The World Today for October 20, 2023

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Down in the Valleys

SWITZERLAND

Polls show that Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party will garner the most votes in parliamentary elections on Oct. 22 on vows to address immigration fears, climate activism and “woke” excesses, reported Bloomberg.

That’s though Switzerland avoided the worst economic impacts of Covid-19. Inflation runs at about 2.4 percent. Unemployment is less than 2 percent, a record low, noted France’s Le Monde. With economic indicators being positive, the People’s Party has garnered votes on promises of radical new ideas.

This past summer, for example, it launched a people’s initiative to severely constrain immigration once the country’s total population exceeds 9.5 million, state-owned Swissinfo wrote. The country’s population last year was 8.8 million. Around 24,500 asylum seekers entered Switzerland in 2022, a 64 percent increase compared with 2021. Those figures do not include 75,000 Ukrainian refugees who have a special status as refugees from war.

Adding to the People Party’s fortunes is the weakness of the Center Alliance, one of its main rivals. The Alliance has shrunk since breaking with the center-right, pro-business Free Democrats whose leaders engineered the $3.2 billion deal this summer when Swiss banking giant UBS purchased failing Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse, as CNBC explained. Voters were disgusted when revelations of mismanagement and high bankers’ bonuses emerged after the deal.

Other issues animate Swiss voters, of course. Environmental activists recently interrupted a concert at a Swiss music festival, CNN reported, in an episode that demonstrated the remarkable mindfulness of the director of the Bavarian State Opera, Vladimir Jurowski, who allowed the protesters to speak so the orchestra could continue. Meanwhile, more than 60,000 protesters took to the streets in the capital of Bern in late September to demand tough measures to fight climate change, noted Indian news outlet WION.

The Swiss federal system is unique, the Local quipped. Elected lawmakers vote for members of the Federal Council, a body of seven ministers from different political parties that serves as a collective head of state for a nation that speaks French, German, and Italian. The Swiss presidency, added Reuters, is a revolving post that each member of the council holds for one year.

This year, in addition to rising fears about too many foreign newcomers seeking safe haven in the Alps, the stakes at the ballot are a bit higher. Incumbent Swiss President Alain Berset, who also served as health and interior minister, is leaving the council after 11 years.

Switzerland will do OK.

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Law & Disorder

UNITED KINGDOM

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and at least two dozen other protesters demonstrating at an energy conference in London were charged by British police Wednesday for violating public order, under a controversial law many say violates civil liberties, the Washington Post reported.

The 20-year-old Swedish climate activist was charged with “failing to comply with … the Public Order Act,” after being arrested blocking the entrance to the Energy Intelligence Forum, known as the “Oscars of oil,” the Guardian reported. She was released on bail and is to appear in court in mid-November.

Thunberg’s arrests also underscore how European governments have begun to crack down on climate protesters – she was also detained at protests in Sweden, Norway, and Germany this year.

The United Kingdom, however, has gone furthest in Western Europe to restrict and punish protesters, giving police new powers to block protests and arrest participants via the 2023 Public Order Act, critics say.

The country’s Conservative government says the police need to be able to prevent mass disruption. Over the past few years, for example, activists from Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have shut down large parts of London.

Opponents, however, say the law severely restricts civil liberties, while United Nations officials have called it “deeply troubling,” with a “chilling effect” on “civic freedoms” and said it must be repealed.

Meanwhile, some environmental activist groups in the UK have refrained from disruptive tactics as a result of the law. But others shrug and say they are willing to be arrested.

Still, while the detained protesters face fines of around $3,000, foreigners in the UK such as Thunberg could be prevented from entering the country again.

Rolling Uphill

GUATEMALA

A Guatemalan cabinet minister abruptly resigned this week, signaling a growing split within the government over how to deal with pro-democracy protests that have stretched into their third week, Reuters reported.

Interior Minister David Napoleón Barrientos, a retired brigadier-general, resigned Monday following a shooting death near one of the roadblocks that also wounded two others.

Barrientos had said publicly that he preferred dialogue with protesters who are demanding the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras over her office’s investigations into the election victory of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo, ABC News said.

Porras had urged the blockades’ removal, by force if necessary. On Monday, hours before Barrientos quit, she had called for him to be fired for failing to follow a court order to clear them.

The government, led by President Alejandro Giammattei, has deployed riot police using tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Meanwhile, Indigenous groups that initiated the protests say they will stay on the streets until Porras resigns. The protesters see the investigations as a threat to Guatemala’s democracy.

That’s because immediately after the victory of Bernardo Arévalo, who won the presidential election by a landslide in August, his party Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement), was suspended by Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the BBC reported.

His party’s suspension has widely been viewed as an attempt to stop Arévalo, a political outsider who has campaigned against corruption, from being sworn in as planned in January.

Porras argues that Arévalo’s party was not properly registered, but critics say that she only launched her investigation after Arévalo’s strong performance in the first round of elections.

