🗺️ Picks of the Week — October 30
Glenn Greenwald Resigns, Jeremy Corbyn Suspended, New Zealand Housing Crisis, Poland Changes Abortion Stance, Vietnam Landslides
Happy Friday folks and welcome to Picks of the Week, where we dissect the most important news from around the world over the past seven days!
Today we’ll visit New Zealand where a housing crisis is brewing despite a deep Covid recession; to Poland whose president has changed his stance on abortion; to the UK where the Labour Party has suspended its former leader over anti-semitism; to Vietnam where landslides caused by Typhoon Molave have killed dozens; and we look at the why Glenn Greenwald resigned from The Intercept.
Check out this week’s podcast with Binyamin Appelbaum, who last year joined the New York Times editorial board and is one of the world’s most distinguished economic journalists. Binya took us inside what it was like to interview the Democratic presidential candidates last year, his views on news reporting vs opinion journalism, and what policies are needed to solve the harshest income inequalities highlighted by Covid-19…👇
Next week we’ll talk to the amazing Dalal Mawad, senior producer and correspondent for the Associated Press, who’s based in Beirut and experienced August’s explosion first hand. You won’t want to miss our conversation as she took us inside what it was like in the immediate aftermath of the blast, and how she composed herself to capture the damage done to her city. Okay, over to you Amy… 🤓
Job Corner
Another 191 postings added to the job board taking our total up to 866! New jobs include at New York Magazine, the Financial Times, The Information and the Press Association. Help out and spread the word! 👇
Data Corner
Abortions — Global abortion policies database, from the World Health Organization
Housing Prices — Global Housing Watch data, from the International Monetary Fund
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New Zealand’s Housing Crisis
We start this week in New Zealand where fresh from her landslide reelection, Jacinda Ardern has another brewing storm on her hands. Amid the country’s pandemic-induced recession, property prices have skyrocketed making what is already one of the world’s most expensive countries even harder to live in. An 11 percent spike in housing prices through September so far this year, including a 40 percent rise in some smaller towns, has concerned experts that a housing crisis could be afoot.
Ardern attempted to fix the issue with her KiwiBuild project, which aimed to build 100,000 affordable homes in a decade. But of the 1,000 homes Ardern’s administration promised to have finished by July 2019, only around 300 were finished, and the flagship project has since been scrapped. Median house prices in the country’s largest city of Auckland could hit $1 million/£770,000 by the end of the year.
Typhoon Kills Dozens in Vietnam Landslide
We move to Vietnam next where landslides have killed at least 25 people, while dozens more are missing. Typhoon Molave, the fourth major storm to hit Vietnam in a month, reached peak wind speeds of 125 mph, the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane. It’s one of the strongest typhoons to hit the region in decades and has taken the death toll to at least 130 since early October. Overall, the number of typhoons and hurricanes are increasing in frequency and power, with climate change being the number one cause.
‘Catastrophic floods’: 105 killed, 5 million affected in Vietnam
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Polish President Changes Abortion Stance
Moving to Poland next where President Andrzej Duda said he will relax the country’s abortion laws following a week of unrest. The protests, led by women’s rights activists and the country’s youth, broke out after a constitutional court ruled that abortions in the case of fetal congenital defects were unconstitutional. But members of the far-right group All Polish Youth attacked the protesters in multiple cities, forcing a move from Duda to ease the tension.
The reversal from Duda is surprising considering democracy has generally decreased under his rule. Poland is one of only six European countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, along with Monaco, Lichtenstein, Andorra, Malta and San Marino. Duda told a Polish radio station “it cannot be that the law requires this kind of heroism from a woman”.
Labour Suspends Jeremy Corbyn
The Equality and Human Rights Commission finally concluded its investigation into anti-semitism within the UK Labour Party, finding “serious failings” under former leader Jeremy Corbyn. Following the report’s release, Labour quickly suspended Corbyn, stating “In light of (Corbyn's) comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labour Party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation. He has also had the whip removed from the Parliamentary Labour Party”.
The EHRC said Labour was responsible for three breaches of the UK’s 2010 Equality Act: Political interference in antisemitism complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints, and harassment. It also concluded that at best the party did little to prevent antisemitism, and at worst, accepted it. Corbyn immediately took to Twitter to deny the accusations…
Previous Picks of the Week
🔎 Picks of the Week — October 23
🔎 Picks of the Week — October 16
🔎 Picks of the Week — October 9
🔎 Picks of the Week — October 2
Glenn Greenwald Resigns From The Intercept
We end this week on the news that Glenn Greenwald, one of three co-founders of The Intercept, has resigned due to editorial censorship. According to Greenwald, after he drafted a story critical of Joe and Hunter Biden, The Intercept’s editors refused to publish it, stating that any Biden wrongdoing pales in comparison to Trump. There’s a ton of developing information, so I’ll leave ya’ll with the below two tweets that’ll take you to Greenwald’s resignation article and the draft to said critical Biden story.
That’s all for today, see you next week 👋