Blowing Up
NEED TO KNOW
Blowing Up
ICELAND
A volcano was predicted to erupt just as Icelanders head to the polls to elect a new parliament.
The head of “deformation measurements” at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, Benedikt Gunnar Ófeigsson, told Iceland Monitor in an interview that “magma accumulation” under the volcano system of Svartsengi on the island’s southwest Reykjanes Peninsula was growing and likely to blow at the end of the month.
He was right.
The latest of seven eruptions this year, on Nov. 24 magma sped out about 20 miles from the capital of Reykjavik. But it isn’t likely to disrupt voting when polls open on Nov. 30. Still, the eruptions have been causing headaches for the government, especially political.
After only six months in office, Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson called the elections in mid-October when the government’s coalition of Benediktsson’s center-right Independence Party and the moderate Progressive Party and Left Green Movement collapsed. The three parties failed to agree on immigration, energy, and economic policies, the Associated Press reported.
Among the policies was the government’s reaction to eruptions in the southwest that have displaced thousands and strained the economy, which was already suffering from high inflation and interest rates, Reuters added. Iceland is still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis when its banks collapsed. Ironically, volcanoes, the Northern Lights, and other magnificent sites have created a boom in the tourist industry on the island.
Still, voters appear to want change.
The new, pro-change, pro-European Union Liberal Reform Party is set to win around 20 percent of the vote, or around the same as the opposition Social Democratic Alliance political party, according to the Iceland Review. The Independence Party was expected to garner a record-low number of votes while the Left-Green Movement might lose all its seats.
Voters aren’t flocking to the Centre Party either. Former prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who formerly ran the Progressive Party, founded the Centre Party in 2017 after the Panama Papers exposed his unreported offshore accounts, triggering quite a scandal. Since then, he has used his position to espouse xenophobic views about migrants and immigrants who some say have provided a vital pool of labor for the country of fewer than 400,000 people. Many of these migrants, the majority of which come from Eastern Europe, work in tourism.
“This influx has been vital for sustaining Iceland’s labor force, contributing significantly to wealth creation,” wrote Elías Þórsson in the Reykjavík Grapevine.
Until recently, Iceland had seen very little migration or population growth in prior decades. Now, however, some complain the migrants, now almost a quarter of the population, are causing a spike in crime and that the country needs tighter borders.
Even so, the big question now is Iceland’s future with the EU. The country began its application to join the bloc in 2008 under the Social Democrats, explained the New Federalist. But their successors – including multiple governments that included Benediktsson’s Independence Party – hit pause on the process in 2013. The frontrunners appear ready to restart it.
According to the magazine, on the question of joining the EU, the “yes” vote would likely win.
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Kill Switch
PHILIPPINES
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte over the weekend threatened to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assassinated if she herself is killed, in a bold public threat that has escalated the ongoing feud between the former allies, the Associated Press reported.
On Saturday, Duterte accused Marcos of incompetence and of being a liar, while insulting his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, and the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Martin Romualdez.
When asked if she had concerns about her security, she claimed she had spoken with an assassin and instructed them to kill the president, the First Lady, and the speaker, in the event of her own killing.
“I said, ‘If I’m killed, you’ll kill BBM, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke,’” Duterte said without elaborating, using the initials by which many refer to the president.
The threats quickly raised alarms in the country and the government, with officials referring to Duterte’s statements as an “active threat” against the president. Presidential security forces said they are cooperating with law enforcement agencies “to detect, deter, and defend against any and all threats to the president and the first family.”
Meanwhile, Marcos’ office, citing the justice ministry, said the threats are being investigated and may lead to charges, Reuters added.
Under the country’s law, such public remarks can be considered a felony, punishable by jail and a fine.
After the remarks went viral, Duterte walked back her comments, countering that they were not a threat but she was only expressing concern over an unspecified threat to her own life.
Marcos and Duterte won landslide victories in the May 2022 elections under a national unity campaign. However, they soon clashed over key issues, including China’s actions in the South China Sea, leading to Duterte’s June resignation as education secretary and anti-insurgency chief.
Saturday’s comments came after lawmakers aligned with Romualdez and Marcos ordered the detention of Duterte’s chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, for allegedly obstructing a congressional probe into the potential misuse of her budget when vice president and education secretary.
The vice president is the daughter of Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who is also known for his brash comments.
The former president’s term was marked by a bloody anti-drug crackdown that left thousands dead.
The International Criminal Court has been investigating the former leader’s crackdown as a possible crime against humanity.
Going into Third Gear
IRAN
Iran will activate a “noticeable number” of advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium to accelerate the country’s nuclear program, officials announced over the weekend, a move that comes in response to criticism by a United Nations’ nuclear watchdog over Tehran’s lack of cooperation with its probes, CNN reported.
