News Weekly Round-up

Jakarta Indonesia

Written in 2021 by former News Editors Louis Brettkelly and Pippa Wonders

Week of 17 May

BRAZIL: Flooding affects thousands – Rivers in Brazil’s Amazon region have burst their banks and flooded 52 towns, rising to near record levels after prolonged periods of heavy rainfall. It is predicted that at least 410,000 people have been affected as 25 towns, including the region’s capital Manaus where over 4,000 homes have been flooded, declare states of emergency. The water levels are projected to rise even more in the coming days, eventually reaching record highs. One large town, Anamã, has been dubbed the “Venice of Amazonas” as all its streets have been completely flooded with canoes now being the only viable form of transport. The severe flooding is causing mass disruption in the country’s already limited vaccine rollout as an aggressive new variant spreads through the region. 

FRANCE: Sarkozy on trial for campaign overspending – after having already been convicted of corruption in a separate court case earlier this year, Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is being tried on charges of campaign overspending. An investigation alleges that Sarkozy’s campaign spent around double the €22.5 million campaign spending limit in his run for reelection against François Hollande in 2012. The Guardian reports that Sarkozy held a number of large-venue rallies during the campaign.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE: Ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas – a ceasefire agreement has been reached between Israel and Hamas after weeks of conflict, in which 12 people died in Israel and upwards of 200 died in Gaza, as a result of rocket attacks and air strikes. The ceasefire is being hailed as a positive move, although there is a recognition that the violence will almost certainly return in the not-so-distant future. Both sides are now also positioning themselves to claim victory in the aftermath of this latest round of conflict.

SPAIN: Record migrant influx to Southern Spain – A record number of migrants reached Spanish shores from Morocco on Monday, with over 6,000 people landing at the Ceuta enclave. In response to the illegal arrivals, the Spanish government deployed troops to help border police and arrange for many of the migrants to be sent back. Among the 6,000 were 1,500 minors, all of whom have since been taken into Spanish social services. A further 2,000 people arrived at Ceuta the following day. Images of children, many of them just a few months old, being rescued by Spanish police have gone viral as pressure on European governments to support more migrants increases. Madrid has since accused the Moroccan government of being implicit in the influx as well as leveraging accusations of blackmail and aggression. 

Week of 10 May

FRANCE: French soldiers warn government of civil war - A recently published open letter with over 130,000 signatures has warned the French government of a potential civil war due to the government’s multiple “concessions” made to Islamism. The open letter, published in a right-wing magazine, is said to be an appeal from French soldiers to the public and a warning for the government. The majority of supporting soldiers are reported to be veterans who fought in Afghanistan, Mali and the Central African Republic and they write: "[We] gave [our] skin to destroy the Islamism to which you [the government] are giving concessions on our soil”. The warning follows a similar letter published by French generals last month, both of which have been condemned by the government. Yet leader of far-right party Le Rassemblement national and the French President’s biggest rival, Marine Le Pen, has publicly shown her support for the soldiers and has promised to come down hard on islamist extremism should she be elected in 2022. 

ISRAEL/PALESTINE: Stood on the brink of war as attacks in Gaza and Southern Israel intensify – the situation in the region is escalating as Hamas continues to fire rockets at towns and cities in Southern Israel from Gaza, and Israeli forces launch air strikes at a number of targets in Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the air strikes on Gaza are to continue ‘at force’, while the official death toll in the Gaza Strip stands at 188 (including 55 children) and there are 1,230 injured, in spite of Israel’s assurances that they are trying to avoid civilian casualties. In Israel, there have been 10 deaths, also including children, after hundreds of rockets have been fired from Gaza, most of which having been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defence system. The UN has called the violence ‘appalling’, however the US is keeping relatively quiet on the issue, reiterating its support for Israel and stopping short of calling for a ceasefire, while Egypt positions itself to mediate a ceasefire. Among the targets hit in Gaza are a refugee camp and the building which housed the AP and Al Jazeera offices. The conflict has prompted a number of pro-Palestinian protests around the world, including in Cambridge and London. 

ITALY: Migrant camp struggles with mass influx - A migrant camp on the Italian island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, has experienced a sharp rise in arrivals of asylum seekers this week, with more than 2,000 people making the journey across the Mediterranean mostly from Libya. Almost 13,000 people have arrived on Italian shores this year, a rate that is three times higher than the one in 2020, and there has been a four-year high in deaths, a figure that is currently above 500. The camp on Lampedusa, which is only designed to house 300, is struggling with resources and with a predicted 50,000-70,000 people waiting to make a similar journey from Libya, the Italian government has appealed for more aid from European countries, a request that is so far, falling on deaf ears. 

