Getting Its House in Order: Jamaica Rewards Leader With Rare Third Term
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Getting Its House in Order: Jamaica Rewards Leader With Rare Third Term
JAMAICA
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently proposed an extraordinary measure for his fellow lawmakers: job descriptions.
“If this House is to be part of the engine of growth, then its members must operate with the highest standards of efficiency and productivity and integrity and accountability,” he said, according to Caribbean National Weekly.
The move illustrated his campaign pledge to address corruption, crime, and economic inequity, which helped him and his Jamaica Labour Party win a rare third term in office earlier this month. It’s been one of many popular moves that he has made.
Holness has already reduced killings on the island by 43 percent so far this year through firearm seizures and police crackdowns, reported the Associated Press. Homicides are now at their lowest in 25 years. American Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently praised him for working with the US on fighting transnational crime. Still, human rights activists have raised questions about these efforts, noted the Christian Science Monitor.
Much of the crime in Jamaica had been caused by so-called “posses,” or gangs, with links to political parties, including the Labour Party and the opposition People’s National Party, explained Lancaster University international politics professor Amalendu Misra in the Conversation. Holness appears to have ended that practice. Instead, he’s invested in anti-gang programs and tackling urban poverty.
Unemployment on the island stands at a low rate of 3.3 percent. Even so, many Jamaicans still feel as if they aren’t enjoying the fruits of their tourist-dependent economy. The prime minister has also pledged to double the minimum wage to $200 per 40-hour workweek, added the BBC. He aims to reduce the country’s income tax from 25 percent to 15 percent in a bid to boost consumption, too.
Those policies are possible in part due to his fiscal discipline. Since assuming office in 2016, the prime minister has shrunk public debt to less than 74 percent of gross domestic product last year from 140 percent in 2013.
Skeptics question whether Holness is as true and pure as his record might suggest, however. Many Jamaicans wonder whether the prime minister has accumulated ill-gotten assets, even as he has portrayed himself as a good-government reformer, despite the absence of evidence for these suspicions, wrote the Jamaica Observer.
Critics also say his proposal to end Jamaica’s reliance on the Privy Council – a relic of the British empire – as a final court of appeal in favor of a regional Caribbean Court of Justice struck the Jamaican Gleaner as a potential move to undercut justice rather than enforce it, for example.
But his supporters don’t care.
What they are seeing, analysts say, is a decline in crime, a country getting its house in order fiscally, and a push to help them with bread-and-butter issues such as jobs, wages, and taxes.
It’s no small thing that the country has accomplished, said Kevin O’Brien Chang, a Jamaican columnist and political commentator. He told Bloomberg that crippling debt, high unemployment, and high crime seemed like immutable parts of the national experience – until now: “If you had told me 10 years ago” that Jamaica could resolve some of those problems, “I would have said it was pure fantasy.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Denmark Bans Civilian Drones As Security Concerns Rise Ahead of EU Summits
EUROPEAN UNION
Denmark is banning all civilian drone flights during the week, the government announced this week, following a series of unauthorized sightings above military sites and airports that authorities have described as “hybrid attacks,” Euronews reported.
The Danish Transport Ministry said this week that the blanket ban is intended to “remove the risk that enemy drones can be confused with legal drones and vice versa.” Those violating the measure could face a fine or imprisonment of up to two years.
The ban will not apply to military flights, state-run aviation, police and emergency drones, or municipal and health-related services.
Last week, drone sightings forced a number of airports to temporarily close down, disrupting air traffic and stranding thousands of passengers. Although no one has claimed responsibility, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and other officials said the breaches amounted to “hybrid war” and hinted at Russian involvement.
Over the weekend, Danish authorities spotted drones flying over military sites and airports, prompting the deployment of extra surveillance assets.
The new restrictions come as Denmark prepares to host the European Council and the European Political Community summits this week, with Sweden and France saying they will help shore up the country’s defenses and anti-drone capabilities, Politico added.
The worry over drones in Denmark follows escalating concern by other European Union countries over a series of airspace violations by Russian drones and aircraft this month: In early September, Poland downed 19 Russian drones that entered its airspace while the drones were attacking targets in Ukraine.
A week later, NATO scrambled jets to intercept a Russian military aircraft that crossed into Estonian airspace.
Security analysts and officials suggested that the incursions are part of Moscow’s strategy to test Europe’s defenses and will to engage, prompting European Union leaders to call this month for the creation of a “drone wall” aimed at shielding the bloc’s skies from hostile drones, according to Defense News.
The system would integrate detection, tracking, and interception technologies, alongside land barriers, maritime defenses in the Black and Baltic Seas, and space-based surveillance.
Gen Z Protests Against Corruption Erupt in Paraguay
PARAGUAY
Protesters gathered on Monday in front of police and court buildings in the Paraguayan capital of Asunción to demand the release of young people arrested the day before in the Generación Z Paraguay march against corruption, Paraguayan newspaper El Nacional reported.
