The Three-legged Stool
NEED TO KNOW
The Three-legged Stool
VENEZUELA
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is running for reelection for a third term on July 28. His strategy includes appearing on the ballot 13 times as the endorsed candidate of different political parties. His main rival, Edmundo González Urrutia, meanwhile, appears only three times.
These maneuvers are only the tip of the iceberg regarding Maduro’s election meddling, reported the New York Times. His government has also rejected candidates, arrested opposition organizers, developed confusing ballots to stymie challengers, and barred millions of expatriate Venezuelans critical of Maduro’s regime from voting.
Venezuelan authorities, for example, recently arrested opposition leader María Corina Machado’s security chief on charges of violence against women, the Associated Press wrote. Machado said the allegations were bogus but illustrated the challenges she and her allies face. Machado won an informal primary to face Maduro in the election but officials banned her from running. Now she is campaigning for her hand-picked candidate, the former diplomat González.
Despite his advantages, polls show that Maduro is 20 points behind González, reported Reuters, mostly because the autocratic socialist president’s handling of the economy has been atrocious.
The South American country’s gross domestic product has shrunk by a third under Maduro and his predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chávez, a left-wing hero who lifted millions of Venezuelans out of poverty but set the stage for economic sclerosis and political corruption, explained the Council on Foreign Relations. Today, more than 80 percent of the country’s population lives in poverty. The health system is crumbling. The oil industry, which is vital to its prosperity, is falling apart, too.
Around 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country in search of jobs and liberty, noted the United Nations Refugee Agency. These expatriates are often among Maduro’s most outspoken critics. The Christian Science Monitor, for instance, interviewed María de los Ángeles León Núñez, who organized anti-Maduro activities ahead of the forthcoming vote for more than 100,000 of her compatriots who migrated to Mexico in recent years.
Maduro, meanwhile, shows little signs of going down nicely.
He and his ruling party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, must win the election if voters
do not want Venezuela to fall into “a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war,” he said at a campaign rally in the capital of Caracas recently, CNN reported.
Financial markets are betting that González has at least a chance to win in an upset victory, Bloomberg wrote, though nobody doubts that the challenger faces an uphill battle against formidable odds.
The pressure for change is building steadily, the newswire added, even as the world has seen this in Venezuela before.
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Let The Games Begin
FRANCE
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games began Friday in the French capital, amidst an ambitious mix of high-profile festivities, stringent security measures, significant environmental initiatives, and logistical hurdles including food shortages, and public skepticism.
The opening ceremony, which will take place along the River Seine, will feature nearly 100 boats carrying 10,500 athletes, marking the first time the ceremony is held outside a single stadium, NBC News reported.
International celebrities, such as Celine Dion, Snoop Dogg, and Salma Hayek, who carried the Olympic Torch through Paris, added to the excitement.
The Seine, a central feature of the Games over the next two weeks, was lined with bleachers and venues ready to host a variety of sports, from fencing and taekwondo to basketball and break dancing.
The picturesque river had been considered unsafe for swimming for nearly 100 years due to pollution levels. Since 2015, officials and organizers have invested around $1.5 billion to overhaul Paris’s sewage system and reduce pollution levels in the Seine.
Recent dry weather has improved conditions, but heavy rainfall could still pose a risk by increasing E. coli bacteria levels. Organizers remain vigilant, constantly monitoring pollution levels to ensure athlete safety.
In an effort to dispel fears of pollution, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo went for a swim in the river last week to showcase its cleanliness, the New York Times noted.
This year’s Olympics are aimed to be the “greenest” ones, as organizers pledged to halve the Games’ carbon footprint by using renewable energy and repurposed venues, according to the BBC. This includes innovative measures, such as planting trees and gardens in the Olympic Village, as well as using a geothermal cooling system instead of traditional air conditioning (AC).
However, the decision to exclude AC faced backlash from athletes and national committees concerned about performance, Yahoo! Sports wrote. The geothermal system was designed to keep dorms 11 degrees Fahrenheit below outdoor temperatures, but many feared it would not be sufficient. Organizers eventually agreed to provide 2,500 AC units for the Village, addressing the concerns of teams from hotter climates who insisted on optimal conditions for sleep and recovery.
Food shortages have also been reported, with athletes particularly noting a lack of eggs and grilled meats. The Olympic Village is set to serve approximately 13 million meals during the Games, featuring diverse cuisines from around the world. The food supply adheres to a strict quality charter developed over four years, emphasizing local and organic ingredients.
Security remains a top priority following past terrorist attacks and recent civil unrest in France. Extensive measures involving 10s of thousands of personnel have been put in place, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Only on Friday morning, several of France’s high-speed TGV rail lines were hit by “malicious” attacks in a feat of “coordinated sabotage” to disrupt travel before the opening ceremony, CNN reported. State rail company SNCF said the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern lines were affected by fires to several facilities and trains on some routes to Paris will be disrupted until Monday. The source of the attacks has not been identified.
