The poisoned Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny posted an Instagram photo from his Berlin hospital bed this week, in which he looked alert—if skinny—with his wife and two teenage children beside him. “Hi, this is Navalny,” he wrote in the caption. “Yesterday I was able to breathe on my own for the whole day.” Navalny fell into a coma after being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok during a trip to Siberia last month; he was flown to Germany for treatment a few days later. The Kremlin denied any involvement in the attempted assassination. Navalny’s spokeswoman said he plans to return to Russia to continue his exposés of corruption as soon as possible, saying, “No other option was ever considered.”
Virus numbers improve
After drawing international criticism for its no-lockdown approach to Covid-19, Sweden is now recording its lowest daily case totals of the pan demic—even as many European countries see their numbers spike. Sweden’s 14-day cumulative total of cases this week stood at 22.2 per 100,000 residents, compared with 279 in Spain, 158.5 in France, and 59 in the U.K. At the start of the pandemic, Sweden ordered schools for students over 16 to close—but kept open classrooms for younger students—banned gatherings of more than 50 people, and told the elderly to selfisolate. Sweden has recorded 577 coronavirus deaths per million inhabitants, compared with 109 in Denmark, 49 in Norway, and 61 in Finland. But chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said the country’s strategy may prove more “sustainable” over the long term than ordering new lockdowns with each flare-up.
Water protest
Mexican farmers have seized control of a major dam in drought-stricken Chihuahua to protest the shipment of water to the U.S. under a 1944 water-sharing treaty. The U.S. insists that Mexico needs to pay off a shortfall of more than 100 billion gallons by Oct. 24, but farmers say that water is needed for their crops. Some 2,000 demonstrators marched on the dam last week, and two people were killed during clashes with the National Guard. About 200 protesters armed with rocks and sticks forced the guards back and took over the hydroelectric facility of La Boquilla. “We are prepared to stay here and defend our rights to this water,” said farmer Guerrero Carillo. Under the treaty, northern Mexico pipes 114 billion gallons of water to the U.S. each year, while the U.S. sends 489 billion gallons southward to western Mexico.
Presidential raffle Leftist
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to office two years ago pledging to rid the Mexican government of corruption and excess, and one of his first goals was to sell the luxurious presidential jet (he flies coach). After he couldn’t find a buyer, López Obrador announced plans to raffle the plane off. Mexicans mocked the idea, noting that such a plane costs $1.7 million a year in upkeep alone. So this week, the president held a lottery to give 100 winners close to $1 million each, with total prize money approaching the value of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Any excess money raised would go toward hospitals. Since raffle tickets cost $24 each in a land where monthly income is some $785, they didn’t sell well, and little money was raised for hospitals. The plane is still on the market.
American plot
Venezuelan authorities say they have captured an American man who was plotting to sabotage power plants and oil facilities in the country. Attorney General Tarek Saab said the U.S. citizen, identified as Matthew Heath, was arrested while traveling with guns, explosives, and a bag of U.S. dollars. At least seven Venezuelans, including military members alleged to be colluding with Heath, were also arrested. Saab said that Heath had worked “as a mercenary” for U.S. intelligence in Iraq and that items in his possession had linked him to the CIA. U.S. authorities have not commented. In May, two former U.S. special operations soldiers were arrested along with more than 80 rebel Venezuelan fighters during a failed operation to capture authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro.
Murderer recaptured
A career criminal who escaped from an Italian prison for the fourth time earlier this month was found hiding this week in a sheep pen. Giuseppe Mastini, 60, nicknamed “Johnny the Gypsy” because of his Romany roots, was on day release from a maximum-security facility in Sardinia when he disappeared. As a teenager, Mastini was suspected in the 1975 killing of filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini but was not charged; he was sent to prison the following year for killing a tram driver. Despite two escape attempts, he was allowed out on furlough in 1987 and committed a string of crimes—including the murder of a police officer, the kidnapping of a young girl, and dozens of burglaries. Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede has ordered an inquiry into whether the parole board that approved the latest furlough acted with due diligence.
