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world news Diabierna 9 Juli 2021

Belarus government blocks media outlet, detains reporters

(AP) — Belarusian au- the city of Baranovichi.
thorities blocked the Nasha Niva, which was
website of a leading on- ADVERTISEMENT founded in 1906, is the old-
line media outlet and de- In the city of Orsha in eastern est and the most authorita-
tained some of its journal- Belarus, authorities detained tive Belarusian media outlet.
ists and several reporters Ihar Kazmerchak, the editor Its online audience exceeds
from other news organi- of the Orsha.eu news portal, 100,000.
zations Thursday, the lat- and searched the apartment
est moves in a sweeping of photographer Dzyanis Both Nasha Niva and Tut.by
crackdown on dissent and Dubkou. In another eastern extensively covered months
independent media in the city of Bobruisk, the KGB of protests against Belarus’
ex-Soviet nation. detained Alesya Latsinskaya, authoritarian President Al-
a journalist who worked for exander Lukashenko, which
Belarus’ Information Min- the independent Bobr.by were triggered by his reelec-
istry said it has blocked Na- news portal. tion to a sixth term in an Au-
sha Niva’s website after the gust 2020 vote that was wide-
prosecutor general’s office In the city of Vitebsk in Be- ly seen as rigged.
accused it of posting unspeci- larus’ northeast, freelance that if they abduct journal- families, our children and
fied unlawful information. journalist Vital Skryl was de- The authorities responded ists and close media outlets our land.”
tained and authorities raided to demonstrations with a people will forget about fal-
The Belarusian Association the apartment of another lo- massive crackdown that saw sifications, violence and re- Overall, 27 Belarusian jour-
of Journalists, or BAJ, said cal journalist, Dzmitry Kaza- more than 35,000 people ar- pressions by the regime. But nalists are currently in cus-
that authorities conducted kevich, who was out during rested and thousands beaten our memory and the truth tody, either serving their
searches at Nasha Niva’s the search. And in the town by police. Leading opposition are stronger than that.” sentences or awaiting trial,
offices and detained chief of Glubokoye in the Vitebsk figures have been either jailed according to the Belarusian
editor Yahor Martsinovich, region, freelance journalist or forced to leave the country. The European Union and Association of Journalists.
journalists Andrey Skurko, Zmitser Lupach was detained the United States have re-
Andrey Dynko and office ac- by the KGB in a sanitarium Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, sponded to the crackdown by BAJ said that Nasha Niva
countant Volha Rakovich for where he resided. the main opposition candi- slapping Belarus with sanc- journalists are accused of or-
questioning. The Belarusian date in the election, fled the tions. They have imposed ganizing mass disturbances
Investigative Committee said Nasha Niva journalist Аrtsem country after the vote under new, tougher restrictions af- and actions violating public
it called an ambulance for Harbatsevich likened the official pressure. She urged ter Belarus diverted a passen- order — charges that carry a
Martsinovich, who fell ill, crackdown to the authorities’ Belarusians Thursday to sub- ger jet on May 23 to arrest an sentence of up to 15 years.
but continued his interroga- earlier action against another scribe to media channels on opposition journalist.
tion later. top independent news portal, a popular messaging app to “The crackdown on indepen-
Tut.by, which saw its website support independent media. Speaking Thursday to gradu- dent media in Belarus is con-
Agents of the Belarusian blocked and 12 of its journal- ates of military academies, tinuing,” said the association
state security agency, which ists detained in May. “The regime is so much afraid Lukashenko accused the West head, Andrei Bastunets. “The
still goes under its Soviet- of the truth that it blocks all of trying to “deprive us of our authorities have decided that
era name, KGB, also con- “It’s a crackdown on the independent media, denies sovereignty and enforce ex- they can deprive millions of
ducted searches Thursday at editorial office in the worst accreditation to foreign jour- ternal governance.” citizens of information. The
two regional media outlets, Soviet-era tradition,” Har- nalists, shuts editorial offices, authorities see journalists and
the Brest Gazette in the city batsevich told The Associ- blocks editorials and puts “But we will not come down independent information as
of Brest on the border with ated Press in a telephone in- editors behind bars,” Tsikha- on our knees,” he said. “We their main enemies.”
Poland and the Intex-press in terview from Minsk. nouskaya said. “They hope are defending ourselves, our

Firefighters douse ship that exploded at major port in Dubai

(AP) — Firefighting boats the ship, without elaborating. ly,” celebratory headlines in said a company official was Jebel Ali and Sharjah ports,
on Thursday poured cas- They said the ship had been state-linked media declared. cooperating with authorities while making a handful of
cades of water on a con- carrying containers full of The state-run media office in the investigation at the trips to the Pakistani port of
tainer ship that had erupt- unspecified “flammable ma- and Dubai police did not re- scene of the explosion. They Karachi, according to log data
ed in a fiery explosion at terials.” spond to repeated requests said the official was very from ship-tracking website
Dubai’s main port the for comment on the incident. “stressed” and it wasn’t clear MarineTraffic.com.
previous night, rocking The blast, which sent a giant Authorities restricted media whether he was free to leave
the commercial hub of the fireball skyward late Wednes- access to the area, citing the the terminal. They declined Few other details have
United Arab Emirates. day and shook homes and ongoing investigation. In aer- further comment pending emerged from the scene of
high-rises in several neigh- ial footage of the aftermath the results of the probe. the container explosion. The
Satellite images captured by borhoods across Dubai, was released by the government UAE’s state-linked newspa-
Planet Labs Inc. and analyzed powerful enough to be seen Thursday, the stricken vessel The state-owned operator per The National, citing an
by The Associated Press from space by satellite. Pan- is visible for just a few sec- of the port, DP World, told unnamed official, reported
showed that intensive efforts icked residents filmed the ee- onds before the camera pans the AP that international “minor injuries” — mostly
to cool the Ocean Trader rie orange glow over Dubai’s to the rest of the vast port. maritime protocol directs all bumps and scrapes — as the
were continuing some 12 futuristic skyline, reporting The small container ship crew and staff present before crew “fled from the ship and
hours after the blast at Jebel trembling walls and windows appears charred, with thick the explosion to “give state- the area was evacuated.” The
Ali port, as fireboats doused over 15 miles away from the plumes of gray smoke still ments, which will allow the paper said the sailors fled
the area with water. Authori- port. billowing from its containers investigators to piece togeth- after spotting smoke rising
ties said the explosion caused and blackened debris littering er all available evidence and from one of the ship’s con-
no casualties and they were Dubai authorities vigorously the terminal. therefore an accurate conclu- tainers.
still investigating the cause. sought to stem the fallout sion.”
from the explosion, praising The Ocean Trader, sailing The explosion occurred
The photos also showed the “record time” it took fire- under a Comoros flag, is op- The container ship docked around 11:55 p.m. Wednes-
a thin sheen of what ap- fighters to contain the flames erated by the Dubai-based in Dubai Wednesday from day, as Dubai’s temperature
peared to be an oil-water mix and stressing the crucial port Inzu Ship Charter. At the the neighboring emirate of hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 de-
spreading from the vessel operations had not experi- firm’s office in Al Qasis, a Sharjah. Over the past year, grees Fahrenheit), with heat
into the gulf. Dubai authori- enced any disruption. The dusty residential area near the ship has primarily moved and humidity along the coast
ties reported a “leakage” from port is “running seamless- Dubai airport, employees back and forth between the approaching summer peaks.