🌍 Picks of the Week — September 11
Remembering 9/11, Bin Ladin Loves Trump, Khashoggi Killers Sentenced, Another Beirut Fire, Mandela Lawyer Dies, Venezuelan Oil Woes, Deadly Protests in Colombia and Dengue Breakthrough
Hello! Happy Friday and welcome to another Picks of the Week where we’ll explore the most interesting and important news from around the world. We’ll remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks that took place 19 years ago, travel to Switzerland where Osama Bin Laden’s niece is apparently a huge fan of Trump, to Saudi Arabia where Jamal Khashoggi’s killers have been spared the death penalty, to Lebanon where chaos has once again broken out, to South Africa where the legendary lawyer of Nelson Mandela has passed away, to Venezuela whose oil output has tanked under President Maduro, to Colombia and its deadly protests over police brutality, and to Southeast Asia where there’s been positive progress in treating the deadly dengue disease. Before we get to it, thank you to those who have supported this newsletter with a paid membership, and also to those who have spread the word on the social. 🙏
Job Corner
Deadlines coming up for jobs and internships at Channel 4, CNN, ITV, Mother Jones, New Scientist, the New Statesman, The Guardian, The Times of London and The Washington Post… 👇
Previous Picks of the Week
🔎 Picks of the Week — September 4
🔎 Picks of the Week — August 28
🔎 Picks of the Week — August 21
🔎 Picks of the Week — August 14
Remembering 9/11
Today marks 19 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks rocked the western world, and my favorite newsroom The Atlantic has an insightful piece courtesy of Garrett M. Graff on the collective grief America suffered all those years ago. Graff also talks about why during the Covid-19 pandemic, another national emergency that’s killed more than 60 times the number of people than on 9/11, has left the nation even more splintered than it was before. The piece talks about why disaster usually brings people together, something we’ve covered in this newsletter before with Sebastian Junger.
Bin Ladin Loves Trump?
We continue in Switzerland where the niece of Osama bin Laden said in an interview with the New York Post that Donald Trump is the only president that can prevent another 9/11-style attack on the U.S. The Swiss-born Noor bin Ladin, whose side of the family spell their last name with an ‘i’, said she’s “been a supporter of President Trump since he announced he was running in the early days in 2015.” Noor’s mother, Carmen, lifted the lid on the family in 2005 with her book Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia.
Khashoggi Killers Sentenced
Staying with the Kingdom next as a Saudi Arabian court overturned the death sentences for five convicts over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In the final ruling almost two years after a 15-man Saudi group strangled Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and then cut his body up into pieces, five of the convicts received 20 years in prison while three were given seven to 10. Last year the UN said there was credible evidence linking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the hit, while the CIA concluded MBS ordered the murder. According to a report on the forthcoming book by legendary journalist Bob Woodward, Trump protected MBS over the killing.
Killing Jamal Khashoggi: How a Brutal Saudi Hit Job Unfolded
Beirut Fire, Again
As if things couldn’t get worse for the people of Lebanon, they were plunged deeper into chaos yesterday. Little more than a month after an explosion in the main port ripped through the city killing around 200 people, injuring more than 6,500 and displacing 300,000, another fire broke out in the same area. The head of Lebanon’s Red Cross said there were no reports of injuries or deaths, but the warehouse beneath the flames was home to thousands of food parcels and litres of oil. Lebanon’s economy was already in crisis, and yesterday’s events are a humiliating reminder of how dire the country’s situation is. Last week the country appointed a new prime minister, who now has an incredibly tough task leading the country out of multiple crises.
Mandela Lawyer Dies
George Bizos, the lawyer of Nelson Mandela, has died at the age of 92 of natural causes, his family said on Wednesday. Bizos arrived in South Africa from Greece as a 13-year-old war refugee whose family fled the Nazi occupation of Greece in a small rowboat that drifted in the Mediterranean Sea for days before being picked up by a British war ship. Bizos went onto become an anti-apartheid icon who defended Mandela from charges of treason in the Rivonia Trial in 1963, where many had expected the death penalty. I know I’ll be buying Bizos’ 2007 memoir to fully understand his importance to today’s world.
George Bizos, anti-apartheid icon who defended Mandela, dies aged 92
Venezuelan Oil Woes
Moving to Venezuela next whose economy has gone from bad to worse under President Nicolás Maduro, as its number one export has fallen off a cliff in recent years. Venezuela has the most oil reserves of any country in the world, and represents more than 75 percent of its total exports, but after years of corruption, mismanagement and recent U.S. sanctions, its output has fallen to a tenth of what it was two decades ago. The U.S. currently has a $15m/£12.5m reward out for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, after it accused him and other senior officials of smuggling cocaine into the States.
Deadly Protests in Colombia
Moving west now as deadly protests have erupted in Colombia’s capital over the death of a man who was held on the ground and repeatedly tasered by police in Bogotá. The chilling video of 46-year-old Javier Ordóñez begging officers to stop and telling them "I am choking" has sparked protests that have left nine dead and hundreds of other civilians and offers injured. The police arrested Ordóñez for allegedly breaking social distancing rules, and comes amid thousands of daily Covid-19 cases being reported.
Protests against police brutality leave several dead
Dengue Breakthrough
Finishing on some good news now as attempts to stem record outbreaks of the deadly mosquito-borne dengue disease have proven successful, after researchers in Singapore and Indonesia have released mosquitos into residential neighbourhoods. Wait, why the hell would they do that? Well, before the insects were discharged, they were bred in a laboratory and injected with Wolbachia, a rare bacteria that prevents female eggs from hatching. Global dengue cases increased from about 500,000 in 2000 to 4.2 million in 2019, and the World Health Organization have said that roughly half the world’s population is at risk of catching the disease.
That’s it for this week. Next week we’ll have round-ups of elections in Iran and Jamaica, as well as a look at 100 years of the NFL. See you soon!