The Week USA - 13.03.2020

The world at a glance ... NEWS^9

Moscow

Rewriting constitution: Russian President Vladimir

Putin has unveiled a batch of constitutional

amendments that Russians will vote on in

April, including one that would outlaw gay

marriage, another that would bar Russia

from ceding territory, and one that would protect

the “historical truth” of the people’s “defense

of the Fatherland.” Analysts believe these

amendments are meant to boost turnout for

the referendum among Orthodox Christians and nationalists, and

to mask the main reason for the constitutional rewrite: to keep

Putin in power after his presidential term ends in 2024. Among the

proposals is the shifting of authority to the State Council, a little-

known body that Putin might take over. The territorial provision is

meant to cement Russian sovereignty over Crimea, annexed from

Ukraine in 2014, and the Kuril Islands, long claimed by Japan.

Cairo

Banning music: The authoritarian regime of Egyptian President

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has banned mahraganat, a style of electronic

folk music that is hugely popular among the country’s poor.

Mahraganat singers can no longer perform in public— including

on Nile cruises and at weddings—and the government has asked

YouTube to take down all mahraganat videos. Imams have issued

a fatwa against listening to the music. The Egyptian Musicians

Syndicate, which endorsed the ban, said the songs promote

immorality and “encourage moral

decline.” The decision came in

February after Hamo Bika’s song

“The Neighbor’s Daughter” became

a national hit and garnered 113 mil-

lion views on YouTube. The lyrics

include the line “If you leave me, I

will drink wine and take hashish”—

actions forbidden in Islam.

Jerusalem

Netanyahu strengthened: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu this week took the lead in his country’s third elec-

tion in a year, but once again failed to secure the majority that

he needs to form a ruling coalition. Even though Netanyahu

will go on trial for felony corruption later this month, his Likud

party nevertheless emerged as the largest faction, a stronger

showing than in September. But a nearly complete vote count

showed that his coalition of right-wing and religious parties had

secured 58 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, three short of a majority.

Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz, leader of the center-right

Blue and White, amassed 55 seats for his bloc. Netanyahu will

get the first crack at forming a government and might try to woo

Avigdor Lieberman’s small Yisrael Beiteinu party, which opposes

special privileges for Orthodox Jews—though that would require

Netanyahu to drop the Orthodox parties from his bloc.

Tehran

Virus ravages leadership: Panic spread in

Iran this week after state media reported

that at least 23 lawmakers—nearly

10 per cent of Iran’s parliament—have

come down with the coronavirus. Local

media said that 92 Iran i ans have died

and some 3,000 are infected, although

the true figures are likely much higher.

Iran’s leadership is made up mostly of elderly men, who are

most susceptible to complications from Covid-19. Mo ham mad

Mir mo ham madi, 71, a top aide to Su preme Leader Aya tol lah Ali

Kha menei, 80, died of the virus this week. Experts said Teh ran had

failed to restrict travel to and from China, its biggest trading partner

and the country where the outbreak began, for fear of hurting Iran’s

already battered economy. Authorities have released tens of thou-

sands of prisoners to prevent the virus from spreading through jails.

Hong Kong

Bomb threats: Some pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong

are turning to terrorism to try to prevent mainland Chinese from

spreading coronavirus in the semi-autonomous city. In recent

weeks, homemade bombs have been found at least four times

on trains that take workers from the mainland into Hong Kong;

nobody has been injured. A group calling

itself Frontline Protesters said the bombs

were a warning “to those mainland zom-

bies” who “come to my city under the

tacit approval of the tyranny to spread

the germs.” Hong Kongers who rose up

against their Beijing-backed government

last year are now protesting the response

to coronavirus, and demonstrators have

clashed with police near quarantine sites.

Zhengzhou, China

Slave labor: Members of China’s Uighur minority are being forced

to labor at factories that produce goods for major U.S. firms,

including Apple, Nike, and Microsoft, according to a report by the

Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Beijing has detained

1 million Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group from the west-

ern Xinjiang province, in re-education camps in an attempt to

eradicate their culture. At least 80,000 have been sent to factories

across China, including hundreds shipped to a Foxconn facility in

Zhengzhou known as iPhone City, reports ASPI. The think tank

says Xinjiang’s regional government uses middlemen to arrange the

work assignments. One ad from a labor dispatch company read

“The advantages of Xinjiang workers are: semi-military–style man-

agement, can withstand hardship, no loss of personnel.”

AP (2), Reuters, APA wedding singer

Outbreak hot spot

Arriving in Hong Kong

Sticking around