The Weekly Wrap for Saturday, 1 July 2017

Welcome back, Here's everything you need to know but may have missed this week. We'll start with a dive into Xi Jinping's attendance at the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover. Then we'll take stock of the blows dealt to Google on both sides of the Atlantic. After that, a look at the rising tide of violence in Venezuela, and a new kind of protest in India. - inkl DEEP DIVE At the stroke of midnight on July 1st, 1997, Britain ceded control of Hong Kong to China. It was a momentous event: a faded empire returning a prized colonial possession to another still in its ascendancy. When the handover took place the economic and political freedoms of the British era (hitherto unheard of on the mainland) were guaranteed by Beijing for the following 50 years. But even so the semi-autonomous parliamentary and judicial institutions that Britain bequeathed to the city have coexisted awkwardly with China's arms-length rule over the past 20 years. Now, two decades on, the tensions inherent in Hong Kong's unique status are clearer than ever. How will the future of 'one country, two systems' pan out? Xi Jinping in Hong Kong, surrounded by his aides. For the first time since he came to power almost five years ago, China's President Xi Jinping is in Hong Kong. Xi arrived in the at-times wayward special administrative region earlier in the week as part of a three-day tour. His presence at the 20 year anniversary of the handover carries significant historical weight. His message to mark the occasion has been conciliatory, hopeful and supportive. But for many residents of Hong Kong, the appearance of the communist party's godhead in their city marks an ominous turning point.  Xi's rise has occurred in tandem with a prolonged period of political instability for Hong Kong. Mainland attempts to manipulate the Legislative Council have been met with fierce resistance, as have occasional renditions back across the border of those who have earned the ire of Beijing. And of course the 2014 Umbrella Revolution had seen tens of thousands of people swarming Hong Kong's streets in protest against Beijing's move to pre-screen their parliamentary candidates.  It was unsurprising therefore that known agitators were arrested en masse ahead of Xi's arrival this week. As were any who were brave or foolhardy enough to take to the streets since. Entire neighbourhoods crawled with police and enormous security barriers were set up along the routes Xi travellled. But the extraordinary measures that had to be taken to shield Xi from dissent also spoke volumes about just how delicate the situation in Hong Kong is.  Also in China, the humanitarian release from prison of long-time dissident and Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo also occurred this week. Liu, a tireless advocate for political reform in China, was serving his fourth jail sentence while suffering from a terminal cancer. However what should have been a public relations victory has since soured because Liu will neither be permitted to seek treatment abroad nor to travel to Norway to collect his Nobel prize.  WORLDLYWISE Regulators are hot on the heels of the tech giants. Google fined in Europe - Internet behemoth Google has been slapped with an eye-watering €2.42b fine by the European Union's antitrust body. By far the EU's heaviest penalty imposed on a corporation, this was a stinging rebuke for the tech giant's practice of prioritising its own products in comparison shopping results. Few today would argue that Google's hegemony amongst search engines isn't a clear impediment to competition, but regulators in Brussels have made little ground against it so far.  While Google may have been able to shrug off the enormous fine (given that it holds north of $80b in cash reserves), it was also dealt another ringing blow the very next day. On Wednesday Canada's Supreme Court ruled that the search engine can be compelled to delete listings across the globe at the behest of Canadian courts. An earlier ruling removed the search listing of impostor products within Canada. But as the court wrote, "The problem in this case is occurring online and globally. The Internet has no borders — its natural habitat is global". The ruling effectively means that courts have the authority to edit the internet so this will no doubt be a highly-contested case. Maduro has taken on a distinctly martial tone (and dress). Aerial assault in Caracas - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro placed the nation's armed forces on high alert following a stunning (albeit ineffectual) attack on the capital. On Tuesday afternoon a commandeered military helicopter flew low over Caracas, dropping grenades on the Supreme Court and strafing the Interior Ministry. Both institutions are widely considered to be stacked with Maduro loyalists. Although no one was injured in the action, it seems clear that Venezuela is spiralling towards chronic instability and civil war. The alleged ringleader of the attack was one Oscar Perez, an ex-special forces soldier turned actor. In a bizarre example of life imitating (or perhaps inspiring) art, it was revealed that his most recent film featured Perez firing a weapon out the window of a helicopter. In a video posted online Perez has vowed to fight on. Maduro meanwhile decried the attack as right-wing terrorism and warned that any attempt to oust him would be met with violence. Darker days lie ahead for Venezuela. Protestors in Kolkata denounce Hindu lynchings. Killing in the name of - Tens of thousands of Indians rallied against religiously-motivated killings across the country this week. Multi-faith groups met under banners and placards that announced "not in my name", referencing the increasing levels of mob violence against Muslims. Five killings have occurred in daylight in the last three months alone. Each attack followed an accusation that the victim had been carrying beef on their person. These murders are part of a broader rise in communal violence in India that is largely directed at the 15% Muslim minority. Cows are auspicious to Hindus so historically many have been uneasy with their neighbours in the Muslim community eating beef. But in recent years the rising tide of Hindutva (a brand of Hindu nationalism) has emboldened some elements of the community to take action against beef-eaters. Several states have banned the slaughter of cows at a commercial scale. And India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denounced the killings. TRUMPETER - WEEK 23 One of several fake Time covers lauding Trump that adorned his properties. Trump's won a partial victory in the Supreme Court. A version of his travel ban was implemented. Indian PM Modi was in DC for talks. Support for the Senate healthcare bill fell away. The GOP considered dropping tax cuts to save the bill. Angela Merkel laid down the gauntlet for G20 talks. Research showed the foreign steel threat is minimal. Trump insulted a female TV host's appearance. He also accused Amazon of not paying 'internet tax'. Trump's fake TIME magazine covers were removed from resorts. THE BEST OF TIMES... Misao Okawa celebrating her... wait for it... 115th birthday. Forever young - Or perhaps just forever alive. New research shows that the outer-limit on human longevity (currently approximately a century) may in fact be a lot higher. The work published in the lauded science journal Nature claims that we may be approaching a stage where generations of humans live until 115. Is that a good thing? Buddhist AI - Buddhist monks and psychopaths share similar responses when grappling with moral thought experiments. And this may actually be a good thing. We won't give you more of a preamble for this excellent piece: just read it. THE WORST OF TIMES... The planet is choking on plastic bottles. Go buy a proper water bottle - At inkl we try to steer clear of getting you to buy products. But on this occasion we want to be very clear: stop using plastic bottles. Our species uses one million of them every minute. Let that sink in for a minute. Yep, that was another million bottles. So please stop already. Another one - We are considering changing the name of this section to 'Brazil's political class'. Charges have now been laid against sitting President Michel Temer. Yes, you guessed it again, he's been caught up in the long-running anti-graft Car Wash operation too.   P.S. Your weekend long read... While he has gotten a bad wrap for his part in the Gujarat riots in India, make sure you read this excellent piece from the Financial Times about Narendra Modi's better angels. A champion reformer and visionary, Modi has set himself the awesome task of overhauling India's taxation system. Coming just 6 months after he took 86% of the country's currency out of circulation it seems he just might do it.