Finland on the Way to NATO Indonesia Can’t Host World Cup

Finland crossed the final hurdle in gaining acceptance to NATO on Thursday when Turkey’s parliament ratified Finland’s application to join the Western military alliance.

All 276 lawmakers present voted in favor of Finland’s bid, days after Hungary’s parliament also endorsed Helsinki’s accession.

“This will make the whole NATO family stronger & safer,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter in welcoming Turkey’s action.

Alarmed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland and Sweden abandoned their decades-long policy of nonalignment and applied to join the alliance.

Full unanimity is required to admit new members into the 30-member alliance. Turkey and Hungary were the last two NATO members to ratify Finland’s accession.

Sweden, though, has been left hanging, as Turkey and Hungary are holding out on giving the Swiss their green light.

Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups it deems to be terrorist organizations and security threats, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt.

Hungary’s government contends that some Swedish politicians have made derisive statements about the condition of Hungary’s democracy and played an active role in ensuring that billions in European Union funds were frozen over alleged rule-of-law and democracy violations.

The accession of Finland, which has an 832-mile border with Russia, has geographic and political importance for NATO.

Indonesia was stripped of hosting rights for the Under-20 World Cup only eight weeks before the start of the tournament after crowds protested the right of Israel to participate.

FIFA said Indonesia was removed from staging the 24-team tournament scheduled to start on May 20 “due to the current circumstances” without specifying details.

A total of 24 teams are scheduled to play in the youth tournament across six Indonesian cities from May 20 to June 11. Israel has qualified for the first time. One regional Indonesian leader refused to host matches if Israel took part.

Indonesia, a Muslim majority nation of more than 270 million people, does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel and supports the cause of the Palestinians.

Anti-Israeli sentiment runs high among conservative Muslims in Indonesia, and earlier this month, protesters marched in the capital Jakarta demanding the government ban Israel from playing in the tournament.

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appealed to the public in a televised address on Monday, reiterating Indonesia’s support for the Palestinians but also stressing the country must follow FIFA regulations, according to state news agency Antara.

“Do not link sports issues with political affairs,” he reportedly said.

PSSI president Erick Thohir said he pleaded Indonesia’s case to FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Wednesday, which included showing him a letter from the Indonesian president.

“I have tried my best. We must accept FIFA’s decision to cancel the holding of the event that we are both looking forward to,” Thohir said in the statement. “Because we are members and FIFA considers that the current situation cannot be continued, we must submit.”

Argentina, which did not qualify for the tournament, is reportedly interested in hosting.

The Indonesian soccer federation could be further disciplined by FIFA. A suspension could remove Indonesia from Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The continental qualifiers start in October.

A 69-Hour Work Week?

South Korea is known for its dedicated work effort, with many workers vying to work long hours to get ahead.

Currently, the country allows a maximum of 52 hours of work a week (40 hours plus 12 hours of overtime). Earlier this month, the conservative government of President Yoon Suk Yeol proposed expanding those hours to 69 hours, or an average of slightly over 9.85 hours a day, seven days a week.

Yoon says the increased hours would give employees the option to work longer if they wish. He also wants to alleviate the employment burdens on the mom-andpop businesses that represent the bottom rung of this top-heavy economy: restaurants, educational “cram” schools, convenience stores, taxi services, and the like.

The 52-hour cap on the workweek was put into place just a few years ago by President Moon Jae-in, whose opposition Democratic Party of Korea still controls the National Assembly.

“The age of growth by squeezing the people is now over,” thundered DPK leader Lee Jae-myung, who favors a 4½-day week.

Labor unions aren’t too happy with Yoon’s proposal. After facing backlash, Yoon asked the Labor Ministry to consider the views of millennials as it weighed how to implement the change.

The plan remains on the table. Labor Ministry officials say they are tweaking the bill with the aim of presenting a final draft on April 12.

Only then will it be ready for the Assembly.

South Korea’s work ethic has made the country what it is today. The Korean War left the nation devastated, but its people worked hard to lift it out of agrarian poverty.

With government and business owners promoting a militaristic, ambitious, work-to-the-limit mindset, South Koreans forged what many consider an economic miracle, now ranked as the 13th largest economy in the world.

Today, it boasts global megabrands such as Samsung and Hyundai, sparkling high-tech infrastructure, and a globally admired popular culture.

Bolsonaro Returns to Brazil

Jair Bolsonaro, the former rightwing president of Brazil, returned home Thursday morning after a three-month self-imposed exile in the United States following his defeat last year in an election that tested the stability of one of the world’s biggest democracies.

He returns to a series of investigations and could face arrest if charged over his role in spreading baseless claims that Brazil’s election system was vulnerable to fraud — despite reviews by independent security experts showing otherwise — and that the left was bent on stealing the vote.

In January, Brazil’s Supreme Court said it would investigate Bolsonaro for inspiring the far-right mob that invaded and ransacked the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential offices on January 8, underscoring that the former president could soon face legal consequences for an extremist movement he helped build.

Not long after his arrival Thursday, in his first interview with a news outlet back in Brazil, Bolsonaro defended his supporters and echoed a new theory that has gained traction with his allies despite lacking evidence, suggesting that acts of violence during the January riots were not perpetrated by his followers.

“This movement was peaceful on their part,” he told a conservative news channel, Jovem Pan. “Our people didn’t do, in my view, anything against the law.”

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing in relation to the January riot and has defended himself in other investigations into his conduct.

The political climate in Brazil has been tense since Bolsonaro’s departure. Bolsonaro has been critical of the current leftist administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula.

Although the chair of Lula’s Workers’ Party, congresswoman Gleisi Hoffman, released a video mocking Bolsonaro’s return — inviting him “to see how the country has improved in his absence” — Lula himself did not immediately comment on it.

During his time in the United States, which he largely spent in Florida, Bolsonaro met with conservative activists and pundits, appearing at various events from the Conservative Political Action Conference to the opening of a burger restaurant.

At the airport in Brasília on Thursday morning, dozens of supporters gathered to greet Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro’s motorcade then took him to his Liberal Party headquarters, where he met with high-ranking right-wing politicians.

He received a warm welcome there from his colleagues and former Cabinet ministers, who chanted, “The captain is back.” (© The New York Times)