LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Heavy Rains Extinguish Fires in Bolivia
Local authorities in Bolivia announced on October 7 that heavy rains helped put out two-month long forest fires in the Bolivian Amazon. The fires burned more than four million hectares of land. The rainstorms helped the Bolivian military contain the fires in the Chiquitania region, home to both dry forests and Indigenous communities. Authorities also warned, however, that strong sunshine and high temperatures were expected to return to the region in the coming days, raising the risk of more fires ahead. The national government claims it spent more than $20 million to address the forest fires, but complaints over the government’s handling of the crisis remain, denting the popularity of the country’s president Evo Morales. Morales faces a challenge to his presidency in the Bolivian general election on October 20.

INDO-ASIA-PACIFIC

Duterte Spokesman Criticized for Comments on Commuting
A spokesman for Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte was widely criticized due to dismissive comments he made about Manila’s public transit. Manila, the country’s capital city, is one of the most densely populated in the world, with over 12 million people in the wider metropolitan area. According to a survey conducted in 2015 by the GPS navigation software application Waze, Manila was listed as the worst city to drive in worldwide due to an increasing number of traffic jams and regular breakdowns of the train system. One resident of Manila told the BBC that it takes some students three hours to get to class in the mornings. The spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said in response to mounting complaints about transit issues that "There is a solution here, if you want to arrive early (at) your destination, then you go there earlier." Critics noted that Duterte’s government recently purchased a private jet for $40 million from the U.S. government, deepening frustration among residents with the lack of funding for public transportation.

MIDDLE EAST & CENTRAL ASIA

Houthi Rebels Offer Government Prisoner Swap Deal
Yemen’s Houthi rebels offered Yemen’s internationally backed government a prisoner swap deal involving 2,000 detainees after the rebels unilaterally released hundreds of prisoners last month. The Houthis are seeking to ease tensions, and a Houthi spokesperson described the swap as being in its “first phase.” The Houthis offered to stop launching drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia if the coalition ceased bombing Yemen. A prisoner swap between the Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government is an important step towards reducing tension and allowing UN efforts for peace talks to continue.

EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA

Dăncilă's Government Out After a Vote
Romanian prime minister Viorica Dancila is no longer the Prime Minister after she lost a no-confidence vote in the house. Her party, the Social Democrats, has faced several obstacles recently that have weakened their power, including losses in this year’s May elections as well as the president of their party, Liviu Dragnea, being imprisoned on corruption charges. The corruption charges have plagued the Romanian government for several years. At the time of Dancila’s appointment of prime minister, she was the third person to take up the role in seven months. Although she lasted longer than her predecessors, it has nevertheless been a tumultuous last couple of years for both her and the Romanian government, which is having its presidential election on November 10.

AFRICA

Rwanda Launches “first made-in Africa” Smartphones
On October 8, Rwanda opened the continent’s first smartphone manufacturing plant at an event attended by the country’s President, Paul Kagame. The smartphone, manufactured by Mara Group, will employ Google’s Android operating system and will cost under $200. While companies assemble smartphones in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Algeria, this is the first plant that will be manufacturing all of the components to the smartphone. Mara Group’s CEO has stated that the plant is expected to produce up to 1,200 phones per day. This launch is the latest innovation in Rwanda, which has displayed exceptional economic growth and political stability in the past decade.

WESTERN EUROPE & CANADA

Terrorist Attack on Synagogue in Germany
An anti-Semetic terrorist attacked a synagogue in the German city of Halle on October 9, killing two people and injuring two others. The attack occurred the day of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. The head of the Central Council of Jews, Germany’s most prominent Jewish community group, called out police authorities for “negligence” in not providing adequate protections on Yom Kippur at all synagogues. "If police had been stationed outside the synagogue, then this man could have been disarmed before he could attack the others," said the council's president, Josef Schuster, on Deutschlandfunk public radio. Authorities responded saying they were already stretched thin across the country.