13
NEWS
TICKER
Forest fires
spread across
IndonesiaForest fires burned
across the islands of
Borneo and Sumatra
on Sept. 17, disrupting
flights and choking
nearby cities with air
pollution. The fires—
the worst in years,
thanks to a long dry
season— threaten the
habitats of endangered
species including
orangutans.Trump repeals
clean-water
regulationThe Trump
Administration
announced the repeal
of the Waters of the
United States rule on
Sept. 12. The Obama-
era rule, the latest of
many environmental
regulations reversed
or weakened under
Trump, limited the use
of environmentally
damaging chemicals
near bodies of water
like wetlands and
streams.Snowden:
‘I want to
come home’Edward Snowden,
who has been living
in Russia since
revealing details of
NSA surveillance in
2013, said he wants
to come back to the
U.S. but doesn’t
believe he’d get a fair
trial. On Sept. 17, the
U.S. filed suit against
the whistle-blower,
saying his new memoir
violates nondisclosure
agreements.afTer six days aT sea on sePT. 14, The
Ocean Viking sailed into port carrying 82
asylum seekers. It was the first rescue ship
to dock in Italy since Matteo Salvini, one of
Europe’s most fervent anti migrant politi-
cians, lost his job as Interior Minister. He
had shut Italian ports to rescue ships like
the Ocean Viking, but his coalition govern-
ment collapsed in August over the direction
of migration policy. On Sept. 10 a new coali-
tion took office without his far-right League
party. “This is the end of Salvini’s propa-
ganda,” a new minister tweeted.
DEADLY PASSAGE After becoming Inte-
rior Minister in June 2018, Salvini threat-
ened fines of up to €1 million and human-
smuggling charges for captains who defied
his migrant-entry ban. It had the desired ef-
fect: arrivals have fallen to around 6,200 so
far in 2019, down from over 20,000 in the
same period in 2018. But it also made the
journey deadlier; for every 10 migrants who
arrived in Italy by sea this year, one has died
en route. That’s roughly double the 2018 rate.
SEA CHANGE With Salvini gone, reform-
ers in Italy and Brussels see a chance to act.
Their focus is on the E.U.’s so-called Dub-
lin regulation, which forces migrants to
apply for asylum in the first member state
where they set foot. Since 2014, more than
600,000 have arrived in Italy. Moderates
say the burden on Italy helped Salvini’s
anti migrant populism to flourish. “The
Dublin regulation must be modified,” said
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Sept. 10.SHARED BURDEN For now, more piecemeal
reforms may have to do. As the Ocean Vi-
king prepared to dock, France, Germany and
other E.U. countries agreed to share in relo-
cating those on board. But a long-term solu-
tion has yet to be agreed upon. On Sept. 23,
E.U. Interior Ministers are meeting to decide
how to deal with future ships. Germany said
it was ready to accept 25% of all arrivals. But
the window to act might not last long. Sal-
vini is still hugely popular in Italy and is the
favorite to win an election, if the new coali-
tion is unable to govern. —billy PerrigoTHE BULLETIN
With the far right out of power in Italy,
the E.U. edges toward migration reform
STRONGMAN’S END Pallbearers carry the coffin of Robert Mugabe, the former President of
Zimbabwe, from his sparsely attended state funeral in Harare on Sept. 14. Mugabe, who was
removed from power by a coup in 2017 after 37 years as President, died on Sept. 6 at 95.
The tenure of Mugabe, once hailed as an anticolonial revolutionary, was marked by economic
mismanagement and fraudulent elections that left Zimbabwe deeply impoverished.