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Rome
Political turmoil: Italian Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation
this week in an hour-long speech that included
a scathing attack on Deputy Prime Minister
Matteo Salvini—who was seated right next to
him in the Senate. Conte said Salvini, who
tabled a no-confidence motion against him
in an attempt to force a new election, had
put the nation’s stability at risk for “per-
sonal and party interests.” Salvini rolled his eyes during the speech
and grabbed the mike as soon as Conte finished, saying, “I am not
afraid of the judgment of Italians.” President Sergio Mattarella will
now ask other parties to form a government, but if that fails—as
is likely—a new election will be called. The last election, held
18 months ago, resulted in a governing coalition of Salvini’s far-right
League party and the left-leaning populist Five Star Movement.Yaoundé, Cameroon
Crushing the English speakers: Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, leader of
an Anglophone separatist movement in Cameroon, and nine of
his followers were convicted of rebellion and sentenced to life in
prison this week after a perfunctory, one-day trial by a military
tribunal. The group was arrested in Nigeria in January 2018
and deported to Cameroon, even though they had submitted
claims for political asylum. Cameroon’s 5 million English speak-
ers—who make up one-fifth of the population—say they have
been oppressed by the French-speaking central government,
which has sent French-speaking judges and teachers to English-
speaking courts and schools. Some minority Anglophones took
up arms in 2017 to fight for a homeland in the northwest they
call Ambazonia. Half a million people have fled the fighting and
subsequent crackdown.Dispur, India
Expelling Muslims: Millions of Muslims born in India could
soon be declared noncitizens under a program supported by
the country’s Hindu nationalist government. State authorities in
Assam have set up “foreigner tribunals” to examine Muslims’
backgrounds, to determine whether they are in fact migrants
from neighboring Bangladesh, and are drawing up plans for huge
detention camps. Hundreds of people
have already been arrested, includ-
ing registered voters and Muslim
veterans of the Indian Army; dozens
have killed themselves over fears of
having their citizenship revoked. Still,
the government of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, a fervent Hindu
nationalist, says it will expand the
program to other states.Moscow
Nuclear cover-up: Four Russian radiation
sensors that transmit data to an international
nuclear monitoring group went offline after an
Aug. 8 explosion at a naval weapons range in
the Arctic—and two still aren’t sending infor-
mation. The Kremlin has said little about the
accident, which U.S. scientists think occurred
during the offshore testing of a nuclear-
powered cruise missile, and it has not disclosed
how much radiation was released. At first,
officials claimed the sensors weren’t working; later, Deputy Foreign
Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia wasn’t required to send any
data to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.
President Vladimir Putin said the radiation posed no risk to the
public, but Russian soldiers have been telling villagers near the test
site not to touch any unknown objects that wash ashore.Hong Kong
Massive protest: Nearly 2 million people
took part in a peaceful pro-democracy pro-
test in Hong Kong this week—braving tor-
rential rains and threats of a military crack-
down from Beijing. About a quarter of the
semi-autonomous city’s population joined the
rally, which saw none of the violent clashes
between police and protesters that have
erupted at recent demonstrations. The weekly protests began in
February in opposition to a bill that would have allowed Hong
Kongers to be extradited to face trial in mainland courts, but have
since morphed into demands for direct democracy. Chinese state-
run media has claimed that the rallies are organized by the U.S.
and other Western nations.Kabul
Wedding massacre: ISIS claimed responsibility this week for a sui-
cide bombing at a packed Kabul wedding that killed at least 80 rev-
elers, including numerous women and children, and wounded some
180 others. The bomber struck the celebration in a minority Shiite
Muslim neighborhood as the 1,000 wedding guests were dancing
to DJs and a live band. “There is an echo in my ear still,” said one
guest, “a mix of music and the blast.” The attack came as the U.S.
and the Taliban were nearing a peace deal that would end the U.S.
military’s 18-year deployment in Afghanistan. It shows that even if
the Taliban make peace, ISIS could still spread chaos and destruc-
tion through the country. Some analysts fear that Taliban dissidents
who reject any final deal could join ISIS, and with U.S. troops
gone, the Sunni Muslim terrorist group could grow rapidly.AP (3), Getty
On the streetsPutin: Don’t panic.Will they lose their citizenship?Salvini and Conte