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Lee County, Alabama. PHOTO: Kevin D. Liles / Washington Post
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- Tornadoes tore through Alabama, Georgia and Florida, killing 23
- Carlos Ghosn was released from Japanese custody pending trial
- Climate change will greatly exacerbate risks of dengue and Zika
- Paul Manafort got his number: 47 months in jail
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Huawei sued the U.S. after being barred from access there
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Algeria's Bouteflika faced a strong rebuke to his 20-year rule
- Kylie Jenner tested the semantic boundary of the term "self-made"
- Reports suggest that North Korea is rebuilding nuclear test sites
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European banks were found to have been Russian money 'laundries'
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Israeli courts want to deny muslims access to the Al-Aqsa compound
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Justin Trudeau is blocking his own shine. PHOTO: Bloomberg
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The Canadian government is in crisis. In the past weeks a pair of cabinet ministers has resigned and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has lost a close aide. It's alleged that he and his staff pressured the Attorney General to use kid gloves in dealing with Canada's largest construction company. This is a serious allegation; one that threatens to undo his government. And that's to say nothing of Meng Wanzhou...
Building (without) codes
Years ago, two Montreal-based construction companies (Lavalin and Surveyer, Nenniger and Chênevert) merged. And the combined SNC-Lavalin Group Inc blossomed. It became far-and-away Canada's largest construction company and today does just about everything: builds dams, wires nuclear power-plants, operates oil and gas projects, constructs airports, and mines for fertiliser (i.e. phosphorus). It employs 50,000 people, and has projects in 180 countries.
But like too-many Western corporates that have interests in the developing world, SNC-Lavalin is said to have made the most of lax regulatory regimes overseas. Simply put, it is accused of playing fast and loose with local (and Canadian) laws by paying-off local officials in exchange for contracts. There are bribery investigations pending over a rail bridge in Bangladesh, a hydroelectric dam in India, and even a university hospital at home in Montreal. Then there is the big one – $48m worth of payments to corrupt Gaddafi officials in order to win contracts in Libya between 2001-2011.
For years the scandals clung to SNC-Lavalin like burrs despite a near-complete turnover of its top brass. Canadian prosecutors continued to doggedly pursue the company with allegations of bribery, corruption and fraud. Finally, in a bid to cut its losses, SNC-Lavalin applied for a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in which a remediation process would be overseen by a judge - a far more palatable option than a criminal trial. But, in September last year, Canada's prosecutors declined SNC-Lavalin's DPA application. This meant that the criminal trial would go ahead. And if the prosecution were to succeed in that trial, Canada's largest construction company would likely find itself barred from bidding on government projects for the next decade. That's when the pressure started.
Good cop, bad PM
Despite his gentle technocratic approach, effusive charm, competent team and 'woke' credentials, Justin Trudeau has found himself in a spot of bother. A surprisingly competitive Conservative party (the mob he turfed out of office in the last election) is threatening an upset in the general election this October. One of the key battleground provinces is – you guessed it – Québec, home to the gorgeous French-speaking city of Montreal, the country's largest construction company, and the 9,000 staff it employs there.
On February 8 of this year a bombshell report alleged that Trudeau and his off-siders had leaned on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to rubber-stamp SNC-Lavalin's DPA application. If true, it would be an egregious example of executive power compromising the independence of the judicial branch. Just four days later Wilson-Raybould had resigned from Trudeau's cabinet, and left the door ajar for speculation to rush in. After giving compelling testimony of interference before parliament in late February she was followed out the door by another cabinet minister, the President of the Treasury Board, Jane Philpott.
The resignations aren't a good look. But Trudeau is standing his ground: there has been no apology, and he hasn't budged an inch. Instead, he has lamented the "erosion of trust" and "lack of communication" that led Wilson-Raybould to 'misinterpret' important conversations. He claims that he was standing up for jobs (that would inevitably be lost if SNC-Lavalin faced sanctions). And the approach seems to be working – at least for now. With a little more than seven months to go until the next election we'll have to wait and see whether Trudeau's spurned colleagues and vocal opposition party are capable of felling him.
Unwelcome guests
With no lack of detractors at home, the last thing the PM needs is an international fiasco with, say, China. Pity that. This week Meng Wanzhou appeared in court for the first part of her extradition hearing. She is both the CFO of the embattled Chinese giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder. That she's been ensnared in Washington's anti-Huawei crusade has infuriated Chinese authorities. Canadian citizens living in China have been arrested and charged with spying and Canadian grain growers have had their export licenses revoked. But, according to Beijing, that is all just by the by.
Expect this stoush to worsen – Meng's next hearing is set for early May.
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Arata Isozaki. PHOTO: AFP
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The 'Nobel' prize of architecture
The Pritzker Prize – architecture's highest honour – was this week awarded to the prolific Japanese master Arata Isozaki. The 87-year-old has designed everything from stadiums for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, to inflatable concert halls in Lucerne, to the breathtaking Art Tower in Mito. However, the Prizker Committee landed on Beijing's Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts as his representative work. It's a mammoth structure with a beguiling texture and surprising curves. A delight to view. The committee ought to be read in their own words, "In his search for meaningful architecture, he created buildings of great quality that to this day defy categorisations". High praise.
