Indonesia earthquake: 5,000 still missing

About 5,000 people are still missing, feared dead, after the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi just over a week ago, The Guardian reports. The official death toll stands at 1,944 but officials believe that when casualties from two of the hardest-hit areas of Palu are determined, that number could almost triple. http://bit.ly/2Qz8NYs

Missing Saudi journalist believed murdered

Turkish officials say they have concrete evidence that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered, according to AP/Reuters. A contributor to The Washington Post, Khashoggi has not been seen since Tuesday last week, when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to collect papers for his upcoming wedding. Saudi officials said he left shortly afterwards but his fiancee, who was waiting outside, said he never came out. https://ab.co/2QyrUSk

Mass graves and missing persons in Raqqa

Since Oct 2017, 2,777 bodies have been recovered from…

Yezidi activist joint winner of Nobel Peace Prize

The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yezidi activist Nadia Murad for their work to end sexual violence against women as a weapon of war. CBS quotes Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen as saying that this year’s laureates “both put their personal security at risk by courageously combating war crimes and seeking justice for victims.” Murad was herself a victim of sexual violence after so-called Islamic State militants occupied her hometown in northern Iraq and took her captive. Since September 2016 she has been the first UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. https://cbsn.ws/2QvYAfs

Indonesia quake: identifications on hold

Authorities in Sulawesi will no longer attempt to identify bodies, as fears grow that the death toll from the latest tsunami/earthquake will rise significantly, The Guardian reports. A team of 72…

Dead and missing in the Mediterranean

Corriere della Sera has published a detailed statistical account of missing and deceased migrants over five years in the Mediterranean, based on information drawn from maritime authorities and other agencies. Highlighting the absence of reliable data on migration flows, the article concludes that a figure of 17,536 dead and missing between 3 October 2013 and 5 September 2018 “is a partial estimate, and the number of people killed and missing in the Mediterranean may be higher.” https://bit.ly/2NoyR6u

Egypt: HRW highlights case of missing activist

A report published by Human Rights Watch on 3 October says that Egyptian police have forcibly disappeared a prominent human rights defender and lawyer, Ezzat Ghoneim. Ghoneim, the head of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, has been in custody since March 2018. His release was ordered by a court on 4 September; he was last seen in custody at…

Indonesia struggles to account for earthquake, tsunami victims

Indonesian officials said Tuesday that at least 1,234 people had died, including 120 foreigners in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the island of Sulawesi, the New York Times reports. Authorities are burying the dead in mass graves, taking fingerprints and photographs to help in subsequent identifications. http://bit.ly/2NioOA4

Mediterranean migration shifts to Spain, Western Balkans

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that a total of 87,776 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe between January and August 2018. An estimated 79 percent crossed the Mediterranean (69,614), mainly using the Western Mediterranean route which leads to Spain where 33,912 new arrivals were registered between January and August 2018. https://bit.ly/2IxEIpg

More than 30 refugees drown off Morocco coast

At least 34 refugees (out of 60) have drowned in a shipwreck along the western Mediterranean, Aljazeera reports. A Moroccan official said that 11…

Indonesian earthquake, tsunami death toll rises

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has authorized the acceptance of foreign aid for humanitarian efforts in the province of Central Sulawesi, which was hit by an earthquake and tsunami, Voice of America reports. The EU has pledged an initial $1.7 million in emergency humanitarian assistance. EU Ambassador Vincent Guérend said the Union is consulting its 28 member states to see what additional support can be provided, and suggested that forensic experts might be deployed to identify victims. http://bit.ly/2DOJjEY

UNHCR chief issues warning on migrant rescue in the Mediterranean

The head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, says rescues in the Mediterranean have been “taken hostage by politics”, The Daily Star reports. Grandi notes that since Libya has strengthened its coastguard in recent months, more migrants and refugees have been forcibly returned to Libya, where they are exposed to exploitation and detention in horrific…

Indonesia begins mass burials for earthquake, tsunami victims

The Guardian reports that authorities in Indonesia have begun mass burials of victims of the tsunami that hit the city of Palu, as relatives of the missing combed through body bags for their loved ones and the search for survivors intensified. To stave off the spread of disease in the devastated region, Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency authorized the burials. https://bit.ly/2DIFKAf

Migrants on Aquarius vessel reach Malta after EU agreement

The authorities in Malta took in all 58 migrants from the unregistered rescue ship Aquarius on Sunday, after France, Germany, Portugal and Spain agreed to distribute the group among themselves earlier this week, Deutsche Welle reports. The vessel Aquarius, run SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also faced bureaucratic obstacles after Panama revoked its registration as without a flag to sail under, Aquarius loses the right to exit any port after docking….