The World Today for July 17, 2024

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The Battles and the War

UNITED KINGDOM/ FRANCE

Right-wing politicians opposed to immigration, the concentration of power in Brussels, and the erosion of traditional Christian culture were expected to sweep into power during a few big elections in Europe after their recent success in elections for the European Parliament, as National Public Radio explained.

Yet in the latest parliamentary votes in the United Kingdom and France, left-wing candidates won big, ending the Conservative Party’s government in Westminster and dashing the dreams of the far-right National Rally in France to hold power in Paris – this time.

In the UK, after 14 years of Tory government, voters gave the Labour Party a landslide victory and with it Sir Keir Starmer the reins of government in an election that also saw the Scottish National Party lose seats, Politico reported. Labour, furthermore, dominated the vote in London and the North of England, traditional powerbases for the left-leaning party. A Guardian columnist wondered if the UK was “bucking” the trend of the right accumulating power in the region.

Still, Starmer faces big issues related to crumbling infrastructure, dwindling services, funding shortfalls, and other issues, noted University of Liverpool urban planning professor Alex Nurse.

“(Labour’s) huge majority should, in theory, give Starmer the clout to see through most of his political agenda,” he wrote in the Conversation. “But in reality, the victory celebrations might prove short-lived, given the size of the challenges in front of him.”

In France, a leftist coalition of moderate socialists, greens, radicals, and communists called the New Popular Front expanded its share of parliament as it took the largest share of the vote, and kept Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally – as well as centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s allies – from gaining a majority, NBC News wrote.

The French parliament, however, is now facing gridlock unless two of those three parties can somehow reach a deal to share power – which they haven’t yet, almost two weeks after the election. Still, such an arrangement would be a first in France, which has no tradition of coalition governments.

“It was a good week for Europe. It was a bad week for Europe,” author and commentator Timothy Garten Ash wrote in the European Council on Foreign Affairs about the French and British elections. “Good because Britain now has a strong, stable centrist government … Bad because France looks set for a period of weak, unstable, divided government that will hamper the whole EU (European Union).”

Garten Ash says British and French leaders needed to receive solid mandates at a time when Russian forces are fighting to conquer Ukraine, China is a threat and the US political landscape is uncertain.

Meanwhile, the Tories are in disarray. Rank-and-file conservatives are expected to conduct a purge of party leaders that Reuters described as a potential “bloodbath.”

The French left, meanwhile, have managed to unite themselves – for now – but it’s unclear how long that may last, World Politics Review wrote. Still, as Politico noted, the French left never had a plan for winning.

Le Pen, however, remains undaunted. She is likely to run for president in 2027 when Macron will step down because of term limits. “The tide is rising,” said Le Pen, according to Foreign Policy magazine. “It didn’t rise high enough this time, but it’s still rising. And as a result, our victory, in reality, is only delayed.”

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Quota Wars

BANGLADESH

Clashes among groups of university students broke out across Bangladesh this week, leaving five people dead and dozens injured in protests against a scheme setting quotas for government jobs that go to war veterans’ relatives – which critics say benefits the ruling party, the Associated Press reported.

The deaths occurred in the capital, Dhaka, after rival groups of students – some opposing the quota system and others supporting it – fought each other Monday and Tuesday, wielding wooden sticks and iron rods at campuses across the country. Protesters also blocked railways and roads.

Under the quota system, 30 percent of government jobs must be reserved for descendants of soldiers who fought for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, locally known as “freedom fighters.” Other, smaller quotas are designated for women, minorities and residents of specific districts, leaving only 40 percent of job applications based on merit, Al Jazeera explained.

The quota scheme was abolished in 2018, but Dhaka’s High Court said last month it had to be reinstated, triggering the first wave of protests.

Critics say the freedom fighters’ 30 percent share was unfair and affected their prospective job prospects – government jobs in Bangladesh are some of the most stable and well-paid in the country.

“The students protesting are not pushing for the complete abolition of quotas; rather, they are advocating for a reasonable percentage of quotas,” activist Saiyed Abdullah told Al Jazeera. Protesters have not questioned quotas for minorities.

Last week, the Supreme Court suspended the scheme for a month.

Meanwhile, observers said protests only ignited after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday called the anti-quota protesters descendants of “Razakars” – fighters who collaborated with the Pakistani army in 1971 during the war of independence.

