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GLOBAL DIARY
“The inherited disputes and unresolved issues between Montenegro and Serbia have lasted for at least 15 years. These problems cannot be solved over a two-day visit” – ZDRAVKO KRIVOKAPIĆ,
PRIME MINISTER OF MONTENEGRO
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OLAF SCHOLZ FORMALLY SWORN IN AS GERMAN CHANCELLOR
The new German parliament has elected Olaf Scholz as chancellor as Angela Merkel departs after 16 years at the helm of Europe’s largest economy. The German Bundestag elected Olaf Scholz as chancellor, as Angela Merkel bows out from the political stage. The morning vote by Germany’s lower legislative chamber — held by secret ballot and without debate — was seen as a formality. President of the Bundestag Bärbel Bas opened the voting. Members of the parliament voted by 395 of 707 votes cast for Scholz to become Germany’s new head of government.
THE GOVERNMENT OF SERBIA WITHDREW THE LAW ON EXPROPRIATION
The Government of the Republic of Serbia has decided to withdraw the Law on Expropriation from the parliamentary procedure, which was returned to the Serbian Parliament for reconsideration by the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. The government will analyse whether and to what extent amendments to the Law on Expropriation are necessary, and only if it is determined that the law needs to be changed, will do so with a broad public debate, involving the professional public, professional associations, business representatives and civil society.
Source: AFP/Getty Images
WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE TO BE EXTRADITED FROM BRITAIN TO THE UNITED STATES
Julian Assange, the 50-year-old founder of Wikileaks, is a step closer to being extradited from Britain to the United States after the U.S. government won an appeal in London’s High Court. Judge Timothy Holroyde said that the court “allows the appeal.” In the U.S., the Australian entrepreneur will face criminal charges, including breaking a spying law and conspiring to hack government computers. Holyrode said the U.S. has assured Britain that Assange’s detention will meet certain conditions. Assange, who was not permitted to attend the hearing in person, is wanted by U.S. authorities over the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011.
“I think you’ll see it (inflation) change sooner, quicker, more rapidly than people think. Every other aspect of the economy is racing ahead” – JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
NASA SPACECRAFT ‘TOUCHES’ THE SUN FOR THE FIRST TIME
Austrian conservative Karl Nehammer was sworn in on Monday as Austria’s third chancellor in two months, succeeding career diplomat Alexander Schallenberg, who took office on 11 October. Nehammer, previously interior minister, takes over as head of the government days after senior members of his conservative People’s Party (OVP) picked him to succeed Sebastian Kurz as OVP leader. Kurz announced he was leaving politics, prompting his close ally Schallenberg to say he too would quit.
A NASA spacecraft has officially ‘touched’ the sun after it plunged through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona, passing just eight million miles from the core of the star. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe battled temperatures of 2370F and radiation 500 times stronger than on Earth as it made its eighth approach to the celestial body, finally passing through its upper atmosphere. The flight occurred in April, but scientists have only just been able to confirm the probe travelled through the corona after waiting months for the data to arrive back from the spacecraft. New research gathered from the solar milestone, which cost NASA $1.5billion, has now been included in the Physical Review Letters.
RUSSIA VETOES UN RESOLUTION LINKING CLIMATE CHANGE, SECURITY
Russia vetoed a first-of-its-kind U.N. Security Council resolution casting climate change as a threat to international peace and security, a vote that sank a years-long effort to make global warming a more central consideration for the U.N.’s most powerful body. Spearheaded by Ireland and Niger, the proposal called for “incorporating information on the security implications of climate change” into the council’s strategies for managing conflicts and peacekeeping operations and political missions, at least sometimes. The measure also asked the U.N. secretary-general to make climate-related security risks “a central component” of conflict prevention efforts and to report on how to address those risks in specific hotspots.
