Welcome to the weekly world briefing, a new Tuesday feature to help you stay up to date with major happenings around the globe. Come across something you think should be added to the next briefing? Send it to us on Twitter.
North & Central America
Eleven people were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, in what was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States. Among them were a 97-year-old woman who had survived the Holocaust, two brothers, a husband and wife, one other congregant, and four police officers. Suspect Robert Bowers entered the synagogue with three handguns and an assault rifle. Bowers appeared in court Monday, where he was charged with state charges as well as obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs, which can carry the death penalty. The shooting has not ignited the gun control debate in the way past shootings in the US have. President Trump said it had “little to do” with gun laws and said, “if they had protection inside, maybe it could have been a different situation.” Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto said, “I think the approach that we need to be looking at is how we take the guns, which is the common denominator of every mass shooting in America, out of the hands of those that are looking to express hatred through murder.” Funeral services for the victims begin today.
The shooting came just a day after authorities intercepted 14 packages sent through US mail containing pipe bombs. Suspect Cesar Sayoc, 56, faces five federal charges for sending the packages to Democrats around the country, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former US Attorney General Eric Holder, California Senator Kamala Harris, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, and California Rep. Maxine Waters. Law enforcement officials said he had a list of 100 other people he hoped to target.
Both attacks underscore the fact that US hate crimes are on the rise for the second year in a row. There has been a 57 percent rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017, and hate crimes overall rose since 2016. According to the FBI, the most frequently targeted groups were African-Americans; lesbians, gays and bisexuals; whites; Jews; Latinos; and Muslims. Race comprised 57 percent of all hate crimes.
President Trump is set to visit Pittsburgh today, though a local Jewish group said in an open letter that he was “not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.” At the same time, social media companies are struggling to handle hate speech on their platforms. Cesar Sayoc appears to have been radicalized on Facebook and Twitter, while Robert Bowers posted about his hatred of Jews on Gab. “Social media is emboldening people to cross the line and push the envelope on what they are willing to say to provoke and to incite,” Jonathan Albright, research director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University told the New York Times. “The problem is clearly expanding.” On Instagram, a search for the word “Jews” found 11,696 posts with the hashtag “#jewsdid911.” An MIT study found that falsehoods on Twitter were 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than accurate news. Social media platforms face similar issues in Brazil, Myanmar, India, and elsewhere.
The United States is sending 5,200 troops to its border with Mexico to deter a caravan of Central American asylum seekers making its way north. Though the migrants are weeks away from reaching the border, President Trump is acting with urgency to send a strong anti-immigration message just one week before the midterms. The 5,200 military personnel outnumber US troops currently in Syria and Iraq. Trump has called the journey of Central Americans fleeing violence and economic hardship an “invasion.” In an interview with Axios, Trump furthered his anti-immigration rhetoric by saying he would do away with birthright citizenship through executive order. Under the 14th Amendment, all people born in the United States are automatically United States citizens. A reversal of that policy through executive order would almost certainly face legal barriers.
South America
Right-wing populism scored a decisive victory in Brazil this weekend as the second largest country in the Americas elected Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency. Bolsonaro, who has made disparaging remarks about women and the LGBT community, and has called Brazil’s past era of military dictatorship a “glorious” time, decisively defeated his left-wing opponent Fernando Haddad. Bolsonaro can thank wealthy Brazilians for his victory, as he won 97 percent of the 1,000 richest municipalities. Haddad won 98 percent of the poorest. In a post-election interview, Bolsonaro called his political foes fascists, but walked back an earlier claim that he would prosecute them. Bolsonaro’s presidency could involve a more privatized economy, fewer environmental protections, and the dismantling of recent LGBT rights victories.
Brazil’s Cerrado savanna may be hit especially hard by Bolsonaro’s planned environmental regulation rollbacks. One of the most biodiverse regions in the world, the savanna is being demolished for soybean production, primarily to feed livestock around the world. The overproduction of soybeans is threatening the land, the ecosystem, and the people who live there.
Europe
Angela Merkel will step down as Chancellor of Germany, a post she has held since 2005, in 2021. Over the weekend, her center-right CDU party faced more local losses, this time in the state of Hesse. In a news conference on Monday, she stated, “When people are telling us what they think of how the government was formed and what they think of our work during the first seven months of this parliament… then it is a clear signal that things can’t carry on as they are.” Her impending departure is invoking questions about who will lead Germany and the CDU. Merkel will most likely be remembered for her welcoming stance toward migrants, and her role in implementing austerity measures in Greece during the Great Recession.