The city’s efforts also included a mass purge of rodents and controversial removals of homeless and migrant populations, leading to accusations of social cleansing, according to the Independent.
Meanwhile, public sentiment towards the Games is mixed: A survey by IFOP revealed that 36 percent of French people are indifferent, 26 percent are concerned, and five percent are angry about the event, said Le Monde.
The heightened security – including QR code-demanding checkpoints across the city – has led to a 70 percent drop in trade, which has affected local businesses. Cafes that are usually bustling with tourists were unusually quiet.
Despite the high security and quiet streets, a festive atmosphere prevailed near iconic landmarks, including the Arc de Triomphe, where international visitors have gathered.
No Judgement
PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Pierluisi signed a new law this week that would ban discrimination against people with Afros, curls, braids, and other hairstyles in the racially diverse United States territory, the Associated Press reported.
The legislation is expected to provide protection in areas such as work, housing, education, and public services. It comes months after the island’s lawmakers held a public hearing where individuals shared their experiences facing discrimination based on their haircuts.
Puerto Rico’s laws and constitution already offer protections against discrimination, along with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
However, calls for explicit legal protections began after a 2016 US Court of Appeals ruled that an employer’s no-dreadlock policy in Alabama did not violate Title VII.
Civil society organizations welcomed the new law as “a victory for generations to come.”
Puerto Rico is home to a racially diverse population of 3.2 million, with more than 1.6 million identifying as being of two or more races, and nearly 230,000 identifying solely as Black.
Meanwhile, the law also acknowledged ongoing derogatory treatment, the deprivation of opportunities, and exclusion faced by Black or Afro-descendant individuals in Puerto Rico.
Promises, Promises
POLAND
Thousands of people protested across Poland this week after the country’s parliament rejected a bill that would decriminalize assisting abortion, dealing a blow to the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s electoral pledges to provide more access to the medical procedure, Agence France-Presse reported.
On Tuesday, demonstrators and women’s rights campaigners marched in a number of Polish cities, including the capital Warsaw, to express frustrations over the government’s failure to liberalize abortion laws.
Current legislation only allows the procedure in cases of rape, incest, or when it threatens the mother’s life.
Before winning the 2023 parliamentary elections, Tusk vowed to liberalize the procedure and undo the abortion restrictions implemented by the previous government of the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), according to Politico.
But earlier this month, a bill to decriminalize assisting abortions was narrowly defeated in parliament by a 218-to-215 vote.
Ahead of Tuesday’s demonstrations, Tusk expressed disappointment at the result but reiterated his commitment to decriminalizing abortion as central to his vision of a reformed Poland.
Even so, observers noted that legalizing abortion will be a challenging task for the prime minister, adding that it also exposed rifts within his governing coalition.
The conservative Polish People’s Party, a partner in Tusk’s coalition, voted against the draft law. In response, Tusk fired a deputy minister and called for sanctions against another lawmaker.
Meanwhile, three other proposed bills to ease abortion restrictions are being debated in parliamentary committees, but face resistance from conservative coalition members.
At the same time, President Andrzej Duda – an ally of PiS – has indicated he would veto any liberalizing abortion bills.
DISCOVERIES
Space Outerwear
Astronauts onboard the International Space Station sometimes have to get out of their man-made habitat to carry out scientific research or technical repairs – in what are called extra-vehicular activities (EVA).
These spacewalks can last up to eight hours, which can be problematic as far as answering the call of nature is concerned.
A team of scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College decided to turn this problem into a solution – similarly to the Fremen’s “stillsuits” in Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune,’ they developed a spacesuit that can retrieve urine and filter drinkable water out of it.
“Spacesuits as we know them are being reimagined,” the study’s lead author Sofia Etlin told CNN.
With the incoming launch of inhabited missions to the Moon, revisiting astronauts’ garments has become a priority, because of the shortcomings in the current versions.
Currently, astronauts essentially wear diapers. This has caused them discomfort and “hygiene-related medical events, including urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal distress,” the study reads. In addition, the astronauts’ drink bags are too small for long EVAs.
“You’d think in the 21st century, astronauts would not be using diapers,” said Etlin.
Etlin and her colleagues designed a model that contains a silicone cup covering the wearer’s genitals. A humidity sensor detects when the astronaut urinates and pumps it into a backpack, where the urine’s components are filtered to only have water left. That water is then pumped again into a drinking bag, with the addition of electrolytes for extra sustenance.
The model can treat 17 fluid ounces of urine in five minutes, with an 87 percent efficiency rate.
Although there is still room for improvement, the researchers now want to test their invention.
“Our system can be tested in simulated microgravity conditions, as microgravity is the primary space factor we must account for,” said senior author Christopher Mason.
Correction: In Thursday’s THE WORLD, BRIEFLY section, we said in our “‘From Darkness to Light’” item that Christopher Luton is New Zealand’s prime minister. The prime minister’s name is in fact Christopher Luxon. We apologize for the error.
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