05 January 2017
Week In Brief: International
Europe
FINLAND: Police chief Jari Aarnio, who was the head of Helsinki’s anti-narcotics squad, was found guilty of running a drug smuggling operation in partnership with a Finnish organised crime gang, and sentenced to ten years in prison.
FRANCE: A ‘right to disconnect’ law was passed, allowing workers to ignore work-related e-mails and telephone calls outside working hours.
The son of the president of Equatorial Guinea has gone on trial in Paris, accused of spending almost £100 million embezzled from his state on French assets including a mansion, art works and luxury cars. Teodorin Obiang, who is also the vice president of Equatorial Guinea, is not attending the trial. His father has been president since 1979.
GERMANY: Interior minister Thomas de Maizière announced plans for new security measures, including surveillance, intelligence handling and the processing of migrants at central, federal government level (rather than at individual state level).
ITALY: The new Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni promised tougher anti-immigration measures.
ROMANIA: Following the Social Democrat’s election victory last month, the president has rejected their leader Sevil Shhaideh as prime minister (she is female and Muslim, and her Syrian husband has ties with Assad) and instead appointed another Social Democrat, Sorin Grindeanu, as prime minister.
RUSSIA: The foreign minister Sergei Lavrov responded angrily to the deportation of 35 Russian diplomats from the USA, but President Putin decided not to respond.
Middle East and Africa
EGYPT: The government approved the transfer of two Red Sea islands – Tiran and Sanafir – to Saudi Arabia, in spite of protests and a court ruling saying it was unconstitutional. The move has been criticised as a ‘sell-off’ because it is part of a Saudi aid package.
GAMBIA: Two radio stations were closed down as the post-election political crisis continues, with the defeated President Jammeh still refusing to step down.
IRAQ: Iraqi forces waging the battle for Mosul have launched a new offensive and claim that Isis resistance is waning.
ISRAEL: The attorney general instructed the police to begin a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about allegedly accepting gifts from wealthy businessmen.
SAUDI ARABIA: A man was sentenced to a year in prison and fined £6,500 for putting up posters calling for the abolition of the ‘male guardianship’ system, by which women cannot travel, work, have a bank account, etc., without the permission of a male relative.
SYRIA: Turkey and Russia announced a ceasefire, agreed between rebel forces and the regime. It excludes Isis, but there is some confusion over which other groups (e.g. Fateh al-Sham and the Kurdish YPG) are also excluded. Not all rebel groups have signed up (the moderate Free Syrian Army has, but the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham has not). The UN Security Council has approved Russia’s planned peace talks to start in Astana, Kazakhstan, later this month but rebel groups have already reported regime violations of the ceasefire and have threatened to boycott the peace talks.
Russian/regime airstrikes continue against rebel-held Idlib.
Russian airstrikes have begun to support the Turkish-backed rebels besieging Al-Bab, an Isis-held town 20 miles from Turkish border which Turkey is keen to prevent the Kurds from taking.
US-backed rebel factions include Kurdish YPG forces are poised to assault Isis-held Raqqa. This is causing friction between Turkey and the USA, however, as Turkey claims that the YPG has links to the PKK, the banned group which is behind the insurgency in south east Turkey.
TURKEY: A gunman killed 39 people in an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve. Isis claimed responsibility. Police have made 16 arrests, but the attacker still at large. Authorities suspect that he is from Central Asia, possibly a Uighur Muslim from China.
ZIMBABWE: The government was unable to pay civil servants in December. President Mugabe and his family enjoyed a month-long Christmas holiday in Singapore, costing the state £5 million.
Far East, Asia and Pacific
CHINA: Four people, thought to be militant Uighur Muslims, drove a car-bomb into a government building in Xinjiang. One person was killed and all four attackers were shot dead.
The highest bridge in the world was opened, spanning the Beipanjiang valley, 565m above the Nizhu River. Its construction took less than four years and cost £121 million.
INDONESIA: At least 23 people died when a fire broke out on a ferry to the island of Tidung. Another 17 are missing.
PAKISTAN: At least ten miners were killed and thirteen others remain buried by a landslip at a state-owned but privately-run coal mine in Jharkhand.
Five days of polio immunisation were undertaken in Quetta to protect children from a rare strain of polio found there.
TAIPEI: President Tsai Ing-Wen is expected to visit the USA before or after her trip to Central America this month.
America
BRAZIL: Rival gangs fought each other during a 17 hour riot at Anisio Jobim prison, Manaus. 56 inmates were killed, 184 escaped (150 are still at large) and 12 guards were taken hostages.
USA: President Obama ordered 35 Russian diplomats to be deported, accusing them of “acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status”, and closed down two diplomatic compounds. He also imposed sanctions against them. The executive order was in response to Russian officials harassing US officials and for cyber-attacks on the democratic process of the recent presidential elections.
The US abstained from a UN vote condemning Israeli settlements, allowing the vote to be passed.
Ford cancelled plans to spend $1.6 billion on a new factory in Mexico, and will instead spend $700 million on its factory at Flat Rock, Michigan, creating 700 jobs. Donald Trump has criticised Ford for moving manufacturing jobs out of the USA.
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