GUATEMALA
A “testosterone” president
Elected on August 11, 2019, former prison system director Alejandro Giammattei was sworn in as president on January 14. The new head of state has promised to fight against the corruption that plagues the country and to lower the poverty rate. He intends to fight criminals and drug traffickers with shots of “testosterone”, reports the newspaper The Hora. This conservative, opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, plans to reinstate the death penalty.
UNITED STATES
Trump and his “hoax” trial
The House of Representatives transferred Donald Trump’s impeachment case to the Senate, where his impeachment trial began on January 21. The US president is suspected of abuse of power and obstruction of the work of Congress, due to pressure exerted to convince Ukraine to open an investigation into Joe Biden, his potential presidential rival. “It should go very quickly, it’s a hoax, everyone knows it,” Trump downplayed, according to the American site. The Hill.
UKRAINE
Political crisis
On January 17, Prime Minister Oleksi Hontcharouk presented his resignation after the broadcast of his derogatory statements against the President, Volodimir Zelenski. Recordings of a closed meeting between ministers have leaked. We hear the head of government describe as “primitive” the economic knowledge of the young president. In his defence, Hontcharouk assures us that these are truncated extracts from various meetings, reports the daily Kyiv Post.
READ ALSO >> Ukrainian Prime Minister resigns after critical remarks about the president
IVORY COAST
Operation “eviction”
The discovery, on January 8, of the body of a teenager in the landing gear of a plane connecting Abidjan to Roissy prompted the Ivorian government to destroy part of the popular district of Adjouffou, adjoining the airport, to establish a security perimeter. This so-called “eviction” operation should begin these days. Forced to leave the premises quickly, residents protested en masse on January 14, reports the site Ivorian connection.
JAPAN
A minister on parental leave
Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said he would take two weeks of paternity leave after the birth of his first child. In a country where only 6% of fathers authorize it, this symbolic initiative is unprecedented on the part of a member of the government. The minister will however remain available by e-mail and videoconference in order to continue to carry out his duties, specifies JapanTimes, January 15th.
CHINA
Mysterious virus and psychosis
Six people have died in China and several hundred are said to have been infected with a new coronavirus which is beginning to spread in other Asian countries (Japan, Thailand, South Korea). From the same family as Sras, it appeared in December in a market in Wuhan (center of the country). According to the WHO, this virus which affects the respiratory tract could be spread by contagion between humans, specifies the South China Morning Post of January 20. For the time being, travel within the country is not subject to any restrictions.
LIBYA
Talks in Berlin
Gathered under the aegis of the UN in Berlin on January 19, the players in the conflict in Libya (Turkey, Russia, France, Italy, etc.) called for a permanent ceasefire between Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the national unity government recognized by the UN, and his rival, Khalifa Haftar. They pledged to respect the arms embargo decided in 2011 and to renounce any foreign “interference”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, however, acknowledged that peace was far from certain, the site reports. Politico.