Here’s some worldwide news you may have missed during the US Presidential Election
On September 27, 2016, in Mogadishu, Somalia a Somali radio journalist, Abdiaziz Ali, was shot by gunmen on motorbikes. This is the second time a Somali radio journalist was shot in Mogadishu this year. In June, Sagal Salad Osman was shot leaving her university campus. CPJ’s East Africa representative, Murithi Mutiga, says that “The killing of Somali journalist Abdiaziz Ali must not be allowed to become yet another statistic in a country notorious for not bringing journalists’ murderers to justice.” In 2015 CPJ ranked Somalia as the worst addenda in its Global Impunity Index, which highlights countries where journalists are killed and their killers of free.
Asia
The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has begun a war on drugs and it’s really raised some eyebrows. In his speeches and statements, he has made it clear he will destroy the drug problems in his country in any way possible. He is quoted saying “If you destroy my country, I’ll kill you. That’s a legitimate thing.” Duterte has compared this crackdown on drugs to the holocaust and that putting a rehabilitation reform in action is out of the question because of the high cost. He has gotten many criticisms from the west and several human rights groups on the rising death toll during his war on drugs. To these, he answered “Instead of helping us, the first hit was the State Department. So you can go to hell, Mr. Obama, you can go to hell.” Duterte later apologized for his statements against the US president after President Obama canceled a scheduled meeting with Duterte that was scheduled for September 6.
Rurik Jutting, a British banker, was found guilty of murdering Sumatra Ningshi and Seneng Mujiasih in Hong Kong in 2014. The two victims were migrant Indonesian women. After jurors sat through a horrifically gruesome testimony, which included the torture and rape of the two women (some of which Jutting had filmed on his phone) they returned the unanimous verdict of guilty on November 8.
Europe
The United Kingdom’s 2017 growth forecast has almost been cut in half according to the European Commission. In May it was estimated the UK’s economic growth would be 1.8% and due to the uncertainty produced by the Brexit vote the new estimation is 1%. The Commission also warned that the longer this uncertainty continues the worse the negative impact will be.
The mastermind behind the Paris and Brussels attack has been identified as of November 23. French investigators named Oussama Atar, an ISIS militant as the suspected coordinator who planned the attacks. Authorities suspect he radicalized one of the brothers, who are his cousins, who carried out the suicide bombings in the Brussels Airport and metro attacks. Oussama Atar, also known as, Abu Ahmed, is still at large.
Two prisoners escaped Pentonville prison, in north London on November 7. One of the escapees, Matthew Baker was caught on November 9, and the other James Whitlock was caught on November 13. A number of British politicians are calling for the Pentonville prison to close, owing to the murder that recently took place within its walls and that these two escapees are the last straw.
On November 14 Poland's former president, Lech Kaczynski, and his wife's remains were exhumed from where they were laid to rest six years ago. The couple died in 2010 in a plane crash in Russia that killed 94 other passengers. An autopsy and investigation were done when the bodies were first recovered in 2010, and the conclusion had been the plane had been downed by bad weather. However, the investigation conducted by the Russians had many false identifications and flawed post-mortems and has raised suspicion surrounding the accident. There was always a theory that the plane crash was really the result of an assassination attempt and that the plane was really shot down by Russia. A private source says that the new autopsy results are ones to be expected in a plane crash and not an explosion caused by an assassination attempt. But officials say the official autopsy results should be ready to be revealed in about four months.
England's Prince Harry made his relationship with American Actress Meghan Markle official on October 31. The news came out when Prince Harry defended Markle on social media after the press subjected her to 'a wave of abuse and harassment'.
Middle East
The refugee crisis in Iraq has not improved. In fact, it’s gotten worse. Since the start of the operation to recapture Mosul from ISIS began more that 34,000 people have fled the city and its surrounding districts. Some have estimated that a million people could be displaced by the fighting that’s happening in Mosul. While these estimates have not yet been proven true there is proof that 1,000 people are fleeing the area a week. If there was any doubt that the situation was dire, a mass grave with the remains of about 100 beheaded civilians was found 18.6 miles south of Mosul.
As of October 25, the war in Yemen has claimed the lives of at least 7,000 people and wounded 37,000. The UN urged the coalition controlling Yemen's airspace to let commercial flights in and out of Sanaa's international airport to evacuate the wounded. The UN has confirmed 71 cases of cholera. The UN has tried to help negotiate a ceasefire between the warring Iran-backed rebels and the government forces that are supported by a Saudi-led coalition but have failed.
North America
On November 1, D.C. has passed a terminally ill suicide bill. The “Death with Dignity Act” was passed by the Washington D.c. council on November 1st. It states that those who are terminally ill, 18 years or older, and with six months or less to live will have the ability to receive life-ending physician prescribed medicine.
Chris Christie didn’t get convicted on all Bridgegate charges. But Bridget Anne Kelley and Bill Baroni Jr. were. Don’t worry these people aren’t randoms picked up off the streets, they were working for Christie at the time of the George Washington Bridge closing. In fact Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff at the time sent the text “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” Although he has not been convicted of any charged there are still a lot of speculations to Christie’s involvement in the 2014 Bridgegate.
South America
On November 7 Nicaragua held their presidential elections. They elected Daniel Ortega for a third term and he has a new Vice President. His wife Rosario Murillo. That's right it's a President and Vice President, husband, and wife duo. In 2014 Ortega, with help from his supporters, was able to change the constitution, and ended presidential term limits. Many international organizations have voiced criticisms about Ortega's stronghold on power but World Bank has reported that poverty in Nicaragua has fallen nearly 13 percentage points while he's been in power.
On November 8 PDVSA, an oil company in Venezuela has stated that they have their oil spill under control and that it should not contaminate the Orinoco river. A pipeline near Santa Clara, in Anzoategui state, was the cause of the leak and the oil was carried into the Aribi river. However, the opposing politicians and local news sources have said that PDVSA is covering up what’s happened an “ecological disaster”.
So there you have it... there's just some of the news stories that happened while the US election dominated American newspapers and social media. Have fun catching up with the rest!
