News Wire | August 2023 Archive

Niger allows Mali, Burkina Faso Troops to Enter Its Territory in Case of Attack

Reuters

Niger has authorized Mali and Burkina Faso's armed forces to intervene on its territory in case of an attack, the countries said in a joint statement on Thursday, a possible sign the junta in Niger plans to keep resisting regional pressure to stand down.

More from WPR: Ready or Not, ECOWAS Is the Sahel’s Last Best Hope

Modi and Xi Agree on Efforts to De-escalate Border Tensions

By Ashok Sharma | Associated Press

India’s prime minister and China’s leader agreed Thursday to intensify efforts to de-escalate tensions at the disputed border between them and bring home thousands of their troops deployed there, according to an official from India’s foreign ministry.

More from WPR: Two Years After Border Clashes, India Still Lacks a Coherent China Policy

OAS Human Rights Body Demands Protection for Guatemalan Election Winner Amid Plot Rumors

Associated Press

The Organization of American States’ human rights commission asked Thursday that Guatemala provide protection for Bernardo Arévalo, the winner of the country’s Aug. 20 elections, after reports emerged of a possible plot to kill him.

More from WPR: Guatemala Election Follows Regional Trend, but Offers Some Hope

Head of Mexico’s Agency for Finding Missing People Resigns

By Christine Murray | Financial Times

The head of Mexico’s agency for finding missing people has resigned abruptly amid a government review that some activists fear is aimed at artificially reducing the figure ahead of elections next year.

More from WPR: AMLO Doubles Down on Mexico’s Failed Security Policy

Russia Rejects US Claims Putin Likely Approved Prigozhin Killing

By Jennifer Jacobs and Alex Wickham | Bloomberg

“All of this is an absolute lie,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday. While there’s a lot of speculation about the cause of the plane crash that killed Prigozhin, the president is waiting for the investigation results that “will be completed in the foreseeable future,” Peskov said.

More from WPR: Understanding Putin, and Russia Under His Leadership

Italian Leader Tones Down Divisive Rhetoric but Carries On With Far-Right Agenda

By Frances D'Emilio | Associated Press

Since taking office in September, Premier Meloni has toned down the bombast reflected in the slogans she shouted last year at a rally in Spain for a far-right ally—“Yes to natural families! No to LGBT lobbies!” But her government and her party’s lawmakers are still pursuing multiple far-right policies, including refusing to allow the names of some same-sex parents’ to be on their children’s birth records, broadening restrictions on surrogate pregnancies and even seeking to ban foreign words from government documents.

In Zimbabwe, Thousands Camp All Night to Vote, Leaving a Nation on Edge

By John Eligon | The New York Times

A chaotic presidential election left Zimbabweans anxiously awaiting the outcome on Thursday after thousands were forced to wait overnight to vote and the police arrested dozens of independent election observers tasked with ensuring a fair election.

More from WPR: In Zimbabwe, State Coercion, Voter Apathy Pave Way for Mnangagwa Reelection

Lebanon’s Interim Central Bank Chief Vows Not to Lend Money to Government, Calls for Economic Reform

By Bassem Mroue | Associated Press

Lebanon’s interim central bank governor called on the country’s ruling class Friday to quickly implement economic and financial reforms warning that the central bank won’t offer loans to the state and does not plan on printing money to cover the huge budget deficit to avoid worsening inflation.

More from WPR: Lebanon’s Meltdown Has Become a Dystopian Nightmare

India’s Moon Landing Offers Blueprint For Other Countries Dreaming Big

By Mujib Mashal | The New York Times

As the South Asian giant gradually comes into its own as an economic and geopolitical power, its deeply rooted tradition of scientific and technological excellence is showing itself to be a pillar of its rise and offering a blueprint to nations with similar aspirations.

A Plane Crash Believed to Have Killed Mercenary Chief Prigozhin is Seen as the Kremlin’s Revenge

Associated Press

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and top officers of his private Wagner military company were presumed dead in a plane crash that was widely seen as an assassination, two months after they staged a mutiny that dented President Vladimir Putin’s authority.

More from WPR: The Wagner Mutiny Was a Preview of Russia’s Post-Putin Civil War

The BRICS Group Announces New Members, Expanding Its Reach

By Lynsey Chutel | The New York Times

The group said that Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had been invited to join, and that their membership would begin in January.

