North America
- In a joint press conference held last Friday (Dec 9), all 13 of Canada’s premiers publicly asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet them early in the new year over the nation’s healthcare crisis. They renewed their request to raise the federal share of healthcare spending in Canada from 22 per cent to 35 per cent, accusing the Trudeau government of not paying its fair share. Hospitals have been struggling due to staff shortages, COVID-19 and a rise in the number of sick people requiring care. In a September poll, 51 per cent of Canadians said they don’t feel confident they would receive timely care in a medical emergency. Provincial health ministers met their federal counterparts recently in Vancouver to pin down a deal on healthcare funding, but those talks have since disintegrated.
- The United States (US) and Russia conducted a high-level prisoner exchange last Thursday (Dec 8) with Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) player Brittney Griner, who had been convicted of cannabis possession in Russia in February and sentenced to nine years in prison, and Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and convicted of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. US President Joe Biden’s administration has faced backlash for not managing to bring home Paul Whelan, who was sentenced by a Russian court to 16 years in prison in 2018 on spying charges, along with Griner. Russia has refused to release Whalen along with Griner as part of the prisoner exchange as they claimed that Whelan required an exchange of comparable value. At the White House last Thursday (Dec 8), President Biden reassured the public that they are working towards bringing Whelan home.
- A Libyan man accused of making the bomb which destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie 34 years ago was reported to be in US custody last Sunday (Dec 11). The US announced two years ago that they were charging Abu Agila Masud as there has been evidence to prove that he played a key role in the bombing of December 1988. The blast on board the Boeing 747 left 270 people dead and it is the deadliest terrorist incident that has taken place on British soil. Last month it was reported that Masud had been kidnapped by a militia group in Libya. This led to speculation that he was going to be handed over to the American authorities to stand trial.
- A former Minneapolis police officer, J. Alexander Kueng was sentenced last Friday (Dec 9) to three and a half years in prison for his involvement in the killing of Mr George Floyd. Mr Floyd was a Black man who died under the knee of another officer, Derek Chauvin in 2020. This triggered nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. Kueng was one of the officers together with officer Thomas Lane who helped Chauvin restrain Mr Floyd, while another officer, Tou Thao, kept bystanders from approaching the scene. With credit for time served and different parole guidelines in the state and federal systems, Kueng is reported to likely serve a total of about two and a half years behind bars.
- Canadian police said last Wednesday (Dec 7) that they do not have the resources to search a landfill to recover the bodies of two Indigenous women murdered by an alleged serial killer, Jeremy Skibicki. Last week, police in Winnipeg announced that four Indigenous women; Marcedes Myran, Morgan Harris, Rebecca Contois and a fourth woman who had not been identified were killed by the serial killer. The decision to not search for the victims has left family members of the victims heartbroken and angry. “They say they can’t search because it’s unfeasible. Is human life not feasible?” said Cambria Harris, one of the murder victims’ daughters. She also said that the victims needed a final resting place that wasn’t a landfill.
South America
- José Pedro Castillo Terrones, better known as Pedro Castillo, ended his service last Wednesday (Dec 7) as Peru’s President due to impeachment. He served as the 63rd president of Peru for about a year. Castillo’s Vice President Dina Boluarte was sworn in as the new president later that day. On his last day, former President Castillo gave an address on national television in which he declared a state of emergency. He announced that he would dissolve the opposition-controlled Congress, a move which was met with shock by many. Mr Castillo tried to dissolve Congress just hours before it was due to start fresh impeachment proceedings against him but was later detained and accused of rebellion for breaking the constitutional order. He has also been previously accused of corruption.
- Argentina’s Vice President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was found guilty of corruption last Friday (Dec 9). Prosecutors had sought a 12-year jail sentence. Despite this, she is unlikely to serve any jail time because of immunity granted through her government roles and because she is expected to further appeal the ruling. The judges found Ms Fernández guilty of steering public-roadworks contracts to Lázaro Báez, a family friend and business associate, during her tenure as president from 2007 to 2015. The ruling is a first in Argentina as a sitting executive has never been convicted for corruption before. Prosecutor Diego Luciani described it as “probably the biggest corruption operation the country has known”. Her supporters took to the street outside her apartment in Buenos Aires to show their support for the vice president. Meanwhile, critics of Fernández de Kirchner accuse her of being a “thief”. As the appeal process could take years, she is expected to be able to run again for the senate or even for the presidency in the 2023 election.
