AROUND THE WORLD THIS WEEK
BRAZIL
President Jair Bolsonaro should be charged with crimes against humanity and jailed for his response to Covid-19, a Brazilian congressional panel has found. The panel will present its findings to senators on 26 October.
It was scathing of Bolsonaro’s “macabre” attempt to achieve herd immunity by allowing the untrammelled spread of Covid-19. Covid has killed more than 600,000 people in Brazil and has disproportionately affected indigenous people. The panel slammed Bolsonaro’s delay in procuring vaccines.
Although law-enforcement authorities are not expected to act on the recommendations, it could dent the president’s 2022 election campaign.
COLOMBIA
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled that journalist Jineth Bedoya’s kidnapping, rape and torture in 2000 “could not have been carried out without the consent and collaboration of the [Colombian] State, or at least with its tolerance”.
Bedoya was abducted by members of a far-right paramilitary group while investigating an arms-smuggling network that implicated state officials.
“Perhaps I will never be able to see behind bars the general who ordered my kidnapping, nor the men who supported him,” Bedoya was quoted after the ruling.
“But this will remain in the conscience of the state.”
RUSSIA
Calls to facilitate aid to Afghanistan to avert the economic and humanitarian crises that have taken hold since the Taliban seized power in August were made this week at a high-profile meeting in Moscow.
Ten countries, including Russia, China, Pakistan, India and Iran, backed the call for the UN to hold a donor conference.
The US did not attend the meeting, which could help the Kremlin further its influence. The Taliban is still categorised as a terrorist group in Russia, but officials have taken a pragmatic approach, calling for aid while urging the Taliban to distance itself from terror groups and to protect women’s rights.
CHINA
Property giant China Evergrande Group won a brief reprieve on 21 October when financiers offered it an extra three months to repay a bond. The news came on the eve of the company’s repayment deadline, shortly after it announced it had failed in attempts to sell 50.1% of one of its property units that it hoped would raise $2.6-billion and provide much-needed cash.
Evergrande has debt of more than $300-billion and is facing a liquidity crisis as real-estate sales plunge, adding further stresses to China’s economy and causing panic in global markets. The Chinese central bank has said broader risks to the financial system were “controllable”.
INDIA
At least 150 people died in Nepal and India this week after heavy rainfall caused flooding and landslides, sweeping away roads and houses in the two countries.
Some regions recorded up to 400mm of rain in 24 hours, leaving people stranded in affected areas as emergency crews led evacuations.
Heavy rains are common in the region and intensifying flooding has caused hundreds of deaths in recent years. Such an intense deluge, however, is rare for October when monsoon season is considered over, leading climate activists to point out the urgency to act during upcoming global climate talks.