TAIWAN: Rising Covid cases prompt lockdowns – Taiwan reported consecutive record-breaking daily Covid-19 case numbers this weekend, with 206 on Sunday. Despite the country’s response having been praised as one of the best in the world, a recent outbreak linked to the national airline and the staff of a quarantine hotel has snowballed into a much larger, quickly worsening epidemiological situation in Taipei and New Taipei. Both have been placed under level 3 restrictions in a 4-tier system. This includes business closures, mandated mask wearing in public and limits on gatherings. Schools are also moving to online learning and hospitals are reprioritising their responses in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. It appears that the initial measures are being adhered to and vaccination figures have jumped since the outbreak began also, so there’s hope that the situation will be brought back under control.

Week of 3 May

COLOMBIA: Anti-tax protests turn violent - Widespread protests that have seen the deaths of at least 24 people and 800 injured have entered a second week in Colombia. Scores of people, many members of trade unions, have been taking to the streets to protest proposed government tax reforms that would lower the threshold at which salaries are taxed. Half of the population in Colombia currently live in poverty and residents fear that these reforms will plunge even greater numbers of families below the poverty line. On Friday, protestors attack 25 police stations in the capital, Bogotá, setting one alight with 15 officers inside. The police have been accused of killing 11 protestors and the UN has been forced to intervene, ordering security forces to refrain from using firearms. 

ISRAEL/PALESTINE: Peaceful protests in East Jerusalem turn violent – Palestinians have been protesting upcoming decisions on eviction orders against several residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem for several nights. The protests descended into violence scenes between Palestinians and the Israeli security forces as well as with Israeli settlers, according to a number of reports on social media. There were also violent confrontations between Palestinians and the Israeli security forces at al-Aqsa Mosque – considered the third holiest religious site in Islam. The protests centre around upcoming decisions in the Israeli Supreme Court on the application of a one-sided law which allows Jews to claim back their property from before the 1948 war, yet no such provision exists for displaced Palestinians. You can read in more detail about this from The Guardian.

MEXICO: Metro collapse kills 26 - A metro overpass collapsed in Mexico City on Monday this week, killing at least 26 people and injuring 79. The overpass collapsed whilst a train drove over it, falling onto a busy road below. President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has offered his condolences and promised that an independent inquiry will hide nothing from the people of Mexico. According to local media, the integrity of the structure was damaged in a 2017 earthquake, but never fixed. On Saturday, hundreds of people protested at the site of the wreckage demanding justice for the victims with many believing that the accident was caused by government negligence and corruption. 

SPAIN: The right-wing storm Madrid regional elections – Isabel Ayuso’s Partido Popular (PP) in Madrid, with the support of the far-right party Vox, decisively won the regional election on Tuesday 4 May. Meanwhile, the Socialists (PSOE) suffered their worst ever result in the region, being left in third place behind Más Madrid. In the aftermath, Pablo Iglesias, the leader and candidate of the political party Podemos – which formed in the aftermath of the 15-M anti-corruption and inequality protests – and former Second Deputy Prime Minister resigned. A strong anti-central government, populist campaign centred around individual freedoms and fronted by Ayuso, a controversial but popular political figure, damaged the opposition heavily.

Week of 26 April

INDIA: Oxygen crisis in Delhi as cases soar – record numbers of Covid cases have ravaged India this week, completely overwhelming the health system and leading to a crisis of oxygen shortages. The army has been drafted in to help, as funeral pyres are being built to cope with the overloaded crematoriums. Despite this, many still say the true scale of the crisis is much worse than the reported upwards of 300,000 daily cases.

RUSSIA: Opposition oppression continues as Navalny appears in court – Alexei Navalny made a court appearance virtually from the penal colony where he is imprisoned, the first time he has been seen since his hunger strike. He called Putin a ‘naked, thieving king’ amidst a continuing crackdown on the opposition in Russia, and specifically Navalny’s activist network.

SPAIN: The right-wing looked poised to win Madrid regional elections – The Partido Popular’s (PP) Isabel Ayuso looks set to win the upcoming regional elections in Madrid next Tuesday (4 May), but will most likely need the support of the far-right party Vox, something which a 78% majority of PP voters in the region support, according to El País. Ayuso has fought on platform that is fiercely pro-Madrid and anti-central government – which is currently controlled by the Socialists (PSOE) – centred around the slogan of Libertad (‘Liberty’), which is resonating strongly with voters.

