8 NEWS The world at a glance ...
Warsaw
Nazi collaborators honored: Top Polish offi-
cials this week honored a partisan group that
collaborated with the Nazis and battled the
advancing Soviets toward the end of World
War II. Most Polish partisans fought fiercely
against the Nazis for the duration of the
war, and usually it is those units that receive
state honors. President Andrzej Duda’s presence at the Warsaw
ceremony—marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the
group, the Holy Cross Mountains Brigade—is part of the ruling
nationalist Law and Justice party’s pitch to far-right voters ahead
of October’s elections. Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich,
rejected an invite to the event, saying such “ceremonies insult the
memory of all Polish citizens killed in the fight against Germany.”Buenos Aires
Markets vs. Kirchner: Argentina’s
stock market and currency plum-
meted this week after election
primaries suggested that former
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner could return to power,
this time as vice president to her little-known running mate
Alberto Fernández (no relation). Their leftist ticket took 47 percent
of the vote, while conservative President Mauricio Macri took 32
percent. The primaries function mostly as an opinion poll for the
October presidential vote, because the parties have already chosen
candidates. Argentina’s S&P Merval Index dropped 48 percent in
a single day—the second-largest drop of any major stock index
since 1950—and the peso sank 15 percent against the dollar.
Macri says he is trying to wrest the country out of a decade of
mismanagement by Kirchner and her predecessor, her late hus-
band, Néstor Kirchner. But inflation is at 50 percent, and Macri’s
austerity measures are deeply unpopular.La Guajira, Colombia
Goodbye, bananas: Colombia has declared a national emergency
after Panama disease TR4, a fungus that has destroyed banana
plantations across Asia and Africa, was found in plantations on its
Caribbean coast. “Once you see it, it is too late,” Dutch phytopa-
thology professor Gert Kema told National Geographic, “and it
has likely already spread outside that zone without recognition.”
Commercial banana plantations typically grow one hardy clonal
variety, the Cavendish, which can survive
long-distance transport. But the banana’s
lack of genetic diversity makes it vulner-
able to disease. Widespread banana blight
would be devastating to Latin American
economies, which export the yellow fruit,
as well as to the region’s own food sup-
plies, because Panama disease TR4 can
also kill local varieties, including plantains.Rome
Salvini’s power play: Seeking to cement his national-
ist League party’s hold on power, Italian Deputy
Prime Minister Matteo Salvini last week broke his
coalition agreement with the left-leaning populist
Five Star Movement and called for a no-confidence
vote in the government. Salvini, whose League is
polling at about 39 percent, is betting that early
elections will put him in a position to form a more ideologically
pure coalition with the far-right Brothers of Italy and center-right
Forza Italia parties. So far, the Italian Senate has blocked the
no- confidence motion, giving all the other parties time to try to
cobble together an alternative government that would leave the
League out. Meanwhile, Salvini, who is also interior minister, is
blocking two rescue ships operated by French and Spanish chari-
ties from bringing more than 500 migrants to Italian ports.Gillam, Manitoba
Teen killers dead: Canadian police said this week that two
teenage fugitives suspected of going on a killing spree in
remote British Columbia have been found dead. Bryer Schmegelsky,
18, and Kam McLeod, 19, appeared to have committed suicide,
and likely shot themselves after their third slaying in mid-July.
McLeod and Schmegelsky grew up together on Vancouver Island,
where they worked together at a Walmart. Schmegelsky col-
lected Nazi paraphernalia and “was raised by YouTube and video
games,” said his father, Alan. “He could have had a better upbring-
ing.” The pair is suspected of killing 24-year-old Chynna Deese, of
Charlotte, S.C., and her Australian boyfriend, Lucas Fowler, 23.
They are also believed to have murdered Leonard Dyck, a 64-year-
old University of British Columbia lecturer.Baerum, Norway
Mosque attack foiled: An alleged white supremacist
wearing a helmet and body armor opened fire in a
near-empty mosque outside Oslo last week, only
to be tackled to the ground by a worshipper
who happened to be a retired Pakistani air force
officer. “He started to fire toward the two other
men,” said the ex-officer, Mohammad Rafiq, 65.
“He put his finger inside my eye, up to here, full finger inside my
eye.” Rafiq and two other worshippers subdued the suspect, Philip
Manshaus, 21; Manshaus appeared in court two days later with
two black eyes. The shooter is believed to have killed his 17-year-
old stepsister before attacking the mosque. Manshaus wrote on
social media that he had been “chosen” by the Christchurch killer,
who massacred 51 people at two New Zealand mosques, and he
praised the recent El Paso shootings, in which 22 were killed.Reuters,
AP(^2
),^ NewscomSalvini: AmbitionManshaus: In court Paying tribute
Endangered fruit