8 NEWS The world at a glance ...
Edinburgh
Boris booed: Britain’s new prime minister, Boris
Johnson, was booed this week as he visited
Scotland to make his case for achieving Brexit by
Oct. 31—with or without an EU trade deal.
Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in
the EU in the 2016 referendum, and Scottish
nationalists say that if the U.K. leaves the
bloc chaotically, with no deal, support for
Scottish independence will surge. Michael
Gove, a member of Johnson’s new Brexiteer cabinet, said that a no-
deal scenario was likely, prompting the pound to sink to a two-year
low against the dollar. Johnson insists that he will get a better deal
than the one negotiated by his predecessor, Theresa May, which
was rejected by Parliament. The EU says it will not renegotiate.Altamira, Brazil
Deadly prison brawl: A grue-
some battle this week between two
gangs in Altamira prison left 57 inmates dead, 16 of whom were
decapitated. Members of Comando Classe A, a local gang, set fire
to the quarters of members of Rio de Janeiro–based Comando
Vermelho, and the fire prevented police from entering the build-
ing for several hours while the two sides fought. The prison
holds 343 detainees; it has a capacity of 163. Such overcrowd-
ing is common in Brazilian prisons, and it’s getting worse under
President Jair Bolsonaro, who pledged to “stuff prison cells with
criminals.” Some prisons are so packed that inmates sleep stand-
ing up, their hands tied to the bars so they remain upright. In
May, 55 inmates were strangled or stabbed to death with sharp-
ened toothbrushes—some in front of visiting family members—in
a series of riots at four prisons.Guatemala City
Fury over Trump pact: Guatemalans say their government was bul-
lied into signing a “safe third country” agreement with the U.S. last
week. Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart signed the pact—which
requires asylum seekers who pass through
Guatemala to seek asylum there instead of in
the U.S.—only after President Trump threat-
ened the country with high tariffs, a travel
ban, and a tax on U.S. remittances. Now
human rights ombudsman Jordán Rodas is
asking Guatemala’s Constitutional Court
to undo the pact, because international law
states that any treaty “that has been obtained
under threats is null.” Racked with gang vio-
lence and poverty, Guatemala is not consid-
ered safe. More Guatemalans were detained
at the U.S. southern border last year than any
other nationality.
Mexico City
Israeli mobsters killed: A woman in a blond wig opened fire in a
Chinese restaurant in Mexico City this week, killing two Israeli
mobsters in what police believe was a gang-ordered hit. The
suspect, Esperanza Gutierrez Rojano, was arrested while try-
ing to flee, but her two male accomplices got away. The victims,
Benjamin Sutchi, 44, and Alon Azulay, 41, have criminal records
in both Israel and Mexico. Sutchi was linked to Israeli fugitive
Erez Akrishevsky, who escaped to Mexico 18 years ago but was
arrested last week and deported to Israel. Mexican newspapers
said the two victims had been trying to set up a network to distrib-
ute drugs through casinos.
Rome
Cop killing: Two American students have been arrested in connec-
tion with the murder of a police officer in Rome. Italian authori-
ties say Finnegan Elder, 19, and Gabriel
Natale-Hjorth, 18, stole a backpack from
a man following a drug deal gone wrong.
When Mario Cerciello Rega and another
plainclothes officer attempted to recover the
backpack—which the American teens had
allegedly offered to return in exchange for
money and cocaine—Elder stabbed Cerciello
Rega 11 times. Elder said he acted out of self-
defense, claiming the officers didn’t identify themselves; Cerciello
Rega’s partner said they showed their badges. Cerciello Rega had
just gotten married last month, and his death shocked Italians.
Paris
Sweltering heat: A brutal heat
wave obliterated temperature
records across Europe last week,
with Paris hitting 108.7 degrees
Fahrenheit and cities in Germany,
Belgium, and the Netherlands all
topping 105. The U.K. had its
hottest day on record, with the
mercury rising to 101.7 in east-
ern England. Because fewer than
10 percent of European households have air conditioning, there
was nowhere to escape the heat, so cities set up sprinklers and mist
sprayers. Tourists waded into fountains and volunteers handed out
water bottles. “Everyone is at risk with these kinds of tempera-
tures,” said French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn. The heat bubble,
borne on air currents from Africa, is now headed to Greenland,
where it is expected to accelerate glacier melt.
Reuters, AP (2), GettyTrying to cool downJeered in ScotlandDegenhart signs.Honoring the fallen