Week of 19 April

CHAD: Chad’s recently re-elected President, Idriss Déby, has died following clashes with rebels in the north of the country during a visit to the frontline of ongoing conflict. In response to his death, Chad’s parliament has been dissolved, its borders shut and a curfew has been installed. Déby was president of the country for over three decades and was considered a prolific ally to Europe in the fight against jihadism. His son will now lead a provisional government, appointed by the military, until a new leader is elected in 18 months time. However, both opposition politicians and rebel groups have rejected the appointment, declaring that “Chad is not a monarchy”. In response to growing tensions surrounding the leadership, the Africa Union has been called to discuss the unfolding political crisis.

EU & USA: Both the EU and the US have outlined new ambitious pledges to combat climate change. The EU aims to cut emissions by 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 and plans to make these targets legally binding on all its member states. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen commented: “Our political commitment to becoming the first climate neutral continent by 2050 is now a legal one”. Meanwhile the US has announced plans to reduce carbon emissions by 50–52% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. Both sets of plans come before a November COP26 climate summit in Glasgow and are considered to be attempts to encourage China and India to commit to similar targets.

INDIA: India’s capital Delhi has announced a week-long lockdown following a drastic spike in cases in recent days, reporting its highest individual case spike, over 24,000 on Sunday. Nationwide, India has since recorded the highest one-day tally of new Covid-19 cases anywhere in the world at a peak of 315,000, with currently just under 16 million confirmed cases. Hospitals are overwhelmed and collapsing due to oxygen shortages forcing crowds of people to wait, congested, outside. A large number of people have died while waiting for oxygen following a day-long shortage that struck hospitals throughout the capital on Thursday.

VENEZUELA: The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) has reached a deal with the Venezuelan government to provide food to the school children of the country following sharp rises in child malnutrition due to the collapse of the nation’s health services. A study conducted in 2020 by the WFP suggested that one in three people could not provide sufficient food for their children and that Venezuela was among the top four countries worldwide suffering from food insecurity. Throughout the crisis, 5.3 million citizens have fled the country and the WFP now aims to deliver 1.5 million daily meals to students by the end of 2023.

Week of 15 March

DENMARK: Limits to be placed on numbers of non-Westerners in residential areas – the Danish government wants to bring in legislation to tackle the issue of so-called ‘ghettos’ by limiting the number of residents with a ‘non-Western background’ in any given residential area to 30% by 2030. The term ‘ghetto’ is used officially by the government, for example in its annual Ghettolisten, which names all the areas of the country matching the criteria of having a population that is over 50% non-Western, among other factors. The ruling Socialdemokraterne (Social Democrats) have continued the traditionally hardline stance on immigration in Denmark and is looking to eradicate what is seen as the issue of a so-called ‘parallelsamfund’ (‘parallel society’) through this hardline integration policy. 

MYANMAR: Situation deteriorates as death toll climbs and martial law imposed.

TURKEY: Women protest withdrawal from treaty.

UNITED STATES & RUSSIA: Diplomatic spat after Biden calls Putin a ‘killer’.

Week of 8 March

AFRICA: A report published by the Financial Times on Sunday outlines the ongoing erosion of democratic government that is visible in several West African countries, particularly former French colonies. Examples discussed in the report include the introduction of Internet restrictions in Niger and a military coup in Mali, but also a more general weakening of the rule of law and the practice of free and fair elections. The report suggests that local autocrats may be ‘getting a pass’ on their anti-democratic behaviour thanks to their role in supporting Western powers in the war against jihadism.

BRAZIL: Covid catastrophe as ICUs pass breaking point – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro remains a consistent denier of the severity of Covid despite ICUs across the country overflow with Covid-19 patients. The country’s top public health institute has labeled the situation as ‘absolutely critical’. Meanwhile, Brazil’s political leaders continue to downplay the situation. Despite having the second highest death toll and a widespread incidence of the P1 variant, which recently caused the British authorities so much concern, the situation has been called ‘actually quite comfortable’ compared to elsewhere by a top politician and ally of Bolsonaro.

