BRAZIL
Lula-Bolsonaro: a debate for nothing
“The first debate between the two rounds, Sunday October 16, between the chief executive and the former left-wing president was marked by a lack of concrete proposals”, regrets Estado do Sao Paulo, the major daily newspaper of the Brazilian economic capital. Jair Bolsonaro criticized the corruption at work during the governance of the Workers’ Party (PT), from 2003 to 2016, while Lula highlighted the catastrophic management of the outgoing president during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lula (48% in the first round) remains the favorite against Bolsonaro (43%) for the November 2 ballot.
SWEDEN
Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister
After eight years of social democratic government and six weeks of negotiations following the September 11 election, Parliament validated by a narrow majority (176 votes against 173) the coalition government (conservatives, liberals, Christian democrats) of new Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, 58. “Without participating in the government, the far-right party Sverigedemokraterna [Les Démocrates de Suède, 20% des voix aux législatives]represents an essential political force whose influence is already felt in the government program presented by Kristersson”, points out the center-right daily Svenska Dagbladet.
UNITED STATES
Trump will be subpoenaed
An announcement that looks like a political earthquake. The House Committee investigating the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, indicated on October 13 that it would subpoena Donald Trump to appear. The former president “is THE person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6. So we want to hear it,” said the head of this body, Bennie Thompson. “This unanimous vote marks a significant escalation on the part of the commission which will set up a showdown with the former president”, notes the American channel. CNN. Not sure, however, that Donald Trump agrees to comply.
TURKEY
A law against “misinformation”
The noose is tightening on freedom of expression after the vote in the Turkish Parliament, on October 13, of a text providing for up to three years in prison for anyone accused of spreading “false or misleading information”. Are targeted: the traditional media – press, radio and television – but also users of social networks. Eight months before the general elections which promise to be difficult for Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party the AKP (poorly placed in the polls), “the regime is aiming for totalitarian control over the ‘speakable'” to “silence society” Judge Ergin Yildizoglucolumnist for the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet.
CHINA
Xi Jinping praises his record against the West
Unsurprisingly, President Xi Jinping defended his record, and in particular his drastic “zero Covid” policy, at the opening of the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, on October 16, at the end of which he should be reappointed for a third term. Referring to “serious international developments”, “Xi praised his administration’s successes in combating foreign interference and safeguarding China’s ‘dignity’ and ‘fundamental interests’, notes the FinancialTimes. He also thinly veiled criticism of the United States and its allies, boasting that China, under his leadership, had taken a “clear stance” against hegemony.” While reaffirming his will to take the control of Taiwan, if necessary by force.
UK
Total coaster for Truss
The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, abolished on October 17 almost all the tax reductions decided by his ephemeral predecessor, Kwazi Kwarteng, and the current head of government, Liz Truss. It is “a total humiliation for the Prime Minister, who now seems stripped of all political authority”, believes The Guardian. If this backpedaling is likely to appease the markets, it does not guarantee Truss his political survival. Conservative MPs continue to “discuss openly how she could be replaced”, notes the daily.
UKRAINE
kyiv under the threat of drones
At least four people were killed in the Ukrainian capital on October 17 after renewed bombardments by Shahed-136 suicide drones, which Tehran began supplying Moscow this summer. “Russia is increasingly relying on this weaponry, cheaper than cruise missiles, to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” the news site said. Kyiv Independent. Objective: to deprive Ukrainians of electricity and heating for the coming winter. “The enemy may attack our cities, but he will not be able to break us,” reacted President Volodymyr Zelensky.