Meanwhile, economies throughout Europe are struggling. Third quarter growth in the EU was only 0.3 percent with Italy showing no growth at all. Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte took the news as an opportunity to defend his big spending budget proposal, which was rejected by the EU last week. In a stalling economy, Conte argues that fiscal stimulus is necessary.
Middle East
Turkey is demanding that Saudi Arabia reveal who sent the 15-man team that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul four weeks ago. The Saudi government, which originally denied any knowledge of the killing, has been slow to disclose information and the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s remains are still unknown. Now, the UN is calling for an independent investigation into the murder. Saudi Arabia enjoys close relations with much of the Western world, but some, including former US national security advisor Susan Rice, are questioning that relationship.
Though Saudi Arabia is under international scrutiny, it is not backing down in its war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. In preparation for an offensive on the port city of Hodeidah, the Saudi-UAE-led coalition has deployed 10,000 more troops into the war torn nation. Hodeidah is of strategic importance to the Houthis as a location to generate income and possibly receive weapons. The situation in Yemen continues to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
While Saudi Arabia is embroiled in one humanitarian crisis, Turkey is attempting to stave off another. In September, Turkey, Russia, and Syria agreed to create a demilitarized zone free of heavy weapons in the region around the Syrian city of Idlib. Now, Syria’s foreign minister has accused Turkey of violating the agreement by allowing jihadists and heavy weaponry in the area. Turkey denies the claim. Russia’s Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Turkey was adhering to the agreement.
Next door, minority Druze have been granted the right to vote in local Israeli elections for the first time since the Golan Heights was annexed by Israel in 1967. However, many Druze are boycotting the election. They see it as a way to legitimize Israel’s control over the region, which many believe should still belong to Syria. Similarly, most Palestinians in East Jerusalem are boycotting today’s local elections.
Central & South Asia
Despite warnings from United Nations investigators, who said genocide against the Rohingya people was continuing in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to start the repatriation of Rohingya refugees next month. More than 720,000 of the stateless Muslim minority group fled Myanmar last year after accounts of rape, burning, and murder carried out by the Myanmar military. The refugees have been living in camps in Bangladesh. Many Rohingya homes were razed during the government crackdown, so it is unclear where they will return home to, and most fear for their safety. Some human rights groups have said if they are forced to return to Myanmar, they will be returning to “open air prisons.”
India is suffering from toxic fog in New Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, and other cities as “pollution season” sets in. Experts say children breathing the air–a mix of dust, smoke from agricultural fires, and vehicles fumes–could cause brain damage. Nine of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in India, where the government is spending more than $150 million to try to discourage farmers from burning their fields. A new report from the United Nations Environment Program found that toxic air kills seven million people each year. It details 25 technical and policy measures that would reduce carbon dioxide by 20 percent and methane emissions by 45 percent, as well as prevent up to a third of a degree Celsius in global warming.
East & Southeast Asia
An almost new Boeing 737 Max Jet crashed in the Java Sea just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta on Monday, killing all 189 people on board. Divers are searching for the wreckage of the Lion Air flight and investigators are looking into what caused the crash. Pilots asked to return to the airport and the plane tracked erratic elevation and speed before plunging into the sea. An aviation analyst told the BBC the crash was likely due to a technical error, though it’s still too early to draw a definite conclusion.
A Japanese steel firm must compensate four South Koreans, only one of whom is still alive, who were forced into unpaid labor during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea from 1910-1945, says South Korea’s Supreme Court. Japan claims that cases such as this were resolved in a 1965 pact between the two nations, but South Korea’s top court insists that individuals still have the right to sue, despite the pact. The ruling could encourage lawsuits against other Japanese firms that used forced labor during colonial rule.
Africa
Police opened fire on protesters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja this Monday and Tuesday. The marchers, Shia Muslim supporters of the jailed cleric Ibrahim Zakzaky, were marching toward the city center when they were confronted with tear gas and open fire. Eighteen people died according to the demonstrators, but the military puts the death toll at three. Zakzaky, who has been in jail for almost three years, has called for an Islamic revolution in Iran.
Climate change and mass extinctions are worldwide problems, but may require local solutions. Kenya’s government and conservation groups are working to get communities invested in the fight to protect the environment. “Reef rangers” are former fishermen who now devote their lives to conserve marine habitats. Learn how they are working with fishermen and others in the community to protect the ocean’s inhabitants.
