Week 159 (20-26/06/2022)

AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

The parliament of Israel decided to hold a general election after concluding that the current coalition government was on the brink of collapse (21/06). The election, predicted to take place in late October, will be the country’s fifth in under four years. Moreover, under an existing deal, Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid will switch role with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera suspended the power of his vice president, Saulos Chilima, over corruption allegation (22/06). Chilima has been accused by the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of receiving bribes from British-Malawian businessman Zuneth Abdul Rashid Sattar in return for government contracts. Additionally, Chakwera fired Malawi Police Service Inspector General George Kainja and suspended two other officials for accepting Sattar’s money between 2017 and 2021.

The tooth of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo)’s first prime minister, has returned and will be taken on a tour in the country (22/06). Lumumba was murdered by rebels in collusion with Belgian mercenaries in 1961. His body was later dissolved in acid—his tooth was the only thing remained. The tooth will be taken to Lumumba’s birth town first, before taken to where he started his political activism and later where he was assassinated.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Turkey—his first visit since the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 (23/06). Mohammed was welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who once indirectly accused the prince of murdering Khashoggi. The two men later talked to repair the two countries’ relations.

ASIA

In Asia, monkeypox cases have been confirmed in Singapore and South Korea. The case in Singapore involved a visiting British man who was tested positive in Monday (20/06). The person developed skin rashes and experienced headaches and a fever last week. Meanwhile, in South Korea a local citizen reported themselves to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency after arriving back in the country from Germany on Wednesday (22/06). The person reported having a headache before flying and had developed a fever, sore throat, fatigue, and skin lesions on arrival in the country.

A powerful 5.9 magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan’s provinces of Paktika and Khost has killed (22/06) at least 920 people and injured more than 600. The hardest hit areas are remote farming villages, so remote that Afghan authorities dispatched seven helicopters and a medical team to help with the rescue mission. According to the United States (US) Geological Survey, the quake originated just 10 kilometers below the Earth’s surface—shallow depths like that often bring a greater risk for damage, because the energy from such quakes doesn’t dissipate as much as it moves toward the surface.

Reported in France24 (26/06), Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to urge peace talks. He will be visiting Ukraine after attending the G7 summit from June 26 to 27 in Germany, and is planned to visit Moscow in June 30. “With the same mission, I will ask President Putin to open a dialogue and to immediately have a ceasefire and to stop the war,” he said.

Cambodia’s National Election Committee has issued (26/06) official results from this month’s commune elections, confirming a landslide victory by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party received 74.3% of the votes, and the opposition Candlelight Party about 22.3%, meaning that the CPP won 1,648 of the country’s 1,652 commune chief positions, and the Candlelight Party the remaining four. The commune elections are held a year ahead of the general election and regarded as a test of parties’ strength.

AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA

Much to everyone’s surprise, candidates of French Polynesia’s pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira Party won the three seats in the French National Assembly (20/06). The victory mimicked that of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which caused Emmanuel Macron to lose his parliamentary majority. Tavini’s win also raised the question of how French Polynesia can ask support from France and push its interests in Paris.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to meet French President Emmanuel Macron (23/06). The meeting will take place during Albanese’s visit to Europe for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. Albanese aims at repairing the relations between the two countries which turned sour after former Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelled a longstanding submarine deal with France.

The White House announced the establishment of the Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP) (25/06). The informal group was launched by Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), and the US. It is aimed at boosting economic and diplomatic ties with Pacific Island countries amid the growing presence of China in the region.

After four years of a legal battle, four Bangladeshi nationals have finally been sentenced to prison for their roles in human trafficking, slavery, and money laundering in Vanuatu (26/06). They were also ordered to pay USD 1.67 million as compensation to their victims. The quartet had lured more than 100 Bangladeshis into Vanuatu and promised them jobs. However, they ended being enslaved.

EUROPE

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has lost his parliamentary majority (20/06). His centrist alliance, Ensemble!, only secured 245 seats from the 289 needed to maintain its dominance. Macron’s loss could jeopardize his plan to reform the pension system.

