damage to oil and gas infrastructure both on and offshore is being assessed, while prolonged disruptions to production, refining, and transportation of petroleum products could see a temporary spike in gasoline prices and long lines at gas stations.
In Afghanistan, the value of Global Guardian’s in-country security network quickly became evident as Duty of Care clients were evacuated to safety.
Over the weekend, the Afghan government collapsed, and the capital Kabul fell to the Taliban. The Taliban is now in full control of Kabul, 32 out of 34 of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals, and all border crossings. This comes after a week in which the Taliban made rapid advances across the nation, seizing Afghanistan’s second and third-largest cities with little resistance. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has now fled to the UAE and most Western embassies have shuttered their embassies and evacuated foreign staff. The Taliban has erected security checkpoints across Kabul and are limiting access to the airport. According to U.S. estimates, there are still over 11,000 third-country nationals present in Afghanistan awaiting evacuation. So far, there have been no hostilities between the Taliban and the U.S. forces who are securing the Kabul airport.
On 01 August Myanmar’s de facto leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, declared himself prime minister in announcing a new caretaker government. Hlaing pledged to hold elections in August 2023, after previously announcing in February that elections would be held in February 2022. This announcement comes six months to the day after the military (Tatmadaw) coup against the newly elected civilian government on 01 February after claiming “voter fraud”, an allegation that has not been reliably substantiated. Since the February coup, Myanmar has been plagued by violence and instability. Over 950 people have been killed and over 7000 people have been arrested, including Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior civilian politicians.
For the first time, on 16 July, the United States government issued a joint advisory on the risks of conducting business, studying, and investing in Hong Kong. This release is a direct response to the June 2020 National Security Law (NSL) that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong which effectively crushed the autonomous region’s special freedoms and extended the risks that foreign businesses and travelers face in Mainland China to Hong Kong.
