SPOTLIGHT: WHY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MATTERS NOW
As the country responsible for the Holocaust, Germany understands better than others the importance of acknowledging and atoning for the wrongs in your past. But today, German lawmakers will confront another country’s historical crime, as a debate opens on a resolution that would officially qualify the 1915 mass deportations and killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.
As Deutsche Welle reports, passage of the resolution is sure to anger Turkey, which refuses to acknowledge the term “genocide.” The timing could hardly be more sensitive. Germany is relying on Ankara to fulfill its part in a controversial deal to stem the influx of migrants into the European Union via Turkey. Leaders in Turkey have warned that a vote in favor would damage the “diplomatic, economic, business, political and military relations.” Turkey’s newly appointed prime minister, Binali Yildirim, said the vote “will amount to a real test of the friendship” between the two countries. Meanwhile Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Turkish immigrants and their offspring inside Germany, the country’s largest minority, would view recognition of the Armenian genocide “like a punch in the face.”
Many, including Deutsche Welle’s editor, believe History should be left to historians — or at least to the incriminated country. But the issue here is also political. Chancellor Angela Merkel herself has come under heavy criticism for seeming to bow to Turkish pressure in the country’s decision to prosecute a German comedian who insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. So perhaps the vote is also a way for Germany to stand up to an increasingly authoritarian Turkey. But just how strong would that message be? Merkel, despite expressing support for the resolution, will not be attending the vote.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR TODAY
- Opec leaders meet in Vienna.
- Lionel Messi appears in court, after missing opening of tax evasion trial.
MOGADISHU HOTEL ATTACKED
At least 16 people were killed and 55 wounded in a car bomb and gunfire attack on a hotel in the center of Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu, Al Jazeera reports. Two lawmakers were killed in the attacks, carried out by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group al-Shabaab. The assailants were shot dead by police.
VERBATIM
“If you’re going to choose a place to die, then Mars is not a bad choice,” SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk said during yesterday’s Code Conference. He announced plans to send a human mission to Mars in 2024, with an arrival time in 2025.
— ON THIS DAY
God has been saving the Queen for the past 63 years … Check it out, and more, on today’s 57-second of history.
SAUDI ARABIA INVESTS BIG IN UBER
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has invested $3.5 billion in Uber. It’s the biggest cash influx the company valued at $62.5 billion has received so far from a single investor.
FORT MCMURRAY EVACUEES RETURN AFTER WILDFIRE
The thousands of people who had to evacuate their homes in Fort McMurray are returning to their wildfire-ravaged city, welcomed by a series of new, encouraging billboards, CBC reports.
— WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
In Brazil, hard numbers clash with claims that 45 million people were rescued from poverty during the Lula-Dilma years. For Folha de S. Paulo, Clóvis Rossi writes about both Brazilians’ distrust of the past and anxiety for the future: “If the legacy of a party that rhapsodized about defending the poor is a country where more than 73 million people live below the poverty line, then what will happen now that the new one-note samba is about curbing public spending?”
Read the full article here, The Truth About Lula And Dilma’s Record On Poverty
11%
A YouGov poll published by the Huffington Post France shows President François Hollande’s approval rating at a record-low of just 11%. There is growing debate inside Hollande’s Socialist party about whether he should step aside for the next presidential election in favor of another candidate.
BREAKTHROUGH FOR “UNIVERSAL CANCER VACCINE”
Scientists have made a “very positive” step towards the creation of a “universal cancer vaccine,” according to a study published in Nature. The technique involves injecting genetic code, which can be programmed for any cancer, into the body’s own immune system and tell it to fight against tumors.
MY GRAND-PERE’S WORLD
The Painter’s Village — Ornans, 2002
TUTANKHAMUN’S SPACE DAGGER
Egypt’s boy king Tutankhamun was buried with a dagger that was made of space iron, scientists found.
— MORE STORIES, BROUGHT TO YOU BY WORLDCRUNCH
- How Swings Can Make You Happy And More Intelligent — Die Welt
- This Company Removes CO2 From The Air, And Turns It Into Fuel — Le Monde
- Syria’s Gruesome Organ Trade — Syria Deeply
TUNNEL VISION
It took the Swiss 17 years to build the world’s longest rail tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel that was inaugurated yesterday — and it’ll take us about 17 years of therapy to forget the opening show. Warning: contains dancers in underwear, alphorns, goat men, and yodeling.