- Last Wednesday (Dec 7), the recorded temperature in Argentina was 43.5 degrees Celcius due to a heatwave that hit parts of central South America. This coincides with the Immaculate Conception pilgrimage attended by Catholic worshippers from all over the world. The authorities advised the public against going outside for long periods, particularly during the early afternoon. The extreme heat eased to 26 degrees Celcius on Sunday (Dec 11). A further weather warning, this time for thunderstorms, was issued across many parts of Argentina for the coming days. Heavy rain, strong winds and possibly hail have also been forecast. This is expected to devastate regions with floods and severe hailstorms.
- A judge ruled last Thursday (Dec 8) that the director of a Guatemalan newspaper will stand trial on charges of money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail. José Rubén Zamora of El Periodico has been imprisoned for the past four months. He alleges that his arrest was politically motivated by an administration interested in silencing critical journalists. Prosecutors accuse Zamora of asking a friend to deposit a US$38,000 (S$51,440) donation to hide the source of the funds. Zamora claimed that the money was from a donor who wished to remain anonymous. This money was to keep the newspaper running during a financial crisis after the government pulled its advertising. In November, El Periodico was forced to stop publishing its printed editions due to financial difficulties. Before Thursday’s hearing, El Periodico’s financial director, Flora Silva, pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to six years in prison. Human rights groups all over the world have criticised the deterioration of judicial independence in Guatemala. More than 30 judges, prosecutors and other members of the legal system have fled into exile to avoid prosecutions.
- A Supreme Court judge warned last Wednesday (Dec 7) that Brazil runs the risk of losing control over its vast Amazon rainforest region to organised crime and traffickers who use the lawless region to smuggle drugs. “There is a real risk of losing the sovereignty of the Amazon not to any other country, but to organised crime,” said Justice Luis Roberto Barroso. The easing of environmental protections and reduced funding for enforcement agencies caused illegal activities in the Amazon to surge. At the COP27 United Nations (UN) climate talks in Egypt in November, Barroso proposed that Brazil gather “the best minds in the world” to discuss how to develop a “bio-economy” for the Amazon to stop the degradation of the region. Brazil’s outgoing president Bolsonaro has criticised foreign environmentalists and non-governmental organisations for impinging on Brazilian sovereignty over the Amazon. Bolsonaro previously paralyzed the Amazon Fund, to which Norway and Germany contributed more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion) for the support of sustainable projects in the region. The fund will be reinstated when President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in the October elections, takes office in January. Lula has pledged to end the criminal impunity in the Amazon and crack down on environmental crimes.
- Colombia’s army reported last Tuesday (Dec 6) that six Colombian soldiers were killed while fighting rebels violence-plagued region of Cauca. Colombia’s military announced last Tuesday that the deaths occurred in a clash between the army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The soldiers killed were aged 18 to 20. President Gustavo Petro met with leaders of the two main factions of FARC dissidents in an effort to set up peace talks. “So far, we have only talked about the possibility of a ceasefire, nothing more,” Petro said last Tuesday. Violence has surged in Colombia in recent years, especially in parts of the country that lie outside government control. The UN humanitarian affairs office (UN-OCHA) estimated that 2.6 million people had their movements restricted so far this year due to continuing violence across the country. As part of Petro’s peace plan, Colombia recently restarted negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest remaining rebel group.
Asia Pacific
- A cyclonic storm hit the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu last Saturday (Dec 10), killing at least four people, and causing damage to property and power outages. Cyclone Mandous, which made landfall late Friday night (Dec 9), damaged 185 homes. Nearly 25,000 people were involved in the relief work and more than 9,000 people were moved to safety in 201 relief camps.
- UN human rights chief, Volker Turk said last Friday (Dec 9) he wanted to engage with Beijing over the findings of a report issued by his predecessor that said China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang region constitutes crimes against humanity. Turk’s predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, was pressured by Beijing not to publish the report but she did so in the final minutes of her term. China denies the Xinjiang allegations and has indicated that it would not cooperate with the UN human rights office upon the report’s release.
- Tens of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh’s main opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) descended on the capital Dhaka last Saturday (Dec 10) to protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, demanding new elections. Protestors were heard chanting “Sheikh Hasina is a vote thief” in the rally coming days after security forces stormed the BNP headquarters on Tuesday (Dec 6). At least one person died and dozens were injured in the raid. Amnesty International’s Yamini Mishra said this week’s violence showed that authorities “have very little regard for the sanctity of human life and sends a chilling message that those who dare to exercise their human rights will face dire consequences”.
