World AM News Briefs For Thursday, 31 Oct 2019
Hello Australia!! - Chile's protests force the cancellation of two major conferences - Inequality is bringing down two governments in the Middle East - The part of Canada getting a little less green - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:
With his country awash in protests, President Sebastian Pinera says Chile can no longer host November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade summit which was supposed to bring world leaders such as Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping. Pinera also cancelled Chile's hosting of the UN's COP25 climate conference that was supposed to feature environmental activist Greta Thunberg. The UN is exploring other hosting options for the climate summit. The protests blew up after a small increase in the subway fee that was the final insult for a working class that was stretched like a drumskin as it was by the unequal economy. Pinera was lambasted for his initial handling of the growing unrest, at first declaring the country was "at war" with "evil" delinquents; later he would rescind the fare hike, announce economic reforms, and sack his cabinet. But the protests continue.
It's hard to see how Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi is going to hang on in office now that his two main backers have announced they will work to remove him. That includes Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who leads Parliament's largest bloc. Sadr called on his main political rival Hadi al-Amiri to help oust the PM, and Amiri replied: "We will work together to secure the interests of the Iraqi people and save the nation in accordance with the public good." Like Chile, Ecuador, and a host of other countries this year, hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Iraq to condemn widening economic inequality in which the rich reap all of the gains of the economy while working people are hit with more and more fees and fares.
Lebanon's PM Saad Hariri and his cabinet have been asked to stay on as a caretaker administration until the next election, after Hariri resigned yesterday in the face of economic protests. The protesters are clearing out and roads are opening again.
The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates again. The move aims to protect the world economy from the impact of trade wars and a global slowdown.
Belgian police say they found a dozen people "safe and well" inside the back of a refrigerated fruit and vegetable truck. This comes a week after the horrible discovery of 39 dead Asian immigrants in another refrigerated truck in Essex, UK. Police are hunting two men from County Armagh, Northern Ireland - 40-year-old Ronan Hughes and his 34-year-old brother Christopher Hughes - for their alleged involvement in the human trafficking tragedy in Essex.
Russia's defense ministry is claiming success in the test of a new intercontinental ballistics missile (ICBM). The so-called Bulava missile was fired from the new Prince Vladimir submarine in the White Sea off Russia's northwest, and purportedly traveled thousands of kilometers to hit its target in the Kura missile test range in Russia's far east. The Prince Vladimir will go into service in December, and Moscow plans to build ten more by 2027.
Canada's Quebec province is rolling back Cannabis rights of 18- to 21-year olds, prohibiting weed sales to that age group from 1 January to "protect" teenagers' developing brains. The Federal Government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau legalized Marijuana as of last year, but Quebec's interpretation has been the most-restrictive. The Francophone province also bans the sale of edibles, bars people from growing their own at home (which Ottawa is fighting), and sets lower limits for home storage of processed cannabis.
Horses are rescued from one of California's many wildfires, this time in Simi Valley near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum.
BABY PENGUIN ALERT! In the Falkland Islands.
Lucky Pup in upstate New York.