2019-11-02_The_Week_Magazine

The world at a glance ... NEWS^9

Gyor, Hungary

Orgy mayor re-elected: A Hungarian gymnast

turned mayor was elected to another term this

week, despite a leaked video that showed him

participating in a drug-fueled orgy on a

luxury yacht. Zsolt Borkai, a married father

of two and an Olympic gold medalist, said

his romp on the boat was a “mistake”

but that he would continue as mayor of Gyor. The anonymous

blogger who posted the video claimed that the mayor and his

lawyer had used government money to pay for the yacht and

the scantily clad escorts who joined them on board. Borkai is an

ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who promotes

Christian family values, and the Hungarian press is calling the

scandal “Borkai-gate.” While Borkai managed to hold on to his

seat, at least 10 of Hungary’s 23 big cities—including the capital,

Budapest—went to the opposition.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Nobel for peacemaker: The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize has

been awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

for his frenetic work to end a deadlocked, two-decade-old

conflict between his country and neighboring Eritrea. More

than 70,000 people died in a two-year border war between the

two countries that ended in an inconclusive peace deal in 2000.

Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea remained hostile until Abiy

was elected 18 months ago and opened talks with Eritrea, sign-

ing a historic accord in September 2018. Abiy, 43, has

also pushed to reform his country after decades of

repression, releasing thousands of political pris-

oners, lifting bans on opposition groups, scrap-

ping media censorship, and firing military and

civilian leaders suspected of corruption. The

Nobel Committee said it was awarding the

prize so quickly after peace was achieved

because Ethiopia’s achievements “deserve

recognition” and “need encouragement.”

Riyadh

More U.S. troops: The U.S. is sending 1,800 additional troops as

well as two fighter-jet squadrons to Saudi Arabia to help defend

the kingdom against Iran, the Pentagon announced last week—

bringing the number of American personnel in the country to

3,000. The U.S. began sending troops to Saudi Arabia in July fol-

lowing a series of attacks on oil tankers, and accelerated deploy-

ments in September after Saudi oil facilities were hit by drone and

missile strikes. “Saudi Arabia has agreed to pay us for everything

we’re doing to help them,” Trump said. Critics accused Trump

of treating the U.S. military like a mercenary force. The president

supports “oil-rich Saudi autocrats who he thinks ‘pay cash,’” said

Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), “even as he betrays our Kurdish

partners who have paid with their lives in the fight against ISIS.”

Tehran

Soccer ban lifted: Thousands of

jubilant Iranian women cheered on

their national soccer team as it beat

Cambodia 14-0 at a Tehran stadium

last week, the first time since 1981 that

women have been allowed to attend

a game in the Islamic Republic. Iran

allotted 4,000 tickets in the 80,000-seat

stadium to women, seating them in a

segregated section guarded by female police. “Part of me is happy,”

said Maryam Shojaei, sister of Iran’s national team captain,

Masoud Shojaei, “but they have basically created a wall.” Last

month, a woman facing six months in prison for sneaking into a

match died after setting herself on fire, and the world soccer body,

FIFA, told Iran it would have to let women watch or face a ban.

Hong Kong

Attacks on protesters: Just days after President Xi Jinping threat-

ened Hong Kongers with “shattered bones” if they continued

to hold mass street demonstrations, up to five men armed with

hammers attacked protest leader Jimmy Sham, sending him to the

hospital with head wounds. Sham is one of several pro-democracy

candidates running in local elections to be attacked in recent weeks.

In the Hong Kong legislature, lawmakers heckled executive Carrie

Lam as she tried to make her annual policy speech, some of them

playing audio of screaming protesters and calling on her to resign.

Lam retreated and delivered her

speech later by video. Meanwhile

in Beijing, authorities reacted with

anger to the passage of a bill by the

U.S. House of Representatives that

paves the way for sanctions against

individuals who undermine Hong

Kong’s autonomy. China’s state-run

media called the House “arrogant

and dangerous.”

Hanoi, Vietnam

Abominable ban: Vietnamese authorities have pulled the new

DreamWorks movie Abominable from theaters, because the ani-

mated film—about a Chinese girl who befriends a yeti—features a

brief shot of a map supporting China’s territorial claim

to nearly all of the South China Sea. The map includes

the so-called nine-dash line, a U-shaped boundary uni-

laterally declared by Beijing that carves out a vast swath

of the resource-rich waters. China’s assertion of territorial

rights is fiercely disputed by Vietnam and other nations that

also have claims in the area. Abominable was co-produced

by DreamWorks and Pearl Studio, a Chinese production

company based in Shanghai.

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Abiy: Reformer

Now allowed in the stadium

Demanding democracy

Borkai: Yacht romp

Yeti trouble