On Thursday, the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution that highlighted Iran’s failure to provide credible explanations for uranium particles found at undeclared sites, and called for a comprehensive report on its nuclear activities by spring 2025.
The IAEA urged Tehran to fully cooperate, citing growing concerns over the potential diversion of nuclear materials.
Western nations have warned that Iran now possesses enough uranium enriched to 60 percent purity – a level close to weapons-grade – to create four nuclear weapons.
Iran dismissed the resolution as “politically motivated,” attributing it to pressure from Western nations, France 24 wrote. Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Mohsen Naziri Asl, criticized the resolution’s “low support” compared with previous censures.
In a joint statement, Iran’s foreign ministry and Atomic Energy Organization said the new centrifuges align with the country’s “peaceful nuclear energy” goals and are within its legal rights.
IAEA director general Rafael Grossi previously lauded Iran’s recent agreement to cap its stockpile of 60 percent-enriched uranium, calling it a “step in the right direction.” However, he warned that further escalation could undermine progress.
The announcement comes amid continuing tensions following the collapse of a 2015 nuclear deal after the United States withdrew in 2018.
Tehran subsequently ramped up enrichment activities and curtailed IAEA monitoring.
Analysts warned Iran’s move to activate advanced centrifuges could further heighten tensions with the West and Israel, whose Defense Minister Gideon Sa’ar praised the IAEA resolution.
Deepening the Grip
NICARAGUA
Nicaraguan lawmakers over the weekend approved a constitutional amendment weekend that would enhance the power of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, a move that critics and human rights groups describe as “dangerously resembling the North Korean model,” Al Jazeera reported.
On Friday, the country’s national assembly – dominated by Ortega’s ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) – approved the measures “unanimously.”
The amendments would elevate Ortega and his wife to the post of “co-president,” and give them authority over all “legislative, judicial, electoral, control and supervisory bodies, regional and municipal.”
Presidential terms will be increased from five to six years and the executive will have more control over the media and the church, so they are not subject to “foreign interests,” according to Agence France-Presse.
The changes also include stripping the citizenship of “traitors to the homeland,” which the Ortega administration has already done to hundreds of critics, including journalists, politicians, and activists.
The reform will be voted on again in early 2025 but is expected to pass and take effect shortly thereafter.
Human rights groups and international observers swiftly criticized Friday’s vote as a “sham,” with the regional Organization of American States calling the amendments “a definitive attack on the democratic rule of law.”
Political and legal analysts said the reform “guarantees the presidential succession” of Murillo and the couple’s son, Laureano Ortega. Others warned that it would end political pluralism and the doctrine of the separation of powers in the Central American nation.
Ortega first served as president from 1985 to 1990 and returned to power in 2007.
In 2018, he came under national and international scrutiny during mass protests that resulted in a brutal crackdown on demonstrations which left 300 people dead.
Since then, Ortega has targeted church leaders, non-governmental organizations, and journalists, whom he accuses of supporting a coup against him.
Thousands of Nicaraguans have fled into exile.
Even so, Ortega secured a fourth consecutive term as president in 2021 following an election campaign marked by a months-long crackdown on dissent and the detention of dozens of opposition figures, including presidential candidates.
DISCOVERIES
Copy and Paste
The black-footed ferret – a species once thought extinct – is making a comeback thanks to groundbreaking cloning technology.
This year, Antonia, a cloned black-footed ferret, has given birth to two healthy kits at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) in Virginia, marking the first time an endangered US species cloned from preserved genetic material has successfully reproduced.
“The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia’s kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation,” said Paul Marinari, senior curator at NZCBI, in a statement from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
Antonia was cloned from Willa, a black-footed ferret that died in 1988. Stored in San Diego Zoo’s Frozen Zoo, Willa’s genetic material contains three times the genetic diversity of the current ferret population, which has been plagued by inbreeding.
“The introduction of novel, currently unrepresented genetic material may provide a significant boost to the genetics of the current black-footed ferret population,” the FWS explained in a Q&A earlier this year.
Black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct until a small population was rediscovered in Wyoming in 1981. Conservationists began a breeding program with just 18 individuals.
Today, fewer than 350 survive in the wild, struggling against habitat loss, disease, and declining prairie dog populations – their primary food source, according to Science Alert.
But the FSW explained that cloning could restore genetic diversity and offer new hope in the species recovery.
Even so, the breakthrough is not without controversy, with some scientists noting that cloning is insufficient to save species without addressing habitat destruction.
“Only when we restore and secure adequate habitat and reduce the potential for human-wildlife conflict will these species ever be recovered in the wild,” wrote wildlife ecologist David Jachowski in a 2022 paper.
Antonia and her kits will remain in captivity for research, but conservationists hope this achievement signals a brighter future for black-footed ferrets and other endangered species battling extinction.