WeekAhead events

Victoria’s legislature passed the law in Nov 2017, but mandated an 18-month wait implementation period. Substantial amendments had been agreed to overcome opposition, including lowering the proposed life-expectancy threshold from 12 months to six and committing more money to palliative care.

Australia’s sparsely populated Northern Territory in 1995 became the first jurisdiction in the world to legalize doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. But the Australian Parliament overturned that law in 1997 after four people had been helped to die. Britain’s Independent points out that parliament does not have power to overturn the law in several other states.

The push to allow medically-assisted death on a wider scale in the country faces high-profile objections among the medical community and fears that the program’s safeguards do not go far enough to protect the vulnerable.

The parliament of Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, rejected a doctor-assisted suicide bill in Nov 2017 by a single vote. A euthanasia bill also was defeated by a single vote in the South Australian House of Assembly a year earlier, and similar legislation was rejected by two votes in Tasmania’s House of Assembly in 2013.

• Euthanasia to be legal in Victoria from 2019 (The Age Nov 2017)
• Victoria’s voluntary euthanasia bill survives near miss (Australian Oct 2017)
• Legalising euthanasia: What you need to know after parliamentary inquiry announced (ABC Aug 2017)
• Preventing enthanasia webs

#22834 Updated: 11/16/2018 UPDATED MAY 15 WITH CONFIRMED DATE

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Many fans expected the franchise to end with the third installment, according to MovieWeb, but the studio decided that a fourth movie was needed to wrap everything up.

The gang has a new home and is apparently happy again, living with Bonnie. The arrival of Forky, a spork (a hybrid of spoon and fork), with pipe-cleaner arms, throws everything off balance as he doesn’t consider himself to be a toy. Tony Hale voices the character.

The familiar characters are back: Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks; Buzz Lightyear by Tim Allen; and Jessie by Joan Cusack. Their new friends are Ducky, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, and Bunny by Jordan Peele. MovieWeb reports that Keanu Reeves will join the gang as a surprise mystery toy.

• Latest Toy Story 4 Plot Details Tease a Franchise Finale Tearjerker (Movieweb Jan 2019)
• ‘Toy Story 4’ Trailer: Introducing Forky (NYT Nov 2018)

#22983 Published: 01/30/2019

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A crucial component of the Ancient Greek Games, the Olympic Truce made the competition possible as it allowed athletes and spectators from warring city-states to travel to the event and participate in complete safety. Athletes from the two Koreas, technically at war more than six decades after the Korean War, entered the stadium together for the opening ceremony, and competed together as part of a combined women’s hockey team. In Sep 2018 North and South Korea announced that they would jointly bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics.

The International Olympic Truce Foundation, inaugurated in 2000, formally builds the legacy into the IOC mission, with the aim of promoting “the Olympic ideals to serve peace, friendship and understanding in the world.”

The IOC selected Danish architecture firm 3XN to design the headquarters in 2014 after an international competition. Construction began in 2016. Named Olympic House, it will bring the 500 staff in four locations around the city under one roof. The Olympic Museum in the same city will host the general public.

• Olympic House (IOC)
• History of the Olympic Truce (IOC)
• International Olympic Truce Foundation (IOC)
• North and South Korea Plan to Jointly Bid on 2032 Summer Olympics (NYT Sep 2018)
• Despite good intentions, the Olympics has its limits in promoting peace (The Conversation Feb 2018)

#23046 Published: 03/14/2019

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Erdogan, whose hometown is Istanbul, had argued that the margin of votes was too small for the opposition party win to be valid. The man who won the vote, Ekrem Imamoglu of the opposition CHP, said the electoral body had made a “treacherous decision.”

The decision by the High Electoral Council, which cited irregularities in how officials were chosen to oversee voting at some polling stations, left the opposition with the difficult decision of whether to take part in a new election that it considers illegitimate.

• Istanbul mayoral vote to be held again, election officials rule (DW May 2019)
• Opinion: Istanbul election re-do is a death knell for democracy (NYT May 2019)

#23100 Published: 05/10/2019

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Sion, Graz, Sapporo and Calgary dropped out, and Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo and Stockholm-Åre, had to struggle for political support. The Stockholm 2026 campaign ran into a wall because of opposition to taxpayer funding, but business leaders have come forward with a rescue – assurances that the hosting will be self-funding. The Italian bid ran into the same kind of opposition, but recent reports from Italy suggest assurances will be forthcoming in time for the June meeting.

