July 4 – East Asia: NORTH KOREA
North Korea tests its first ever inter-continental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 (ICBM) in defiance of a ban by the United Nations Security Council, and despite sanctions already imposed by several countries.[1] An ICBM is a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It has a range of up to 6,200 miles, which means it could reach the U.S. state of Alaska. However, it is not clear at this point whether the North Korean missile has the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead and hit a target accurately. North Korean state news agency KCNA hails the launch as a great success and claims victory in putting an end to the persistent nuclear war threat posed by the U.S. against North Korea.[2]
Why does North Korea hate the US? Video (1:53 min)
How North Korea Became a Crisis. Video (3:40 min)
July 5 – East Asia: AUSTRALIA
Researchers at the University of Newcastle in Australia use settler diaries, newspaper reports, court records, oral accounts, and letters to create a map detailing massacres of the native Aborigines by European settlers between 1788 and 1872. So far, the project completes about 150 locations on the country’s east coast. Each site on the map includes details about the number of people killed, their identity, how they were killed, and who was responsible. The map also includes six recorded massacres of colonists during the same period.[3] The study also points to other factors that affected the history of Aboriginal populations, such as disease, loss of land, abduction of children, and control of movement. The purpose of the project is to educate about native Australian population and help understand the factors that affected their history.
Map of Colonial Frontier Massacres in Eastern Australia 1788-1872
July 6 – Europe / East Asia:
EUROPEAN UNION / JAPAN / SOUTH KOREA
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Union sign a free trade agreement, which abolishes tariff barriers between the two entities. Japan is the EU’s second biggest trading partner in Asia after China. It exports over $92 billion worth of goods and services a year and Japanese companies in the EU employ more than half a million people. This trade deal removes almost all custom duties, which sum up to $1.1bn annually and opens up Japan’s market for EU’s agricultural products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, as well as high tech products. For Japan, the EU is a big market for its automobiles.[4] This free trade agreement counters EU critics and Brexit proponents that the EU is unable to promote free trade.
More on the EU-Japan Economic Partnership
The agreement with Japan is expected to have similar benefits as the one with South Korea signed by the EU in 2012. Since then EU exports to South Korea have increased by 55 percent and European companies have saved $3.2 billion by eliminating customs duties. Those who worried about imports of Korean cars to Europe saw EU car exports to South Korea increasing by 206 percent, while imports from Korea increasing by 53 percent.[5]
July 12 – Global Issues: ENVIRONMENT
A 2,200-square mile iceberg that weighs one trillion tons breaks away from Antarctica and drifts into the seas. The iceberg was part of the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula, and by breaking away it reduced its area by more than 12 percent, completely changing the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula. Its size is the largest ever recorded and comparable to the size of the U.S. state of Delaware. Researchers from the MIDAS Project have been monitoring the rift in the ice shelf for many years and say that this is a natural event, not linked to human-induced climate change. They also say that the ice shelf could either gradually regrow, or may suffer further calving events.[6]
Project Midas: an Antarctic research project
Maps of Antarctica, the Larsen C Ice Shelf and the breakaway iceberg
July 13 – South Asia: INDIA
India’s National Green Tribunal (NGT), the highest authority in environmental protection, issues several ordinances in an effort to clean up the Ganges River. The new regulations ban dumping of waste or human remains in waters of the Ganges, nor within 550 yards from its shore. They also ban construction within 100 yards from the shore of the river. The NGT also directs the state of Uttar Pradesh to move its tanneries, the leather-making industries, to other locations and set up anti-pollution devices. Anyone violating these provisions can be fined up to $770. To oversee the implementation of these ordinances, the NGT formed a supervisory committee.[7]
The Ganges River provides livelihood for more than 500 million people who live along its banks. But it is the world’s most polluted river, with millions of gallons of raw sewage, domestic waste, riverside cremation, or dead bodies simply set afloat and industrial contaminants dumped in it every day.[8]
More on the importance of the Ganges River, its pollution, and challenges to restore it
July 13 – East Asia: CHINA
China’s most prominent political dissident and the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo dies from liver cancer. Liu was a university professor and a pro-democracy activist repeatedly jailed since 1989’s pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests. Before he died, he served an 11-year sentence for his part drafting the Charter 08 manifesto, which called for political reforms, multi-party democracy and respect for human rights in China. He was charged with an attempt to overthrow the state. The Chinese authorities refused his request to travel abroad for treatment.