While anti-quota protesters say they are apolitical, pro-government students accused the opposition parties of supporting the anti-quota protesters.

“An attempt is being made to transform the anti-quota movement into an anti-state one using the emotions of young students,” said Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud.

Meanwhile, critics argued that the quota scheme benefits the party of Hasina because she enjoys the support of freedom fighters’ relatives.

The prime minister easily won a fourth term in January after an electoral boycott from the opposition.

Law And Disorder

KENYA

Police clashed with anti-government protesters on Tuesday in the capital Nairobi and other Kenyan cities, killing at least one person and forcing businesses to close, as activists demanded that President William Ruto step down, Reuters reported.

Demonstrators lit bonfires on major highways and set tires and garbage on fire in many other parts of the country.

In Kitengela, a Nairobi suburb, reporters witnessed police firing at protesters, some of whom threw rocks.

Youth-led protests initially broke out in June over a bill aiming to raise taxes on certain essential products, protests that forced Ruto to back down and scrap the bill, and fire all but one cabinet member last week. But protests continued, with demonstrators saying he’s shown poor governance.

At the same time, the initial protests were peaceful, but critics say they turned violent after police responded with violence. Amid accusations of police violence, the head of the force resigned on Friday, Kenya’s Daily Nation wrote.

The Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights said 50 people have died so far in the protests and 59 have been abducted in connection with the crackdown.

Ruto and his government promised a probe into the deaths, but justified the use of violence when “protests escalate to criminality.”

Shattering the Peace

OMAN

At least six people, including four Pakistanis, were killed in an attack near a Shia mosque in Oman’s capital of Muscat on Monday night, a rare occurrence of violence in what is one of the most stable countries in the Middle East, the BBC reported.

Omani police said on Tuesday it had killed the three gunmen involved, whose motive is still unclear. Meanwhile, local media reported that 28 people of “different nationalities” were injured in the attack.

Worshippers had gathered at the mosque on the eve of Ashura, a Shia day of mourning that commemorates the battlefield martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

Verified video footage showed people running after gunfire broke out.

Though no one claimed responsibility for the attack, supporters of the so-called Islamic State (IS), a Sunni jihadist group, are believed to be responsible.

IS has previously carried out attacks against Shia Muslims, whom they consider heretics, killing dozens in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in attacks in 2015, Le Monde wrote.

But Oman, where Muslims by and large belong to the Sunni and Ibadi branches of Islam, has been one of the most peaceful countries in the Middle East, regularly taking on the role of mediator in conflicts elsewhere in the region.

“Whoever has done this is just trying to create hatred, but we should stand united during these testing times and emerge stronger,” one resident told Dubai-based newspaper, The National.

DISCOVERIES

Paleozoic’s Pompeii

For almost 270 million years, one of the Earth’s most resilient life forms was the trilobite – part of a large group of multilegged invertebrates found in the seas.

With an estimated 22,000 species, big and small, trilobites left their mark on our planet – making for centuries of paleontological research. But some parts of their anatomy have remained a mystery.

Enter a group of geologists who explored a region in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains that once was a shallow seabed surrounded by active volcanoes. After one sudden eruption some 510 million years ago, the ash captured all living things there – preserving them in pristine detail.

“Volcanic ash is so fine-grained, like talcum powder, that it can mold the tiniest anatomical features on the surface of these animals,” paleontologist and study co-author John Paterson told the New York Times.

One could call it the Paleozoic’s Pompeii.

Franco-Moroccan geologist Abderrazak El Albani and his team analyzed the newly found fossils, rendering 3D models of the animals, and published their results in the journal Science.

Their findings addressed numerous gray areas in scientists’ knowledge of trilobites.

For example, El Albani and his colleagues could now see how these trilobites ate thanks to a slit-like mouth and a labrum – a “kind of fleshy lip,” according to Paterson.

They also found evidence of antennae and bristles on the trilobites’ walking legs, elements that weren’t as well preserved in other fossils.

“I’ve been studying trilobites for nearly 40 years, but I never felt like I was looking at live animals as much as I have with these ones,” researcher Greg Edgecombe told BBC Wildlife.

Other Pompeii-type situations, “given their exceptional potential for trapping and preserving biological remains,” could pave the way for further discoveries and a better understanding of the evolution of life on Earth, El Albani said.

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