The cost of hosting any Olympics is prone to increase beyond the host city’s control. Britain’s Independent points out that not so long ago there were 11 cities bidding to host the 2004 Olympics, which was eventually won by Athens; yet only two cities bid to host the 2022 Winter Games, and only two are now left in the running for 2026.

The Winter Olympics are particularly niche, according to the newspaper, because not many major cities are in close proximity to a mountain range with reliable snowfall, even fewer have available the highly specialized facilities for winter sports and the cost of building them is expensive.

• Italian President promises full backing for 2026 Winter Olympic bid (InsideTheGames Mar 2019)
• City council officially drives last nail into 2026 Olympics coffin (Calgary Herald Nov 2018)
• The ‘legacy’ fallacy and the lesson of Montreal: Why almost no one wants to host the 2026 Winter Olympics (Independent Nov 2018)

#23047 Published: 03/14/2019

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Many thought center-left former-president Kirchner of the Justicialist Party, the largest component of the Peronist movement, would be the main rival for incumbent center-right President Mauricio Macri of the Republican Proposal party. Kirchner has chosen instead to run for the vice presidency alongside Alberto Fernández, a little-known moderate Peronist who is described as a consensus-builder. He will need to unite a fractured opposition to take on Macri.

The first case against Kirchner goes to court in May. She is implicated in more than 10 corruption investigations, which she insists are politically-motivated. Partial immunity as a senator shields her from imprisonment, but not prosecution. Polls taken before she announced the vice-presidential run, had shown her to be the closest rival to Macri.

The dire state of the Argentine economy and the austerity measures Macri has introduced, which were the International Monetary Fund’s price for bailing out the country, hamper his re-election chances. Tens of thousands of Argentines demonstrated on Apr 30 in a partial strike that grounded airplanes and shut banks and other businesses to protest the Macri policies. The partial strike followed a protest called by trade unions in early April. The reported divisions in the opposition Peronists and the labor movement might offset Macri’s handicap.

Candidates well-positioned to benefit from the woes of the leading candidates are expected on the June list. They include: Buenos Aires governor Maria Eugenia Vidal, who is seen as a strong contender should Macri’s popular support dwindle additionally throughout the year; Roberto Lavagna, who is considered an elder statesman above partisan politics; Salta Governor Juan Manuel Urtubey, a self-defined moderate who is selling himself personally and politically as similar to Macri; and Sergio Massa, who benefits from a strong social media presence. Americas Quarterly, which reviewed the probable candidates on the list, reports that Massa has taken to filming Facebook live videos on road trips and may be the best known among the opposition Peronists hoping to break through the Macri-Kirchner polarization.

The August party primaries will trim the list of contenders.

• Argentina's 2019 Electoral Calendar (As/COA Mar 2019)
• Argentina's Kirchner charged in new corruption case (France24 Mar 2019)
• In Argentina, If Macri Wins 2019, The IMF Wins Too (Forbes Jan 2019)
• Tens of thousands demonstrated in partial strike in Argentina; unions divided as to how face Marci’s austerity measures (MercoPress May 2019)
• Argentina economy plunges most since 2009 in May; recession looms (Reuters Jul 2018)

#23099 Updated: 05/19/2019 WRITE THROUGH UPDATE MAY 19 TO REFLECT DEVELOPMENTS

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Reuters reports that Guzman’s lawyers want his conviction set aside and a new trial. They argue that juror misconduct deprived him of his constitutional right to a fair trial.

Guzman, 61, broke out of Mexican prisons twice before he was finally recaptured and extradited to the United States in 2017. Most reports see him locked away at the so-called Alcatraz of the Rockies, the federal government's remote escape-proof prison in Florence, Colorado.

Federal prosecutors called more than 50 witnesses over the almost three-month trial. They detailed how Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel amassed billions of dollars importing tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the United States.

Witnesses detailed assassinations and political payoffs, and how drugs were smuggled using tanker trucks, rail cars and even shipments of canned peppers.

• 'El Chapo' escaped from two prisons (USA Today February 2019)

#23010 Published: 02/14/2019

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In the documentary, Wade Robson and James Safechuck both say Jackson abused them when they were children. Associated Press reports that angry fans of the singer unsuccessfully tried to get the documentary pulled from the Sundance Film Festival in Jan 2019, and that the filmmaker, Dan Reed, has received death threats.

