30 July 2015
Week in Brief: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
EGYPT: Nineteen people were drowned when a cargo boat collided with a Nile river boat.
A second Suez canal, 72km (45 miles) long, has been built in twelve months. The depth of the original canal has been increased to 20m (66ft) to allow bigger ships. With two canals, two-way traffic is now possible. Care has been taken to ensure the safe passage of ships; security is a concern because the new canal is close to North Sinai which is occupied by Isis militants.
FRANCE: Jean-Marie le Pen has announced that he will be standing for election as an independent against his own grand-daughter, who is standing for the party he created and from which he was recently expelled.
Farmers protesting against falling prices are blocking roads into France, preventing lorries entering from Germany and Spain. The German dairy producers’ federation has complained to the European commission, claiming these measures amount to a boycott of German goods, illegal under EU rules.
The Eurotunnel terminal in Calais continues to be besieged by migrants. The tunnel was closed on Tuesday after three thousand migrants stormed the terminal in one night.
A law proposed by the Upper House in the French parliament would make it a criminal offence to insult the poor.
GREECE: European politicians were shocked by the revelations of Mr Varoufakis, the former finance minister, about the Syriza government’s secret ‘plan B’ for a return to the drachma, which would have included activities such as raiding central bank reserves and hacking taxpayer accounts. Mr Varoufakis and everyone else involved with the plan could face criminal charges: he has immunity from prosecution, but the Greek supreme court has referred the case to parliament for a vote to remove it.
IRAQ: Ashton Carter, the US defence secretary, visited Iraq. To improve the sectarian balance of the forces opposed to Isis, US troops are training and encouraging Sunni tribes to join the advance on Ramada and Fallujah.
JAPAN: Mitsubishi will apologise to and compensate the Chinese slave-labour force it used in World War Two.
KENYA: President Barack Obama’s tour of Africa began with a visit to Kenya, his father’s homeland. He spoke about business, security and human rights issues.
KEPLER 452b: NASA has announced that there may be life on this planet as it is so similar to Earth. Kepler 452b is 1400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus.
LIBYA: A Tripoli court has found nine former officials of Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrown regime (including his son Saif-al-Islam) guilty of war crimes and sentenced them to death. The court is not recognised by the country’s official government, whose soldiers are holding Saif-al-Islam.
MALAYSIA: The prime minister, Najib Razak, sacked his deputy, the attorney general and three ministers, and imposed strict publishing laws on the media, as questions continue to be asked about allegations of corruption made by The Wall Street Times.
PARAGUAY: US prosecutors have asked for the extradition of the former head of Latin America’s football federation, Nicolas Leoz, on corruption charges, as part of their investigation into Fifa.
SOMALIA: At least 15 people were killed (including a Kenyan diplomat and a Chinese embassy guard) and 21 injured in an attack on the Jazeera Palace hotel in Mogadishu by an al-Shabaab suicide bomber in a truck packed with explosives.
SPAIN: King Felipe has spoken out against the plans of the Catalan separatist, Artur Mas, who has called regional elections in Catalonia for September and has announced that he will declare independence if the separatists win.
SYRIA: A senior al-Qaeda terrorist, Muhsin al-Fadhli, has been killed in an airstrike. His death was reported by the Pentagon, which said he was planning to use an aircraft for a terror attack on an American target.
Three Spanish journalists are missing, feared kidnapped.
TURKEY: Prompted by the Isis suicide bomb attack in Suruc last week and the protests which followed, Turkey has joined the coalition of 60 states opposed to Isis, by opening the Turkish airbase in Incirlik to the US airforce and launching airstrikes against Isis positions in northern Syria. At least three hundred people have been arrested in an attempt to dismantle Isis networks and other terrorist groups.
The suicide bombing in Suruc last week also prompted protests by angry Kurds at what they see as the government’s tolerance of Isis. Violence erupted, with two soldiers killed, four injured, and fifteen kidnappings. The ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK group of Turkish Kurds appears to be over. Turkey bombed PKK bases either side of the border. There were reports from Syrian Kurds fighting Isis that Turkish soldiers had attacked them. NATO leaders have urged the Turkish government to show restraint with the Kurds.
Turkey plans to establish a buffer zone (68 miles by 30 miles) on the Syrian side of the frontier, to accommodate Syrian refugees and to help Syrian rebels against Assad. As it would separate two Kurdish enclaves, it would also make it difficult for the Kurds to establish an independent state. But Isis is already established there and would have to be driven out. The USA has agreed to support the plan in exchange for Turkey’s help in the fight against Isis.
UKRAINE: Two Russian soldiers taken prisoner by the Ukrainian army two months ago have been disowned by the Russian Defence Ministry. Ukraine could now charge them with terrorism and espionage rather than treat them as prisoners of war
USA: Two inspectors general have asked the justice department to investigate Hilary Clinton’s use of her private e-mail account while secretary of state, claiming that she used it to send e-mails containing classified information.
Washington announced that the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre is in its ‘final stages’.
A gunman killed two people and injured another nine in a cinema in Louisiana. He then shot himself dead. He had a history of mental illness, which has raised questions about he managed to obtain firearms.
