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Reading the Globe #003: Lebanon implodes, Dutch journalist Peter de Vries assassinated, Portugal’s uneven Covid protocols
The European Union is pushing hard to gain the legal clearances necessary to slap sanctions on Lebanon’s ruling elite. Lebanon is in a state of crisis following the explosion at a Beirut port last August that killed more 200 people. As Reuters reported, the country is on the verge of financial ruin and daily life is a nightmare with rampant blackouts and shortages of food and fuel.
The E.U.’s leaders intend the sanctions, which look set to go into effect by the end of this month, to put pressure on Lebanese politicians to get their act together and lift the nation out of crisis. Reuters cites an unattributed diplomatic note listing corruption, human rights abuses, and the failure to form a new government as triggers that would incur travel bans and freezes of the assets of Lebanese officials.
My own story in Book and Film Globe about the shooting of fearless Dutch journalist Peter de Vries unfortunately turned from an attempted assassination to a successful assassination. Right after the Dutch author and crime reporter exited a TV studio in Amsterdam on July 6, an attacker opened fire on a busy street, hitting de Vries in the head. Police swiftly made three arrests, but then released one detainee. De Vries died of his injuries on July 15.
The 64-year-old de Vries became what so many others in the journalistic profession rarely dare to try to be: a writer producing articles and commentary important and influential enough for certain people to want him dead. Matt Taibbi has famously complained about the inability or unwillingness of journalists these days to put themselves or their livelihoods at risk in pursuit of the truth, and said that “All journalists are cowards,” but at least one reporter gives the lie to that generalization.
In the race to vaccinate as many people as possible against Covid-19, few countries feature a more admirable record than Portugal. A July 3 report in The Portugal News, the English-language newspaper of Portugal, indicates that by the first week of July, the Directorate General of Health had released figures showing that 5,335,683 Portuguese had received at least one dose of the vaccine and 3,295,132 had gotten full vaccinations. Among the most vulnerable segments of the population, 666,831 people over 80 years old, a full 98 percent of men and women in that age bracket, had gotten at least one dose and 634,488, or 93 percent, were fully vaccinated. And more...
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By Michael Washburn
4.8
66 ratings
The European Union is pushing hard to gain the legal clearances necessary to slap sanctions on Lebanon’s ruling elite. Lebanon is in a state of crisis following the explosion at a Beirut port last August that killed more 200 people. As Reuters reported, the country is on the verge of financial ruin and daily life is a nightmare with rampant blackouts and shortages of food and fuel.
The E.U.’s leaders intend the sanctions, which look set to go into effect by the end of this month, to put pressure on Lebanese politicians to get their act together and lift the nation out of crisis. Reuters cites an unattributed diplomatic note listing corruption, human rights abuses, and the failure to form a new government as triggers that would incur travel bans and freezes of the assets of Lebanese officials.
My own story in Book and Film Globe about the shooting of fearless Dutch journalist Peter de Vries unfortunately turned from an attempted assassination to a successful assassination. Right after the Dutch author and crime reporter exited a TV studio in Amsterdam on July 6, an attacker opened fire on a busy street, hitting de Vries in the head. Police swiftly made three arrests, but then released one detainee. De Vries died of his injuries on July 15.
The 64-year-old de Vries became what so many others in the journalistic profession rarely dare to try to be: a writer producing articles and commentary important and influential enough for certain people to want him dead. Matt Taibbi has famously complained about the inability or unwillingness of journalists these days to put themselves or their livelihoods at risk in pursuit of the truth, and said that “All journalists are cowards,” but at least one reporter gives the lie to that generalization.
In the race to vaccinate as many people as possible against Covid-19, few countries feature a more admirable record than Portugal. A July 3 report in The Portugal News, the English-language newspaper of Portugal, indicates that by the first week of July, the Directorate General of Health had released figures showing that 5,335,683 Portuguese had received at least one dose of the vaccine and 3,295,132 had gotten full vaccinations. Among the most vulnerable segments of the population, 666,831 people over 80 years old, a full 98 percent of men and women in that age bracket, had gotten at least one dose and 634,488, or 93 percent, were fully vaccinated. And more...