Born in Ōita in 1931, Isozaki was the son of a country at war. American firebombing raids turned the traditional wooden buildings of his hometown Ōita – homes, schools, temples – into fuel for a hellish inferno. Isozaki's formative years were spent in a landscape flattened and blackened by war. Isozaki himself was greatly influenced by the American occupation, eventually creating a style that blends traditional forms with foreign influences and materials. He went on to study under another Japanese Pritzker laureate, Kenzō Tenge. It was their generation of architects who set about rebuilding Japan's major buildings (not to mention pride) in the second half of the 20th century.
We highly recommend the links above which include photos of both Isozaki and Tenge's work.
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The microscopic, devastating virus. PHOTO: The Independent
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Joy in London, Dusseldorf and Seattle
For the longest time Timothy Ray Brown's miracle was an anonymous one. In 2007 he became the first man to be cured of HIV/AIDS, though privacy-conscious doctors only referred to him at conferences as the 'Berlin patient'. He's since come forward, although the interim years have produced few breakthroughs in the fight against HIV. But now, at long last, the Berlin Patient has some company.
This week, at a medical conference in Seattle, a team from the United Kingdom revealed that a 'London patient' has been functionally cured of HIV. A stem-cell transplant operation (the same radical procedure that saved Brown) has gifted this person a new defence against the virus. The stem-cells came from a donor with the exceedingly rare CCR5 delta 32 genetic mutation; a wondrous mistake in the genetic code that grants those who have it resistance to HIV. Said patient stopped taking antiretroviral medication 18 months ago and has shown no signs of relapse.
If thats not enough, the following day the existence of a 'Dusseldorf patient' was revealed to the conference. A third person cured of HIV, this time with bone-marrow transplant to treat their leukaemia. These are undoubtedly moments to be savoured, although the context can't go unwritten. Stem-cell transplant therapies are prohibitively expensive and are regularly unsuccessful. A cure has been found, but now the real work begins: making it affordable for the 37 million people currently living with HIV.
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Romelu Lukaku quietens the crowd at Parc des Princes. PHOTO: Evening Standard
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Delicious wins...
The world can be a difficult, ugly place at times. So we should all – recalling the words of Iris Murdoch – draw from the rejuvenating power of aesthetic things. And, what can be more aesthetic than 'the beautiful game'? The group of 16 in this year's UEFA Champion's League is winnowing itself down to 8 with great style.
This week the bruised and depleted underdogs of Manchester United (a quaint notion) took on the handsomely-paid artists of Paris Saint-Germain F.C. on their home deck. And won. No-one outside the walls of Old Trafford believed they could beat the Parisian powerhouse, but they did anyway. And that's after PSG seemingly had it in the bag (with two unanswered away goals during the first leg). Of course, it wouldn't be the Champion's League without a highly controversial VAR decision, but when it's all said and done a plucky, undermanned team beat a lineup of champions at home.
... and just deserts
In other great news, Sergio Ramos lost his bet. Real Madrid's (and Spain's) captain, centre-back and enforcer was the villain of last year's FIFA World Cup. Last month, Ramos intentionally drew a yellow card against the Dutch minnows Ajax that saw him suspended him from this week's game. The suspension would have cleared his (oft-full) slate of cards; he assumed that his mighty team would steamroll Ajax at home and he'd be back in time for the group of 8. The Spaniards after all were chasing their fourth consecutive Champions League trophy. But pride comes before the fall as they say, and the football world delighted in Ajax thumping Real Madrid 4-1. A glorious, uplifting thing.
It's a beautiful game that reminds us that money can't buy everything.
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An extraordinary rescue mission. PHOTO: Javed Tanveer / AFP
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The flood...
This week Afghanistan suffered yet another crisis: flooding. 11 months of severe drought have been broken by heavy rainfall, so heavy that it precipitated flash-floods in eight provinces and claimed at least 20 lives. Thousands of homes have also been lost in the brown torrent. All this in a country already blighted by internecine fighting, famine, extreme poverty and a particularly harsh winter. With a (touch wood) U.S.-Taliban peace deal on the horizon the troubled nation appears to have slipped from donors' minds. We are well into the third month of the year but only 3% of the United Nations relief aid goal has been raised for Afghanistan so far.
... Sumatra submerged
An ambitious hydroelectric dam project in North Sumatra threatens to wipe out the only known habitat of a newly-discovered orang-utan. The stunning, broad-faced Tapanuli orang-utan was only found to be a distinct species in 2017. There are perhaps 800 of them – making them the world's rarest great ape – and they live in a single forest. That forest is due to be flooded by the Batang Toru Dam. The dam is one of many hydroelectric schemes funded in the region as part of China's 'Belt and Road' initiative.
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Quote of the week
"We appreciate it very much, Tim Apple"
– U.S President Donald Trump thanks Apple CEO Tim Cook
Headline of the week
The Coffin Business Is Booming in Central America Due to Gang Violence
– An absolute shocker from Bloomberg
Featured long-reads from inkl publishers:
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Do you remember Gerald Cotten, the founder of Canadian bitcoin exchange Quadriga, who died suddenly in India this year? Well, the $143m in cryptocurrency that only Cotten had the keys to has now disappeared in a series of mysterious transactions. Oops! There's something about cryptocurrency grifts that add a level of humour often missing from regular white collar crime.
Tom Wharton
@trwinwriting
P.S. Don't forget to download the inkl app and check out our tailored news recommendations just for you. And definitely don't forget to log into the app by tapping on this link.
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