Strongman meeting
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support this week for embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has faced almost daily mass protests at home after he apparently rigged his Aug. 9 re-election. During a meeting at Putin’s Black Sea residence, an obsequious Lukashenko referred to Russia as an “elder brother” to Belarus, and Putin promised a $1.5 billion loan and reiterated that Russia would honor all obligations under the two countries’ military alliance. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claims she won the August vote and is now in exile in Lithuania, condemned Putin for meeting with “a usurper and not with the Belarusian people.”
Blaze in migrant camp
A fire has destroyed Europe’s largest migrant camp, leaving some 8,000 adults and 4,000 children without shelter for more than a week on the Greek island of Lesbos. The displaced families are now packed along a 1.5-mile stretch of road, sitting on blankets and forced to defecate in a field. Greek authorities arrested six migrants, saying they had set the fire out of anger at coronavirus isolation measures, but the migrants said hostile locals had firebombed the camp. Greek islands are the front line of Europe’s migrant crisis. The European Union has been paying Greece to house Middle Eastern, Asian, and African migrants while their asylum claims are processed, which can take more than a year. The Moria camp, built to hold 3,000 people, had more than 20,000 six months ago, and conditions were squalid. “Sleeping on the street is bad,” said Mahbube Ahzani, 15, “but Moria was bad-bad.”
Total shutdown
Many Israelis are furious at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for flying out of the country after declaring a three-week nationwide coronavirus lockdown. Netanyahu attended the signing of historic deals normalizing diplomatic relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates at the White House this week, even though the two other countries sent only foreign ministers. Back home, Israelis will be under quarantine during their holiest days of the year —Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah—so they can’t celebrate with relatives, and small businesses forced to shutter say they could go under. After initially suppressing the virus’ spread, Israel (population 9 million) is now registering nearly 5,000 new cases daily, and many hospitals
are badly overcrowded.
Afghan peace talks
Members of the Afghan government sat down with Taliban representatives this week for the first official peace talks in their country’s nearly 20-year conflict. The two sides are meeting in Qatar under a peace blueprint laid out by the U.S. in February. To get the Taliban to the table, the U.S. agreed that Kabul would release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, some of whom had killed Western soldiers, in exchange for 1,000 Afghan soldiers going free, a swap that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called “a danger to the world.” The talks, due to start months ago, were delayed by continued Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. An Afghan presidential palace official said the top priority for this week was getting the Taliban to agree on a ceasefire. President Trump has pledged to withdraw all U.S. troops by next May as long as the Taliban meets certain security guarantees.
Wear your mask, or else
Indonesians who flout local mask mandates are being made to dig graves for Covid-19 victims. That punishment was meted out last week to eight men in the East Javan district of Cerme. “There are only three available gravediggers at the moment, so I thought I might as well put these people to work with them,” said district leader Suyono. “Hopefully, this can create a deterrent effect against violations.” Elsewhere in the country, mask refuseniks have been ordered to sit in a hearse and reflect. Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, has officially registered more than 225,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 9,000 deaths, although the true numbers are likely much higher.
Sacred site destroyed
The boss of Rio Tinto, the world’s secondlargest mining company, resigned last week following a shareholder revolt over the dynamiting of an ancient Aboriginal site that contained priceless relics of prehistory. Rio Tinto said CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques was leaving by “mutual agreement,” but it was clear he was forced out. In May, over the fierce objections of local Aboriginal leaders, the company gained access to some $100 million worth of iron ore by blowing up two caves in Juukan Gorge, where bone tools and other artifacts up to 46,000 years old had been found. Rio Tinto chairman Simon Thompson pledged to never again demolish important cultural sites. But Jamie Lowe, chief executive of the National Native Title Council, warned that “without sector-wide reforms,” another Juukan-type incident could happen.
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