The European Parliament has voted “unequivocally” to grant Moldova and Ukraine a European Union (EU) candidate status (23/06). However, it could take up to a decade for each country to get a full membership. Meanwhile, EU leaders were meeting in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday to discuss the possibility of backing Moldova and Ukraine’s bids to join the bloc. At the same time, the leaders failed to break a deadlock over Albania and North Macedonia’s stalled membership bids.

An annual report from The Economist showed Vienna, the capital of Austria, reclaimed its position as the world’s most liveable city (23/06). Vienna is praised for its “stability and good infrastructure”, which is supported by “good healthcare and plenty of opportunities for culture and entertainment”. Other European cities that made into the top 10 most liveable cities are Denmark’s Copenhagen (second place), Switzerland’s Zurich and Geneva (third and sixth respectively), Germany’s Frankfurt (seventh), and the Netherlands’ Amsterdam (ninth).

Thousands of demonstrators took to the street in Madrid, Spain ahead of NATO summit in the city, calling for the US-led military alliance to be dissolved (26/06). They also demanded the US-maintained military bases in Spain to be shut down. One protester said, “I am fed up [with] this business of arms and killing people. The solution they propose is more arms and wars and we always pay for it. So no NATO, no [army] bases, let the Americans go and leave us alone without wars and weapons.”

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

After riots on Tuesday (23/06) during which a police station was attacked and one demonstrator died, Ecuador’s interior minister has stated that police cannot guarantee security in the town of Puyo. Patricio Carrillo, the minister, stated that 18 cops were still missing. On the ninth day of nationwide demonstrations against government economic and social policies, violence erupted. Reduced fuel prices and price caps on agricultural products are among the demonstrators’ demands.

An enormous mystery surrounding a cargo plane with Iranian and Venezuelan crew that has been stalled outside of Buenos Aires for more than two weeks is being investigated by authorities in Argentina and Paraguay (24/06). Inquiries have been opened by prosecutors in the two South American nations to determine whether the crew, which consists of 14 Venezuelans and 5 Iranians, has any connections to international terrorism or other criminal activity. The Argentine prosecutor in charge of the case, Cecilia Incardona, is concentrating her investigations on the Iranian pilot, Gholamreza Ghasemi, and any potential associations he may have with global terrorism.

A day after being detained by federal police as part of a corruption probe, a Brazilian federal judge on Thursday released the former education minister of President Jair Bolsonaro (24/06). The claims against Milton Ribeiro and the other four suspects, according to Judge Ney Bello, do not warrant his imprisonment pending a trial because they do not belong to the current administration. A few hours following Bello’s verdict, footage from Brazil’s media showed Ribeiro exiting a prison in Sao Paulo. His detention dealt further setback to Bolsonaro’s reelection campaign in October, when polls showed the far-right leader trailing the leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who presided from 2003 to 2010.

A court in Guatemala has overturned an agreement that would have made it easier to prosecute bribes involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht—a decision that benefits a former cabinet minister accused of wrongdoing (26/06). The decision, which was made late on Friday, is the latest in a string of steps taken to roll back efforts to root out corruption within the country’s political and corporate elite in Central America. Odebrecht had agreed to provide Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutors with information regarding bribes it had paid there, one of many countries throughout the hemisphere where it routinely suborned public officials. However, the appeals court has now revoked that agreement.

THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

Multiple US states have begun banning abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday (24/06). Those states are Utah, Ohio, Alabama, and Arkansas. However, it remains legal to travel out of state or out of the country to get an abortion.

On Friday (24/06), The US Congress approved legislation that would impose new restrictions on gun ownership. The new legislation is weaker than what had been advocated but includes tightening background checks. The legislation was approved after recent long-standing debates between the Democrats and the Republicans.

Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, called the US decision to ban abortion “horrific” on Friday (24/06). Trudeau said that he will protect millions of Canadian women to choose between pregnancy and abortion. Canada could face an influx of US women seeking an abortion in the neighboring country.

A mass shooting occurred at Oshawa Bar, Durham, Canada, on Saturday (25/06). Two men have died and three others were injured. The Police have not released a description of the suspects and still talking to witnesses.