Mali, India, Taiwan
Today's three stories you should know
Mali
At least 50 Malian soldiers have been killed in an ambush by members of two rebel groups, officials said. The attack on the army convoy leaving the strategic town of Anefis was carried out by the Tuareg separatist FLA and the al Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), who have increasingly cooperated in their fight against the Mali’s military government. In April, the groups launched sweeping attacks across the country, seizing towns and villages and killing the defense minister. Mali had back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021 as disquiet grew over the government’s inability to quell the insurgencies.
More from France 24 here.
Episode 8 of the Proximities podcast, a discussion I had on the UK’s Novara Live show about the risk of the world standing by and watching another massacre unfold in Sudan, is now live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
India
Police have fired tear gas at supporters of India’s youth-led Cockroach movement and attacked them with batons and canes as more than 10,000 demonstrators marched on parliament to demand the resignation of the education minister. The protest movement, whose Cockroach Janta Party name was chosen after the Supreme Court chief justice compared unemployed young people to “cockroaches,” emerged in May as anger grew over allegations of corruption and mismanagement in India’s exam system. The protests are the biggest public challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced in his third term.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Taiwan
Last month saw a sharp increase in Chinese coast guard and research vessel activity around Taiwan, according to Taiwan Coast Guard data, prompting Taipei to step up military drills. There were 55 sightings of Chinese government vessels around the island in June, the data showed, up from 30 in May. The sightings marked an 83 percent increase from May and a 120 percent rise from 25 sightings in June last year, underlining Beijing’s growing pressure campaign against the Taiwanese government. China views self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway region and has not ruled out the use of military force to capture it.
More from Reuters here.