BRAZIL
Trucker road blocks break up
Truck drivers rallying in support of President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday ended three days of road blockades after the far-right leader asked them to stand down to avoid hurting the economy. The Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade said that big rigs were still “concentrated” along roads in 13 of Brazil’s 27 states, but that there were “no remaining blockages on the national road network.” The truckers on Tuesday launched their protest on the country’s Independence Day, as Bolsonaro held massive demonstrations to rally his base against what he calls a hostile political establishment determined to thwart his agenda, but the blockades soon turned potentially damaging for the president. “Tell our allies, the truckers, that the blockades are hurting the economy. It causes shortages, inflation — it harms everyone, especially the poor,” he told supporters on Wednesday.
SPAIN
Venezuelan ex-spy nabbed
Police on Thursday said they had arrested Hugo Carvajal, a former head of Venezuela’s military intelligence unit who had been in hiding since a Spanish court approved his extradition to the US almost two years ago. “Arrested tonight in Madrid ‘Pollo Carvajal,’ fugitive from justice and wanted for extradition to the US,” police wrote on Twitter, adding that Carvajal was “living totally isolated.” Carvajal’s lawyer, Maria Dolores Arguelles, said that her client would appear in court yesterday morning. Carvajal was a former general and ally of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. US officials have long sought Carvajal because they believe that he might provide a treasure trove of information on the alleged drug activities of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
EUROPEAN UNION
Japan taken from safe list
The EU has removed Japan and five other countries from its list of safe travel destinations, meaning that visitors or people returning from those countries are likely to face tighter controls such as COVID-19 tests or quarantine. Following a review, the bloc members agreed to drop Japan, along with Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei and Serbia, the EU said on Thursday. Uruguay has been added to the list. With changes the EU safe list compromises 12 countries, including Taiwan, Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia. The bloc still lets in most non-EU visitors who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, although tests and periods of quarantine can apply, depending on the EU country of arrival. The list seeks to unify travel rules across the bloc, but does not bind individual nations, which are free to determine their own border policies.
RUSSIA
Smoke alarm set off in ISS
Smoke alarms on Thursday went off at the Russian segment of the International Space Station, with the station’s crew reporting smoke and the smell of burnt plastic. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said the incident took place in the Russian-built Zvezda module and occurred as the station’s batteries were being recharged. The crew activated air filters and returned to their “night rest” once the air quality was back to normal, it said, adding that Russian crew members Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov would proceed with a space walk on Thursday as planned. The station is currently operated by NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, as well as Novitsky and Dubrov.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
China yesterday held a low-key memorial ceremony for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not attending, despite a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Beijing has raged at Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A post-World War II Allied tribunal put the death toll
A passerby could hear the cacophony from miles away in the Argentine capital, the unmistakable sound of 2,397 dogs barking — and breaking the unofficial world record for the largest-ever gathering of golden retrievers. Excitement pulsed through Bosques de Palermo, a sprawling park in Buenos Aires, as golden retriever-owners from all over Argentina transformed the park’s grassy expanse into a sea of bright yellow fur. Dog owners of all ages, their clothes covered in dog hair and stained with slobber, plopped down on picnic blankets with their beloved goldens to take in the surreal sight of so many other, exceptionally similar-looking ones.
‘UNWAVERING ALLIANCE’: The US Department of State said that China’s actions during military drills with Russia were not conducive to regional peace and stability The US on Tuesday criticized China over alleged radar deployments against Japanese military aircraft during a training exercise last week, while Tokyo and Seoul yesterday scrambled jets after Chinese and Russian military aircraft conducted joint patrols near the two countries. The incidents came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi triggered a dispute with Beijing last month with her remarks on how Tokyo might react to a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan. “China’s actions are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” a US Department of State spokesperson said late on Tuesday, referring to the radar incident. “The US-Japan alliance is stronger and more
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