The Resurrection

SENEGAL

A judge in the southern Senegalese city of Ziguinchor ruled late last week that imprisoned politician Ousmane Sonko can run in 2024 elections, opening the door to opposition after months of protests, Africanews reported.

Authorities had removed Sonko’s name from the electoral rolls, preventing him from running in the 2024 presidential election. His political party, Pastef, has been dissolved.

Now, the ruling means Sonko, who is mayor of Ziguinchor, can run in presidential elections to be held in February. Sonko came third in the 2019 election, but has since become the country’s strongest opponent to President Macky Sall, who said in July he won’t run for a third term and thereby avoid violating constitutional term limits.

Meanwhile, the government has said it would appeal.

Regardless, Sonko still faces troubles. The politician was found guilty of morally corrupting a minor on June 1, and sentenced to two years in prison, France24 wrote. He has denied the charges and called them politically motivated, refusing to participate in the trial. He was sentenced in absentia.

In late July, he was imprisoned on a fresh string of charges, including fomenting insurrection, criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise and undermining state security. The charges are related to protests in 2021.

His conviction in June sparked clashes that left 16 dead, according to the government, or as many as 30, according to his party. Meanwhile, he has been hospitalized over the past few months because of a hunger strike, the Africa Report said.

The violence raised concerns that Senegal was no longer a beacon of political pluralism and stability in a region known for its frequent coups and aging leaders clinging to power.

UKRAINE, BRIEFLY

This week, new satellite images showed that Russian ships connected to military transport networks have been collecting cargoes from North Korea and delivering them to a Russian military port over the past two months, the Washington Post reported. US intelligence assessments and White House officials suggested that North Korea is helping Russia’s war effort by transporting weaponry and munitions. These images provide evidence that the operation is more regular and extensive than previously believed, potentially impacting the trajectory of the war in Ukraine. North Korea is known to produce munitions that Russia requires for its war effort, such as Grad rockets and howitzer artillery rounds.

Also this week:

• Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for bilateral talks in Beijing, where they emphasized the deepening of “political mutual trust” and strategic coordination between their countries, Al Jazeera reported. Both leaders highlighted their close working relationship and friendship, having met 42 times in the past decade. The meeting took place on the sidelines of a forum marking the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a significant infrastructure development project. While China has attempted to position itself as a mediator in the Ukraine war, it has not condemned Russia’s invasion, and analysts say that Moscow is becoming the junior partner in the China-Russia relationship.

• Ukraine is experiencing a modest economic recovery despite the challenges of the ongoing war with Russia, according to the New York Times. The economy is expected to grow by approximately 3.5 percent this year, supported by an increase in domestic spending and foreign financial aid. Although significant economic challenges remain, such as the costly rebuilding of devastated cities and labor shortages due to the conflict, there is a sense of resilience and relative stability in Ukraine, the newspaper wrote. For example, people have transitioned from a “savings mode” to being more willing to spend, propelling growth opportunities for businesses. Investor and consumer confidence is growing, it added.

• Qatar successfully reunited four Ukrainian children with their families after the children were taken by Russian authorities following the invasion of Ukraine last year, Euronews wrote. The operation is seen as a “breakthrough” and a “gesture of goodwill” on Russia’s part. Ukraine has accused Russia of deporting “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories, which led the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for President Putin. Russia denies the allegations.

• Russia’s lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill revoking the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) as part of Moscow’s desire to mirror the United States’ stance on the treaty, the Associated Press wrote. The CTBT, adopted in 1996, prohibits all nuclear test explosions worldwide. However, the treaty has not taken effect in its entirety and a number of countries have not ratified it, including the US and China. There are concerns that Russia’s decision to rescind its ratification could lead to a resumption of nuclear tests.

DISCOVERIES

The Mystery of Purrs

The cat’s purr has long puzzled scientists, New Scientist reported.

Now, a new study is shedding some light on how cats are able to produce those sounds.

A research team explained that the type of sound an animal makes is linked to their vocal folds. These folds are made up of two bands of smooth muscle tissue in the larynx, a hollow tube in the middle of the neck through which air passes to generate sounds.

Larger animals usually have larger vocal folds and can generate low-frequency sounds.

However, domestic cats are quite small and have relatively short vocal folds. Yet, they are able to produce high-frequency sounds – meowing and screeching – and low-pitched purrs.

To figure out how, researchers cut the larynxes of eight domestic cats that had been euthanized because of illness.

The findings showed that the larynxes of domestic cats produce purring sounds when air passes through them without the need for muscle contraction. Instead, it was the connective tissue structures within the vocal folds that lowered the frequency of the sounds they produced.

The team noted that while these connective tissue structures had been previously identified in cats, this is the first study to link them directly to purring.

Still, scientists might know the how but they still aren’t sure about the why.

They think, however, that purring is believed to signal contentment, encourage interaction, and serve as a soothing mechanism that aids in healing after injuries.

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