More from WPR: For BRICS, Bigger Might Not Be Better

Nicaraguan Government Bans Jesuit Order and Says All its Property Will be Confiscated

Associated Press

Nicaragua’s government on Wednesday declared the Jesuit religious order illegal and ordered the confiscation of all its property. The move comes one week after the government of President Daniel Ortega confiscated the Jesuit-run University of Central America in Nicaragua, arguing it was a “center of terrorism.”

More from WPR: In Nicaragua, Ortega’s Crackdown on the Catholic Church Takes a New Turn

Hungarian President Pushes Past Orban to Reset Ukraine Ties

By Zoltan Simon | Bloomberg

Hungary’s president took the lead in trying to reset relations with Ukraine, meeting her counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a bid to push past Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Kremlin-friendly rhetoric.

Zimbabwe’s Election Extends to a Second Day After Long Ballot Delays

By Farai Mutsaka | Associated Press

Voting is still underway in Zimbabwe, where hourslong delays in distributing ballot papers forced the president to extend the general election by a day at dozens of polling stations. Some frustrated voters slept at polling stations in the capital, Harare, snuggling under blankets or lighting fires to keep warm.

More from WPR: In Zimbabwe, State Coercion, Voter Apathy Pave Way for Mnangagwa Reelection

Residents in Southern Syria Raid Ruling Party Offices, Block Road as Protests Over Economy Intensify

By Kareem Chehayeb | Associated Press

Angry protesters raided the local offices of the ruling Baath party in a southern Syrian province Wednesday, as protests intensified against the country’s government during a severe economic and financial crisis battering the war-torn country.

More from WPR: Assad Has Survived Syria’s Civil War. Syria Might Not

China Suspends Seafood Imports From Japan on Water Release

Bloomberg

China will stop all seafood imports from Japan, escalating tensions between the two nations as Japan begins a contentious release of treated wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant.

China Tries to Increase Its Clout in Africa Amid Rivalry With the U.S.

By David Pierson and Lynsey Chutel | The New York Times

President Xi Jinping of China, traveling to Africa for the first time in five years, pledged greater cooperation with South Africa to enhance the voice of poor nations. He commended developing countries for “shaking off the yoke of colonialism.” And on Wednesday, he’s expected to hold talks with the leaders of the BRICS, a club of emerging nations, as he pushes for its expansion to serve as a counterweight to Western dominance.

More from WPR: How a Rising China Has Remade Global Politics

Ukraine’s Forces and Firepower Are Misallocated, U.S. Officials Say

By Eric Schmitt, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper and Thomas Gibbons-Neff | The New York Times

Ukraine’s grinding counteroffensive is struggling to break through entrenched Russian defenses in large part because it has too many troops, including some of its best combat units, in the wrong places, American and other Western officials say.

Chinese-Backed Port Project in Peru to Be the ‘Gateway From South America to Asia,’ Official Says

By Franklin Briceño | Associated Press

The $1.3 billion project will offer a direct route to China with a travel time reduction for ships of 10 days, according to officials of the state-owned Chinese company which owns the port. Officials say ships traveling from South America to China normally take more than 45 days with stops in Central America, Mexico or the United States.

Spain’s King Gives Conservative Opposition First Chance to Form Government

By Barney Jopson | Financial Times

Spain’s conservative opposition has been given the first chance to try to form a government by the king after an inconclusive general election, even though the party does not currently have enough support to succeed.

More from WPR: Spain’s Elections Have Put Regional Parties in a Bind

After Weaponizing Immigrants, Europe’s East Finds It Needs Them

By Krzysztof Kropidlowski, Andrea Dudik, and Zoltan Simon | Bloomberg

The notion of foreign workers filling gaps in the labor market is hardly unusual, and a chronic shortage is forcing employers across Europe to look further afield. But in these parts of Eastern Europe, that’s unmasked an awkward truth: Economic reality has caught up with some of the most vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric on the continent.

Zimbabwe Votes as the President Known as ‘the Crocodile’ Seeks a Second and Final Term

By Farai Mutsaka | Associated Press

Delays marked voting in Zimbabwe on Wednesday as President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeks a second and final term in a country with a history of violent and disputed elections.