- A US$60-per-barrel (S$81.25-per-barrel) price cap on Russian oil set by the European Union (EU) and Group of Seven major industrialised countries to squeeze Russia, came into effect on Monday (Dec 5). The cap is an attempt by Western governments to limit fossil fuel earnings that support Moscow’s military and invasion of Ukraine while also avoiding a possible price spike if Russia’s oil is suddenly taken off the global market. India signals it will prioritise its own energy needs and continue to buy oil from Russia, which has become India’s top oil supplier in terms of barrels per day.
- Indonesia’s parliament last Tuesday (Dec 6) banned sex outside marriage with a punishment of up to one year in jail. The new criminal code will apply to Indonesians and foreigners alike and prohibits cohabitation between unmarried couples. However, the code will only come into effect three years from now to allow for implementing regulations to be drafted. Such regulations are representative of the increasing sway of religious conservatism in the halls of power of the Muslim majority but secular nation of 276 million. It will also ban insulting the president or state institutions, spreading views counter to the state ideology and staging protests without notification. The UN has expressed concern over threats to civil liberties posed by Indonesia’s new criminal code, warning the revised laws could result in the erosion of press freedom, privacy and human rights in the world’s third-largest democracy.
Europe
- Russian Iranian-made drones hit two energy facilities in the Ukrainian port of Odesa last Saturday (Dec 10), leaving 1.5 million people without electrical power. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement that the hits were critical and thus would take a few days for the electricity to be restored. Since October of this year, Moscow has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with large waves of missile and drone strikes. According to President Zelensky, Norway was sending US$100 million (S$135 million) to help restore Ukraine’s energy system.
- A Belgian judge charged four people last Sunday (Dec 11) over allegedly collecting money and gifts from a Gulf state to influence decisions in the European Parliament. Six people were primarily detained after prosecutors searched 16 houses and seized 600,000 euros (S$854,600) in Brussels last Friday (Dec 9) as part of an investigation into money laundering and corruption. Four of those detained have been charged and two released, according to prosecutor statements. One source of the case has pointed to Qatar as attempting to influence decisions in Brussels. A Qatar official has since denied accusations of possible misconduct.
- Italy took in more than 500 migrants last Sunday (Dec 11) from two charity rescue ships at ports in Salerno and Bari respectively after several days at sea in bad weather. One of the ships was the Geo Barents ship, operated by the Doctors without Borders (MSF) charity, which had 248 migrants aboard. The other ship, Humanity 1, run by the charity SOS Humanity, had 261 migrants onboard. Italy, which has a strict policy on immigration said the decision to allow the two ships to dock was based on the poor weather conditions and the risks faced by those on board, rather than representing a change of policy.
- British Conservative politicians last Sunday (Dec 11) launched two campaigns to address concerns about the direction of the party and the government providing a new challenge for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to unite a fragmented party. Ever since former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ resignation, Prime Minister Sunak has reversed Truss’ fiscal plans and raised taxes, reassuring financial markets, but in turn, upsetting some Conservative lawmakers. A group called the Conservative Way Forward has mentioned that it would publish a report this week outlining £7 billion (S$11.59 billion) of “waste” that could be shed, allowing the government to cut taxes or spend more on frontline services.
- Ilya Yashin, one of Russia’s most prominent opposition figures, has been jailed for eight and a half years for spreading “fake news” about the Russian war and military as reported last Saturday (Dec 10). Yashin has continued to speak out against the war and was arrested after he criticised suspected Russian war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha on his YouTube channel in April this year. Reporting “false information” has recently become a crime in Russia. He has since denied the charges. Although prosecutors had sought a nine-year jail sentence, his lawyer said they would appeal against the verdict.
Middle East
- An activist was sentenced Monday (Dec 5) to three years in prison in Iraq for allegedly writing a tweet deemed to have insulted an Iran-backed paramilitary force. Haidar al-Zaidi, 20, was convicted of “insulting state institutions” over a post about Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the late deputy commander of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). This was over a tweet that included a photograph of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis where Zaidi allegedly lamented how only in Iraq would a “spy” be given the label of “martyr”. Zaidi denied writing the tweet, insisting that his account was hacked. On Wednesday (Dec 7), two protesters were shot dead, with 21 people wounded in clashes with security forces, during a rally against Zaidi’s sentence in the southern city of Nasiriya.
