Today’s newsletter covers a nationalist demonstration in Poland, a troll farm in Nicaragua, Algeria-Morocco increased tensions, Portugal parliament, and more.
Political battle over a nationalist demonstration during Polish national day
A nationalist demonstration in Poland’s capital city is held every year on November 11, during the National Independence Day. It became a controversial patriotic celebration of the country’s national day. The mayor of Warsaw tries to block it during the Covid-19 pandemic but the minister of justice has raised the case up to the Supreme Court.
One of the biggest government troll farms dismantled by Facebook in Nicaragua
In October, Facebook and Instagram removed one of the largest networks of deceitful content operated by a government to date. On November 7, Nicaragua will vote for rigged presidential elections. Directly handled by government agencies, some media accounts and pages have been influencing the population since 2018.
Also elsewhere in the world…
Algeria blames Morocco for killing three of its citizens
Algeria claims a bomb attack by Moroccan forces in Western Sahara killed three of its citizens driving from Mauritania to the south of Algeria. Authorities said the crime would “not remain unpunished.”
It further increases the tensions between the two neighbors, which really took off since the Abraham accords in which Morocco normalized its relations with Israel. In this deal, Donald Trump’s administration recognized Morocco’s sovereignty on Western Sahara, a non-self-governing territory where the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, claims total independence.
In August, Algeria stopped its diplomatic relations with Morocco and more recently stopped delivering gas in a pipeline that goes to Spain and passes by Morocco.
Czech Republic increases minimum wage
Czechia will increase the country’s minimum wage by 6.6% in January 2022. It accounts for a monthly increase of 1,000 crowns ($45), bringing the minimum salary at CZK 16,200 ($743) a month. It also automatically increases guaranteed wages, which depend on the industry or the type of work and are calculated based on the minimum wage.
In January 2021, the minimum wage increased by CZK 600.
Portugal Parliament agrees on euthanasia but is dissolved on budget divergences
On November 5, the Parliament approved a revised law legalizing euthanasia. The President of Portugal had exercised his veto after a review conducted by the Constitutional Court.
In the evening, the president decided to dissolve the Parliament because it had been rejecting the 2022 budget, the first since 1974. “Divergences were so important that they became insurmountable,” the president explained. New elections will be set up for January 30.
Bahrain asks its citizens to leave Lebanon “immediately”
On November 2, Bahrain minister of Foreign Affairs urged its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately because of “the tense situation there which calls for extra caution”.
It echoes diplomatic tensions between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia regarding the military intervention of Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen. On October 29, Bahrain asked the Lebanon ambassador to leave the country after “a series of unacceptable and offensive statements issued by Lebanese officials in recent times.”
An online video of Al-Jazeera of the current Lebanese minister of information recorded in August when he was not yet in government recently resurfaced. But he rejects any “accusations of enmity towards Saudi Arabia” and explained he expressed personal thoughts when he said that the war in Yemen has become absurd and had to stop. Koweit, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also brought their ambassadors back.