More from WPR: In Zimbabwe, State Coercion, Voter Apathy Pave Way for Mnangagwa Reelection

As West Bank Shootings Rise, Israel’s Government Vows to Retaliate

By Isabel Kershner | The New York Times

Israel’s far-right government pledged on Tuesday to strike at Palestinian assailants, and those sending them to attack, amid what is being described as the bloodiest year in the occupied West Bank since the second Palestinian uprising about two decades ago.

More from WPR: The West Bank Is a Powder Keg. Israel’s Raids Could Set It Off

Philippine Supply Boats Breach a Chinese Coast Guard Blockade in the South China Sea

By Jim Gomez and Aaron Favila | Associated Press

 As a United States Navy plane circled overhead, two Philippine boats breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in a dangerous confrontation Tuesday in the disputed South China Sea to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces guarding a contested shoal.

India Prepares for Ambitious landing on Moon’s South Pole

By Benjamin Parkin | Financial Times

India is set to attempt landing an uncrewed probe on the Moon’s unexplored South Pole on Wednesday, a mission that if successful would cement the country’s place as an international power in space exploration.

Thai Ex-Prime Minister Returns From Exile Amid Growing Political Chaos

By Sui-Lee Wee and Muktita Suhartono | The New York Times

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former premier who was ousted in a coup and has been living in exile since 2006, returned to Bangkok for the first time in 15 years on Tuesday and was quickly taken into custody, adding to the country’s political drama on a day that Parliament was set to vote for a new prime minister.

More from WPR: The State of Democracy in Southeast Asia Is Bad and Getting Worse

Japan to Release Fukushima Water Into Ocean Starting Aug. 24

By Sakura Murakami and Tom Bateman | Reuters

Japan said on Tuesday it will start releasing more than 1 million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Aug. 24, putting into motion a plan that has drawn strong criticism from China, as well as local fishing groups.

Central America Parliament Expels Taiwan, Makes China Permanent Observer

By Ismael Lopez | Reuters

The six-nation Central American Parliament, known as Parlacen, on Monday voted to expel Taiwan after more than two decades as a permanent observer and replace it with China, whose growing economic influence in Latin America has increasingly marginalized Taipei.

More from WPR: Taiwan Needs a New Approach in Latin America

BRICS Bank Strives to Reduce Reliance on the Dollar

By Michael Stott | Financial Times

The development bank set up by the BRICS nations plans to begin lending in the South African and Brazilian currencies as part of a plan to reduce reliance on the dollar and promote a more multipolar international financial system, according to its president, former Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff.

More from WPR: U.S. Dollar Hegemony Isn’t Going Anywhere

Danish Cabinet Shuffle Sees Economy, Defense Ministers Swap

By Christian Wienberg and Sanne Wass | Bloomberg

Denmark’s defense minister, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, will swap his ministerial portfolio with the economy brief after finding the job too onerous and time-consuming when combined with leading his party. Troels Lund Poulsen, the current economy minister, will take the job overseeing defenses in the minor cabinet reshuffle, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.

Russia's Putin Stays Away Over Arrest Warrant as BRICS Leaders Meet in South Africa

By Gerald Imray | Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin will be notably absent when Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders from the BRICS group of emerging economies start a three-day summit in South Africa on Tuesday.

More from WPR: BRICS Is Aiding and Abetting Russia’s War in Ukraine

Zimbabwe Holds 2nd General Election Since Mugabe’s Ouster

By Farai Mutsaka | Associated Press

The presidential and parliamentary elections taking place Wednesday are crucial to determining the future of a southern African nation endowed with vast mineral resources and rich agricultural land. But for many people in the educated but underemployed population, the daily grind to put food on the table inhibits interest in politics.

Iranian Delegation Arrives in Moscow to Discuss Ground Forces Cooperation

Reuters

An Iranian military delegation has arrived in Moscow to discuss cooperation between Iranian and Russian ground forces, state news agency TASS reported on Monday, citing Russia's defense ministry. Russia and Iran, both under Western economic sanctions, have forged closer relations in military and other areas since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.

Cambodia’s Hun Sen Seals Political Dynasty as Son Becomes PM

By Philip Heijmans | Bloomberg

West Point-educated Hun Manet officially assumed the role of prime minister, marking the conclusion of a political succession years in the making. The 45-year-old leads a new generation of ruling elite taking power from the old guard for the first time since a rebellion against the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

More from WPR: Hun Sen Is Tightening His Grip Ahead of Cambodia’s Elections