| | | | | | | Hello. The US presidential primaries are not exactly brimming with suspense. But today, in the Midwestern state of Michigan, President Joe Biden’s biggest challenger will be an “uncommited” protest vote. Brandon Drenon has been speaking with the Arab Americans campaigning to “abandon” Mr Biden over his Israel-Gaza policy. We’re also reporting on the Dutch criminal underworld, Nigeria’s economy, and panda diplomacy. |
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| | | | Get up to speed | | • | A lawyer for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison this month, has been arrested in Moscow, according to Russian media sources. | | • | French President Emmanuel Macron has said "nothing should be excluded" in the war in Ukraine, including deploying Western ground troops to the country. However several Nato countries, including the US and the UK, have ruled this out. | | • | German fugitive Daniela Klette, who was allegedly part of the far-left armed group Red Army Faction, has been arrested in Berlin after more than 30 years in hiding. Here’s more on the the police operation. |
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| | AT THE SCENE | Michigan, US | | The Arab Americans saying no to Biden | | | | Khalid Turaani is encouraging people in Michigan to not vote for Joe Biden. Credit: BBC | | Michigan, which is holding its primary elections on Tuesday, is expected to be a battleground state in the upcoming US presidential race. It’s also the state with the largest Arab-American population in the country. Many in the community are looking to sanction President Joe Biden’s policy on the Israel-Gaza conflict, by voting “uncommited” on the Democratic ballot. | | | In the final hours on the eve of Tuesday's primary election, Khalid Turaani stood outside the Islamic Center of Detroit and distributed pamphlets encouraging people to vote "uncommitted" on their ballot papers. "We're doing all that we can to ensure that Biden is a one-term president," Mr Turaani, the co-organiser behind Abandon Biden, told the BBC. "In November, we will remember. When you stand against the will of the people, you're going to lose."
Lexis Zeidan, a co-organiser for Listen to Michigan, said they're hoping to get at least 10,000 people to vote uncommitted. "We want to wake up the next day on Wednesday, and we want to be able to claim Michigan as a pro-Palestinian state," she said. "And we want to inspire communities across the nation to know that, at the end of the day, America is beholden to its people." |
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| Questions Answered | | Why Nigeria’s economy is in such a mess | | | | Trade unions say government policies have worsened the economic crisis. Credit: BBC |
| | Nigeria is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, forcing families across the country to ration their food. Trade unions held protests on Tuesday, calling on the government to do more against the ballooning cost of living. | | | | How bad is the economy? | | Overall, annual inflation, is now close to 30% and 35% for food alone. Widely shared social media videos indicate how some are reducing portion sizes. One clip shows a woman cutting a fish into nine pieces rather than the average four to five. She is heard saying her goal is to ensure her family can at least eat some fish twice a week. | | What is causing the crisis? | | Inflation has soared in many countries, but President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to remodel the economy have also added to the burden. On the day he was sworn in nine months ago, the new president announced that a long-standing fuel subsidy would be ending. Mr Tinubu also ended the policy of pegging the price of the currency, the naira, to the US dollar. Since then, its value has plunged by more than two-thirds. That means the price of all imported products go up. | | When will things get better? | | The president is unlikely to reverse his decisions on the fuel subsidy and the naira, which he argues will pay off in the long run. But the government ordered the national grain reserve to distribute 42,000 tonnes of grains, including maize and millet - although labour unions have often said this aid doesn’t reach poor families. | | | | | | |
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| | The big picture | | The trial exposing the Dutch brutal underworld | | | | Armed police guarded the "Bunker" high-security courthouse in Amsterdam. Credit: EPA |
| | After three years, the biggest criminal trial in Dutch history has seen three members of a drug cartel jailed for life for their involvement in a series of gangland killings. The “mega-trial” has helped the Dutch public reckon with its underworld, in which ringleader Ridouan Taghi and his gang seemed to operate with impunity. Anna Holligan reports from The Hague. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | A panda for your thoughts | | Sending pandas as diplomatic gifts is a practice dating back to the Tang Dynasty. | | |
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| | And finally... under water | | A team of scientists in Germany set out to investigate mysterious noises coming from the fish tanks in their lab. They found out that the tiny, transparent Danionella cerebrum can make a sound as loud as a jackhammer. Here’s video evidence. |
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| | | | | | | | US Election Unspun newsletter | | Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday to your inbox. | | |
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