More on Liu Xiaobo:
Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner
In his own words
The love that survived a Chinese labour camp
July 14 – Latin America: COLOMBIA
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that area of land being used to cultivate coca leaf in Colombia has increased by 52 percent in one year to overall 146,000 hectares in 2016, and the production of cocaine by 34 percent to overall 866 metric tons in 2016.[9] However, the seizure of cocaine has also increased to 378 tons in 2016. One reason contributing to this expansion in coca growing is the decision by Colombia’s government to stop the eradication of coca crops by spraying them with herbicides due to health concerns.[10] Another reason is the peace agreement with the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which controlled much of the drug-producing areas. The deal lays grounds for the eradication of coca crops by giving farmers incentives to grow substitute crops. Some farmers, however, have taken advantage of the delays in shaping the crop substitution policy and started growing coca counting on receiving subsidies later to eradicate the crops.[11]
July 17 – Europe / Former Soviet Republics: UKRAINE
Separatists in eastern Ukraine declare the creation of new ‘state’ called Malorossiya (Little Russia), the name used by Russians tsars to describe the areas covering most of today’s Ukraine. With Russian support, the rebels broke away from Ukraine in 2014. Despite multiple attempts to implement the ceasefire agreement, fighting has continued and the peace process has stalled.
Why Ukraine matters to the U.S. and Russia? Video (2:05) from CNN
July 20 – South Asia: INDIA
Members of India’s parliament elect former governor of Bihar, Ram Nath Kovind of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as the country’s next president. India’s position of the president is largely ceremonial, but it is prestigious with such powers as calling elections, breaking ties in Parliament and issuing death-row pardons.[12] Also, Kovind’s electoral success will help Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political agenda as both are from the same party. What is rare about this election is that Ram Nath Kovind comes from the lowest caste in Hinduism’s hierarchy, the Dalits, one of the most deprived and discriminated social groups in India formerly known as untouchables. This might help secure the Dalit vote in future elections for the BJP.
What is India’s caste system?
July 24 – Europe: POLAND
Polish President Andrzej Duda vetoes two out of three controversial judicial reforms after days of massive street protests across the entire country. Earlier in the week, Poland’s parliament, with the majority of legislators from the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS), passed judicial reforms that would end judicial independence. The rejected laws by President Duda, who is also former member of the PiS party, would require all Supreme Court judges to step down and would empower the justice minister (who in Poland also acts as attorney general) to pick their replacements. They would also give politicians control over the National Judiciary Council, which nominates Supreme Court judges. However, Duda approves a third law, which gives the justice minister power to appoint and dismiss judges in lower courts. The European Union accuses the PiS government of moving towards an authoritarian regime.
According to Freedom House[13], Poland’s aggregate score in freedom ratings dropped from 93/100 in 2016 to 89/100 in 2017due to a decline in civil liberties under the rule of the PiS government.[14] In freedom of press, Poland’s status declined from free to partly free due to government intolerance of independent or critical reporting and excessive political interference in public media.[15]
July 27 – North America /Europe / Former Soviet Republics:
UNITED STATES / RUSSIA
Despite objections from the Trump Administration, both houses of U.S. Congress overwhelmingly approve new sanctions on Russia in response to Russia’s alleged meddling in the U.S. 2016 elections. It also strengthens the previous sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea by turning them into a law, which means they cannot be eased or reversed without congressional approval. New measures target key Russian officials and industries. They also put restrictions on companies doing business with the Russian oil industry. President Donald Trump reluctantly signs the bill. (July 28): Russia retaliates to US new sanctions by cutting U.S. diplomatic staff and seizing some properties used by US diplomats.
July 28 – Latin America: BRAZIL
Brazil begins to deploy 10,000 soldiers to the state of Rio de Janeiro to help police fight surging crime. Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, signed an executive order allowing the troops to stay in Rio until the end of the year.[16] Police are lacking resources and equipment, and dozens of police officers have been killed in Rio this year alone. Rio de Janeiro’s Public Security Institute (ISP) raises the alarm that crime in Brazil, but especially in the state of Rio de Janeiro has been on the rise. Its data shows that February 2017 was one of the most violent months in the state’s history. In relation to February 2016, violent death rates increased by 28.1 percent (616 victims) and vehicle thefts by 40.3 percent (4,287 stolen vehicles). At the same time, the number of homicides resulting from police action in Rio has also increased by 71 percent in February 2017 compared to February of last year, with a total of 84 recorded deaths.[17] Amnesty International expresses its concerns about growing police homicide rates and other human rights violations in Brazil.[18] ISP also points out that while thefts and violent deaths increased the number of arrests and the number of guns apprehended by police decreased by 25 percent.[19]
More interactive statistics about homicide rates around the world from the Agarapé Institute.
July 30 – Latin America: VENEZUELA
Venezuelans vote in a controversial election for 545 members for a constituent assembly. The election was organized by President Nicolas Maduro to rewrite the existing constitution drafted and passed in 1999 when President Hugo Chavez was in office. The opposition denounced the election as Maduro’s attempt to grab more power and prolong his presidential term and boycotted it. It also organized its own unofficial referendum two weeks earlier and claims that more than seven million people rejected the idea of the constituent assembly. The opposition leaders reject the official numbers of 41 percent of voter turnout (more than 8 million voters) and accuse the government of inflating the number of voters, fraud, and voter intimidation. The election did not have independent observers. Since the opposition coalition boycotted the vote and did not field any candidates, the assembly will be staffed with Maduro’s supporters, including his wife and close allies. The day of the election is marred by widespread violent protests in which several people are killed. The opposition calls for more protests.[20]