Time - USA (2021-03-01)

12 Time March 1/March 8, 2021

THE ART OF PROTEST Protesters in Yangon stand next to portraits of Myanmar’s deposed leader
Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration on Feb. 9 against a military coup. Appearing virtually in
court on Feb. 16, Suu Kyi faces charges of possessing illegal walkie-talkies and is alleged to have
violated the country’s Natural Disaster Law. Art has been a major feature of protests across the
country since the coup saw Suu Kyi ousted from power on Feb. 1.

NEWS

TICKER

Bolsonaro

eases gun laws

in Brazil

Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro

issued four presidential

decrees on Feb. 

that loosen limits on

buying and owning

guns. Hunters may now

own up to 30 guns. A

2019 poll found that

70% of Brazilians

opposed relaxing gun

laws, which critics say

will fuel violence and

organized crime.

The Bachelor’s

thorny racial

reckoning

Chris Harrison,

longtime host of ABC’s

Bachelor franchise,

said on Feb. 13 that he

would be temporarily

“stepping aside”

from his duties on the

popular U.S. reality

dating show after

a racially charged

interview in which he

urged “compassion”

for a contestant who

attended an antebel-

lum plantation-themed

event in 2018.

Protests over

President’s

term in Haiti

On Feb. 14, thousands

protested in Port-au-

Prince over Haitian

President Jovenel

Moïse’s term length.

Opponents say Moïse,

beset by graft allega-

tions, was due to step

down Feb. 7, five years

after his predecessor

left office. Moïse says

his term began in 2017

after elections were

rerun because of

fraud claims.

POPULAR fORmeR eUROPeAn CenTRAL
Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi was sworn
in as Italy’s Prime Minister on Feb. 13.
Draghi, 73, won respect at home and abroad
in 2012, when his decisive ECB leadership
was credited with saving the euro. His
appointment—after securing support from
across the political spectrum following
his predecessor’s resignation in January—
spared Italy from holding an election in
the midst of a pandemic that has claimed
94,000 lives. Now, many hope Super Mario,
as Europe’s media call him, can steer Italy
out of economic crisis.

FINANCIAL WOES COVID-19 has battered
Italy’s already sluggish economy, which
shrank by 8.8% in 2020. Its growth this
year is trailing the E.U.’s, but the bloc’s offer
of some $240 million in recovery loans
and grants triggered the collapse of the
coalition government as parties clashed over
spending plans needed to access the cash.

BOLD LEADERSHIP The E.U. stimulus

means Draghi won’t have to enact an

unpopular austerity program. But he will

have to try to make deeper, long-awaited

reforms to the country’s infrastructure,

bureaucracy, education system and more

in order to access the funds from Brussels.

One former Italian Prime Minister told the

BBC the bloc’s package represents “the

biggest opportunity to transform Italy since

the Marshall Plan of the 1950s.”

FRACTIOUS POLITICS An air of unusual

optimism now surrounds Draghi’s govern-

ment in Italy and across Europe. But pass-

ing the large-scale reforms Italy needs will

be a herculean task given the tumultuous

political culture that has cut short the term

of many a Prime Minister—Draghi leads his

country’s 67th government in 75 years. The

unity he has summoned may weaken as he

makes tough decisions. That will put his su-

perhero status to the test. —CiARA nUgenT

THE BULLETIN

Italy gets a new leader, and a shot of optimism

TheBrief

YE AUNG THU—AFP/GETTY IMAGES