- The Israeli army killed three Palestinian men, Siqdi Zakarneh, 29, Atta Shalabi, 46, and Tareq al-Damaj, 29, during a raid in Jenin last Thursday (Dec 8). These men are amongst the latest people who died in a months-long Israeli campaign of near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank. At least two other Palestinian men were injured by Israeli fire during the raid, including one in serious condition. Later on that day, Israeli forces killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, Dia Mohammad Rimawi, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Three others were wounded in the firing. Local media reported that Israeli forces also shot at Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances during the raid, with several bullet holes showing on the windshield and inside the ambulance. More than 200 Palestinians, including more than 50 children, have been killed by Israel in 2022 – the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2006. More than 25 people have been killed in Israel.
- A protester and a policeman have been reported on Dec 5 (Monday) to have been killed during rare demonstrations in the southern Syrian city of Suweida. Protestors stormed the governor’s office and set fire to the building amid exchanges of gunfire in the Druze-majority city. Protestors who were against deteriorating living conditions and the failure of the regime in providing basic services were seen tearing up posters of the president inside and near the building while calling for the “downfall of the regime”. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that a police officer was killed when protesters tried to storm the police station. A protester was shot dead when security forces opened fire after demonstrators entered the government building. Several people were wounded in the exchange of gunshots.
- Twenty-eight people have run away across the tarmac in Barcelona’s El Prat airport last Wednesday morning (Dec 7) after prompting an emergency landing of a Morocco-Turkey flight, carrying 228 passengers under a false pretext, according to the Spanish government. Police detained 14 people, including a pregnant woman who allegedly pretended her water had broken, prompting the emergency landing. The pregnant woman was then taken to a hospital where she was found not to be in labour. A further 14 people have not yet been found. Five of those detained were immediately put back on the plane operated by Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines while eight will be deported to Morocco.
Africa
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Nigerian authorities last Friday (Dec 9) to thoroughly investigate allegations of an illegal abortion programme run by the Nigerian army. It was reported that the illegal acts have been in operation since at least 2013. According to witness accounts, at least ten thousand pregnancies have been reportedly terminated among women and girls – many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants. Nigeria’s defence chief has refuted the allegations and said that the military will not investigate the report.
- Hundreds of Tunisians protested last Saturday (Dec 10) against President Kais Saied, accusing him of an undemocratic coup and asking him to “get out”. The protests come a week before elections to a new parliament created by President Saied. Earlier last year, President Said shut down the previous parliament and ruled by decree before rewriting the constitution this year to give the presidency more powers. These moves have been refused by most political parties.
- Twenty-seven bodies were found by Zambian police last Sunday (Dec 11) near the capital city, Lusaka and were believed to be migrants from Ethiopia. The bodies were dumped in a farming area outside the capital after they died from suspected hunger and exhaustion as reported by authorities. A sole survivor was found alive and rushed to a Lusaka hospital for treatment. According to police, the rest are currently being identified and are awaiting to undergo post-mortems to determine the exact cause of death. Ethiopian migrants often use Zambia when travelling to other countries including South Africa, though reports of deaths in transit there are rare.
- Thousands of protesters took to the streets last Thursday (Dec 9) in several areas of the capital, Khartoum three days after an initial deal was signed to launch a new political transition. In an attempt to contain the protests, local security forces used tear gas and blocked roads and bridges as they sought to contain scattered protests in the capital. Protests began to erupt after military and civilian parties last Monday struck a framework deal for the formation of a civilian government. The framework deal seeks to turn a page on an October 2021 military coup that derailed the transition towards democratic elections started after the overthrow of former leader Omar al-Bashir in a 2019 uprising.
- The UN peacekeeping mission and the Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) conducted a preliminary investigation into the Kishishe and Bambo massacres that took place from November 29 to 30 and found last Thursday (Dec 8) that at least 131 people were killed as a result. The victims from both Congolese villages were found to be undertaken in retaliation for clashes between M23 and rival armed groups. The Congolese government has accused M23 of killing as many as 272 people. However, the militia has since denied responsibility and asked for a full investigation. Nonetheless, the rebel group says it is ready to withdraw from occupied territory and will support regional peace-making efforts.