Holding signs reading “Freedom for those imprisoned for fighting,” they demanded the immediate release of those arrested, most of whom had no criminal record, saying the crackdown on the protest by police was a violation of their assembly rights.
On Sunday, authorities arrested more than 30 people in Asunción after anti-corruption demonstrations turned violent, MercoPress reported. The march was organized by the youth group Generación Z Paraguay to protest government corruption and demand greater transparency, as well as more funding for education and healthcare.
The protests began peacefully, but quickly escalated after a violent police crackdown that continued into the night, according to local media. Dozens of protesters were wounded during the clashes, while eight police officers were injured as protesters smashed store windows and threw objects at law enforcement.
Video footage posted on social media showed police, including cavalry and specialized units like the Grupo Lince motorcycle unit, aggressively chasing and detaining civilians, even those walking on sidewalks.
The protest is part of a broader wave of public discontent and protests in the country of Paraguay over the past year, with demonstrators demanding transparency, justice, and institutional accountability.
Analysts say that Paraguay is now dealing with its most severe institutional crisis since the democratic transition of 1989, following revelations of deep-rooted corruption and collusion between public officials and organized crime networks, implicating top officials, including President Horacio Cartes.
Canada Postal Carriers Strike After Government Says It Will End Home Deliveries
CANADA
Canada’s national postal service, struggling with losses of billions of dollars, said it will end door-to-door delivery and cut other services, leading to a strike that has entered its fifth day and disrupted the economy, CBC reported
On Thursday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) called a nationwide strike after the federal government instructed Canada Post to end home delivery and close some rural mail outlets, part of government-pushed reforms aimed at saving costs.
The CUPW described the proposals as an “attack on our postal service and workers,” the BBC said. The union’s 55,000 members called the strike amid an ongoing dispute over pay and benefits that led to a weeks-long walkout late last year, while the issues remain unresolved.
According to the proposals, several post offices in areas that were once rural would be closed, and the corporation would have more flexibility to raise prices. To save costs, it could also cut back on air deliveries and more heavily rely on ground transportation of parcels.
Another significant goal of the proposal is to end home deliveries, sending parcels to community mailboxes instead. About four million addresses in Canada still get home mail delivery.
The government argues these measures are part of a modernization plan to stabilize Canada Post’s finances and ensure its survival after years of financial losses, as the postal service deals with reduced demand and strong competition from private parcel delivery services.
Canada Post said it was “disappointed” that the union opted to escalate its strike activity, arguing that with this new strike, operations have shut down, leaving mail and parcels undelivered for millions and further straining the corporation’s already dire finances.
The Crown corporation is on track to lose over $1 billion in 2025 following a $700 million loss last year.
The Canadian Association of Independent Business also warned that the strike would have a “massive” impact on the country’s small businesses, especially considering it is taking place ahead of the “critical” holiday shipping season.
DISCOVERIES
Mixed-up Birds
Sex determination in birds might not be as straightforward as scientists thought.
A new study of nearly 500 birds from five Australian species found that up to 6 percent had the physical characteristics of one sex but the genetic makeup of the other.
The species in analysis were Australian magpies, laughing kookaburras, crested pigeons, rainbow lorikeets, and scaly-breasted lorikeets, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The birds were analyzed after they all died at wildlife hospitals.
Researchers tested their DNA and cross-checked it with their reproductive organs to determine the genetic sex of each bird. In the study, sex-reversed birds were categorized as genetic males but with female physical features, genetic females with male physical features, or birds showing a mix of both.
The findings reported that 24 of the birds were sex-reversed, with the kookaburras showing the highest rate of sex reversal at 6.9 percent and the magpies the lowest at 4 percent. About 92 percent of the sex-reversed birds were genetically female with male reproductive organs.
“I was thinking, is this right?” study author Dominique Potvin told the Guardian. “So we rechecked, and rechecked, and rechecked. And then we were thinking, ‘Oh my God.’”
The team also found a genetically male kookaburra with female genitalia that indicated recent egg production, Potvin explained in a statement.
Sex reversal is known in fish, amphibians, and reptiles but is rarely documented in wild birds and mammals. The reasons for the phenomenon in birds remain unclear.
“Understanding how and why sex reversal occurs is vital for conservation and for improving the accuracy of bird research,” Potvin said in the statement.
Sex-reversed individuals could influence reproductive success in wild populations, prompting concerns about potential effects on threatened species. “This can lead to skewed sex ratios, reduced population sizes, altered mate preferences, and even population decline,” study author Clancy Hall said in the statement.
Researchers hypothesized that the reversal could be influenced by environmental factors, like endocrine-disrupting chemicals and high levels of stress hormones. For example, the genetically male kookaburra, which was also reproductively active, was found in an agricultural zone near an urban area, where those chemicals are often found.
The presence of sexually ambiguous birds also complicates how researchers determine the sex of birds.
“Bird researchers often take small DNA samples from blood or feathers and make decisions based on the results showing male or female, but this actually could be wrong up to 6 percent of the time,” said Hall.