A quick note for London-based subscribers. I’ll be speaking alongside some excellent people on a panel about how the world views the U.S. in the age of Trump next Tuesday 22 September. The event, which is in celebration of The Dial’s new book “How We See It,” is at the Frontline Club.
You can get tickets here.
Would be great to say hello to some Proximities readers there!
Pakistan
At least 27 people, including six civilians and 15 police officers, were killed in a suicide attack at a mosque in northwest Pakistan and in a subsequent gun battle, officials said. An explosives-packed car rammed the entrance of the mosque, which is located at a police headquarters in the city of Kohat, as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers. A faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack in which more than 70 people were also wounded. Pakistan accuses neighboring Afghanistan of aiding the TTP, which is separate from but allied to the Afghan Taliban government. Kabul denies that.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Equatorial Guinea
An Egyptian man deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea has been held incommunicado for a week, his lawyer said, after he criticised the conduct of security forces during an altercation at a hotel where deportees are housed. Ahmed Soliman was arrested on Friday, Reuters reported, and nobody has had access to him since. Footage of police pointing guns at Soliman and others in the lobby of the hotel circulated earlier this month and the Egyptian subsequently gave media interviews. The incident has prompted fresh criticism of Donald Trump’s so-called third-country deportation deals with African nations, which enable Washington to deport people who cannot legally be sent to their home countries because they obtained protection from U.S. immigration judges.
More from Reuters here.
China-Djibouti
China has upgraded capabilities at its military base in Djibouti, according to a report from a U.S. think tank, as competition for influence in the Red Sea escalates against the backdrop of U.S. and Israeli-led wars. The Center for Strategic and International Studies said the work would enhance Beijing’s intelligence-gathering operations across the Middle East and Africa, citing satellite imagery that showed new construction, including antennas and satellite equipment. Tiny Djibouti sits at a strategically important location near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and hosts several foreign bases, with the U.S., France, Italy and Japan all operating facilities less than 10 miles (16 km) from China's.
More from CSIS here.