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Google's new chatbot, Bard.
Hard Numbers: Meet Bard, grim new climate report, Colombia’s Toro ban, Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ law, IMF approves Sri Lankan relief
1.5: A new UN report says the world has less than a decade to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (the 2015 Paris Agreement’s target). Industrialized countries must halve greenhouse gasses by 2030 and halt carbon dioxide emissions by the 2050s to avoid cataclysmic flooding, droughts, heat waves, and species extinction.
8: Bullfighting remains legal in eight countries worldwide, but that may soon change. The majority of Colombians want to end the practice, which has been a tradition since colonial times. Colombia’s Senate recently voted to ban bullfighting, but the legislation now faces a tough challenge in the lower house, where an earlier proposed ban was shot down last year.
10: Uganda’s parliament passed a harsh new anti-LGBTQ bill on Tuesday that could lead to 10-year prison sentences for those who engage in “same-sex activity” or identify as LGBTQ. If President Yoweri Museveni signs the bill – he has suggested he supports it – Uganda will become the first African nation to criminalize simply identifying as LGBTQ.
2.9 billion: Sri Lanka has secured a $2.9 billion rescue package from the IMF to aid in its economic recovery. After defaulting on its sovereign debt last year, the island nation faced its worst economic disaster since independence. The package will likely boost international investment, but strict austerity measures will hurt Sri Lankan households already struggling with sky-high inflation.
A view shows destroyed Russian tanks and armored vehicles in Lyman, recently liberated by Ukraine.
What We’re Watching: Russian rhetoric & retreat, Ugandan “tweeting general” canned, Colombia-ELN talks resume
Russians retreat, but what comes next?
It’s a case of rhetoric vs. reality. On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin signed constitutional laws formalizing Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions and vowed to stabilize them. Yet continued Ukrainian advances in one of those regions, Kherson, are now forcing Russian troops to beat a partial retreat. Russia’s acting governor in the region, Kirill Stremousov, has even admitted openly that Putin’s forces are “regrouping to get their strength together and strike back.” Does the Russian retreat raise the risk that Putin, increasingly on his back foot, turns to the use of the once-unthinkable — nuclear weapons — to regain the advantage? While many analysts say such an escalation is unlikely, Moscow has signaled — through the reported movement of nuclear-capable equipment — an ability to make good on the threats. Increased domestic criticism of the war within Russia and losses on the ground no doubt have Putin feeling cornered. So the question remains, how far will he go?
Ugandan president sacks “tweeting general” son
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni fired his son, four-star Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, for going too far on Twitter by threatening to invade Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Kainerugaba is famous for using the social media platform to weigh in on foreign policy. Some of his greatest hits are supporting Tigrayan rebels in Ethiopia or guerrillas in the eastern DRC as well as offering 100 heads of cattle, presumably as dowry, to incoming Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. Kainerugaba's fans say it's just light humor, but some Ugandans are wary of the military playing politics and resent his privilege. Moving forward, the dismissal will likely hurt Kainerugaba's chances of succeeding his 78-year-old dad, one of Africa's longest-serving leaders — although Museveni has always denied he's being groomed for the top job. Who might benefit? Opposition leader and former singer Bobi Wine, who in June 2021 failed in his second bid to beat Museveni for the presidency. If you’re interested in his shenanigans, follow Uganda’s “tweeting general” @mkainerugaba.
Colombia restarts ELN peace talks
Looking to realize new President Gustavo Petro's campaign promise of bringing "total peace" to Colombia, the government on Wednesday resumed peace talks with the rebels of the National Liberation Army, or ELN by its initials in Spanish. Petro wants the two sides to pick up where they left off in 2019, when the previous Colombian government called negotiations after the ELN killed 21 police cadets in a bombing in Bogotá. The ELN — at war with the government since the 1960s — was not party to the historic 2016 peace accord between the government and the much larger FARC guerrilla group. But the leftist Petro — who belonged to a guerrilla group himself in his youth — sees an opening for peace, as the ELN responded well to his election victory. One big question is whether the group’s older political leaders, who have lived in Cuban exile for years, have enough sway over younger members in Colombia today to enforce a sustainable peace. Petro is also counting on goodwill from guerrilla-friendly Venezuela, one of the guarantor countries in the talks. Colombia has recently resumed diplomatic ties and reopened the border with its neighbor.
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A car is seen burning during renewed riots in the city of Lod, following the funeral of a 25-year-old Israeli-Arab man who was shot and killed during riots the previous night.
What We’re Watching: Clashes in Jewish-Arab cities, Nepal's COVID crisis, Uganda's forever president
Integrated Israeli cities on the brink: Another bloody day in Israel and the Gaza Strip: Israeli forces continued to bomb Gaza Wednesday, killing several Hamas commanders. At least 56 Gazans have now been killed in Israeli strikes, including 14 children. Meanwhile, rockets continue to fall inside Israeli cities, causing millions to flee to bomb shelters. The Israeli death count now stands at eight. The more startling development for intelligence analysts, however, has been the increasingly violent clashes between Arabs and Jews in integrated Israeli cities following weeks of confrontations in Jerusalem: an Arab man was pulled from his car and attacked by Jewish vigilantes in a suburb outside Tel Aviv, while Arab Israelis have burnt synagogues and attacked Jewish Israelis. Integrated cities like Lod, Acre and Haifa are often highlighted as models for broader Palestinian-Israeli peace, but as Haaretz reporter Anshel Pfeffer points out, these unprecedented clashes show that Israel's security apparatus failed to understand that Palestinians in Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank are still motivated "to rise up and show solidarity with each other." International actors are reportedly trying to get the two sides to agree to an imminent ceasefire. Will it work?
Nepal's COVID crisis: In the shadow of India and its catastrophic COVID emergency, Nepal now faces a COVID crisis of its own. The country's 1,100-mile, mostly open border with India is likely a primary route of contagion. A quarter of Nepal's 29 million people already live below the poverty line, and emergency services are poor. In particular, a shortage of medical oxygen, as we've seen in India and elsewhere, has sharply boosted the death toll across the country, and some patients are refused admittance because there aren't enough ICU beds to accommodate them. China has begun emergency shipments of oxygen canisters and ventilators, but relief organizations have also called on hikers in the Himalayas and local tour companies to return used canisters for refilling.
Uganda's split-screen politics: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, an ex-rebel in office since 1986, was inaugurated on Wednesday for his sixth term in office. While that was taking place, police surrounded the home of opposition leader Bobi Wine, who claims Museveni fraudulently defeated him in the January election. The split-screen moment reflects the political zeitgeist in Uganda, deeply divided between supporters of Museveni — an aging strongman whom older, mostly rural Ugandans give credit for bringing economic growth through stability — and Wine, a popstar-turned-politician adored by young urban Ugandans. Wine believes the country demands generational change, and he and his supporters have been targeted by the armed forces that are loyal to Museveni. Still, Museveni has an ace up his sleeve: Uganda's expected oil boom means that the president will soon have a lot of cash to spend on social programs for the poor, and Western countries will tolerate his human rights abuses to get a taste of the black gold. As long as the military continues to back Museveni, Wine's odds of taking over remain slim.