MEXICO: Protests against sexual assault descend into violence – police in Mexico City turned on demonstrators who were protesting violent attacks against women. Protestors were angry at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has come out in support of a fellow politician accused of sexual assault and who has installed a metal barricade –which he called a ‘peace wall’– around the Palacio Nacional. López Obrador has previously positioned himself against the feminist movement in Mexico, which he has accused of being influenced by the rhetoric of conservatives and from abroad.

UNITED STATES: The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it would direct all states and territories to make all adult Americans eligible for Covid-19 vaccinations by May 1. He added that if the country’s vaccination campaign continues at a sufficient pace, July 4 – Independence Day in the US – will ‘begin to mark [America’s] independence from this virus’. Biden’s announcement comes amid a rapid and sustained decrease in Covid cases in the US, although the country continues to grapple with an average of 1,000 deaths a day and is close to marking 530,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Week of 1 March

IRAQ: Pope Francis arrives for historic official tour – the first-ever Papal visit to Iraq is underway after 84 year-old Pope Francis touched down in Baghdad on Friday. Concerns surrounding health and security have prompted the imposition of a four-day total lockdown in Iraq for the duration of the Pope’s visit. Pope Francis has visited the holy city of Najaf, where he met with one of Shi’a Islam’s most important clerics, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. This is the Pope’s first visit outside of Italy since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the first visit to Iraq made by any pontiff.

ITALY: The Italian government has blocked the delivery of 250,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia. Italian authorities have cited the recent rise in cases and a shortage of vaccine doses as their reasons for invoking a EU rule that allows EU countries to stop the exportation of vaccines if the supplying company fails to meet its obligations. The European Commission could have overturned Italy’s decision but chose not to. Italy reaffirmed that the decision was not to be perceived as a ‘hostile act’ and Australia declared that the missed shipment would not affect the pace of the vaccine rollout. 

MARS: Perseverance, the NASA rover that landed on Mars on 18 February, has begun to explore the planet. The rover has completed the initial post-landing check-up and has gone on a brief (just 21 feet) walk, in the Martian crater called Jezero, which is believed to have been the site of a vast lake billions of years ago. In the next few months, Perseverance will keep exploring Jezero and searching for traces of past life on Mars. 

SPAIN: Royal family under fire once again after princesses take vaccine in Abu Dhabi – The princesses, Cristina and Elena, have been criticised after accepting a Covid-19 vaccine in Abu Dhabi, despite not yet being eligible for one back in Spain. The daughters of King Emeritus Juan Carlos have defended their actions by claiming that this was the only way they could continue to regularly visit their father, who has fled Spain and is currently in self-imposed exile in the UAE. The former king left Spain last year in the midst of a scandal surrounding unpaid taxes. There is a recent history of multiple scandals within the Spanish royal family and anti-monarchist sentiment is high as a consequence.

Week of 22 February

EUROPEAN UNION: The European Union appears poised to green-light Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine on 11 March and start distributing it in April. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a good efficacy profile, but its key advantage relative to its competitors is that a single dose is sufficient – whereas other vaccines such as Moderna, Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca require two doses for full immunity. This advantage would effectively allow authorities to immunise twice as many people with the same number of doses, which would help ease the EU’s vaccine supply issues. 

ITALY: Following a steep rise in Covid-19 cases in recent days, Italian authorities have introduced further restrictions at the regional level. The ‘R value’ is now estimated at around 1 and some highly contagious variants have been detected in different parts of the country. Italy is also grappling with a slower-than-expected vaccine rollout, due to scarce supply, a complicated priority-group system and widespread (baseless) scepticism towards the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. 

NIGERIA: 317 schoolgirls have been kidnapped from a school in the town of Jangebe, Nigeria. Unicef strongly condemned the kidnapping and the local Nigerian authorities have already launched a rescue operation. This marks the third kidnapping of schoolchildren in Nigeria in three months; according to The Guardian, criminal groups tend to target schoolchildren because the Nigerian government pays large ransoms in exchange for their freedom, thus funding the groups’ activities. 

UNITED STATES: A strong campaign is underway in California to force a recall election for the current Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. Recall campaigners will have to collect almost 1.5 million valid signatures by mid-March for the snap election to take place, and about 1.1 million signatures have already been filed. Mr Newsom’s popularity has suffered considerably as an effect of the multiple crises he has faced since he took office in 2019 – including a particularly fierce wildfire season in 2020 and a Covid pandemic that has claimed over 50,000 lives in the state alone. However, commentators believe that even if a recall election were to happen, Newsom would win reelection handily in heavily Democratic California. 

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