Members of the late Michael Jackson’s family defend the late King of Pop in a new documentary seen as a rebuttal to Leaving Neverland. eOnline reports that Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary, spans 30 minutes and was recently released on YouTube. It features interviews with individuals who worked at Neverland Ranch, where Jackson’s accusers said much of the alleged abuse took place.

The number and scale of the Jackson anniversary tributes around the world will be a rough guide to whether the spell can survive the revelations in the documentary.

Ahead of his death and of the release of the documentary, the allegations have made little or no impact on the Jackson spell. Some 1.6 million fans applied for 17,500 tickets to his memorial service in Los Angeles in 2009. Over 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the event on cable TV, while millions more viewed it online. In Nov 2018, Jackson was named the top-earning dead celebrity for the sixth year in a row. He has now made some U.S. $2.4 billion since he died.

One of 10 children, Jackson was born on Aug 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, He joined his family’s popular Motown group, the Jackson 5, at 5 years old, and went on to a solo career of astonishing worldwide success. He delivered No. 1 hits from the albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. Biography.com lists Thriller as the best-selling music album of all time, and Jackson’s This Is It as the highest-grossing concert film of all time.

Jackson, who had been dogged for years by accusations of child molestation, was acquitted in 2005. The charges did not involve Robson or Safechuck. He was found unresponsive in his bedroom by his doctor, Conrad Murray, just before launching a comeback tour in 2009. Murray, who had administered the drugs to Jackson, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and spent two years in prison.

• Michael Jackson biography (biography.com)
• Michael Jackson tribute tickets (Viagogo)
• Michael Jackson: 1.6 million apply for 17,500 memorial service tickets (Telegraph Jun 2009)
• 'Leaving Neverland' Makes Powerful But One-Sided Case Against The King Of Pop (NPR Mar 2019)
• Michael Jackson tops 2018's highest earning dead celebrities list (MSN Nov 2018)

#23036 Updated: 05/19/2019 UPDATED MAY 19 TO INCLUDE INFORMATION ABOUT JACKSON FAMILY DOCUMENTARY REBUTTAL

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The so-called two-state solution, the underlying aspiration, describes a Palestinian homeland based on pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return for refugees. It is nowhere to be found on the agenda of Benjamin Netanyahu, recently re-elected as prime minister and looking at forming a government with parties that demand annexation of the West Bank.

The Israeli publication Haaretz reports that the plan envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work in the Palestinian territories, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries.

A Bloomberg editorial sees the Palestinian leadership with very little leverage. A refusal to engage will be an invitation to the United States and Israel to unilaterally establish a new order in the West Bank, according to the news service.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reports that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is collapsing, due to Israel’s freeze on funds owing to the body, and that annexation could follow. It observes that Israeli settlers may end up realizing their annexation fantasy by way of the pocketbook.

Several publications echo a suspicion voiced by a senior PA official in an interview with Haaretz: “The Palestinian Authority’s fear is what Palestinian officials call the Israeli, American, Saudi and Egyptian conspiracy, whose goal is to divide Gaza from the West Bank and provide an economic solution for Gaza while strengthening Hamas, thus avoiding diplomatic negotiations over the future of Palestine.”

• Opinion The Palestinian Authority Is Collapsing, and Annexation Could Follow (Haaretz May 2019)
• Palestinians Won't Like Trump's 'Deal of the Century' (Bloomberg Apr 2019)
• Palestinian Fund Freeze: Who Will Help Netanyahu Save the Oslo Accords This Time? (Haaretz Apr 2019)

#23088 Updated: 05/20/2019 UPDATED May 20 TO INCLUDE DATE AND PLACE FOR RELEASE OF THE PLAN

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The lineup in June represents historic diversity: at least six women will be debating; candidates’ ages will range from 37 to 77; and platforms will range from centrist to leftist.

As of mid-May, 18 presidential candidates had qualified to participate in the debate. They are: former vice-president Joe Biden; South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg; California Rep. Eric Swalwell; Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke; former Gov. John Hickenlooper; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; Sen. Bernie Sanders; Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Sen. Cory Booker; Sen. Kamala Harris; ex-San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; former Rep. John Delaney; author Marianne Williamson; and former tech executive Andrew Yang.

The list of declared presidential hopefuls continues to grow. The latecomers will have less time to meet the prerequisites for the debate, in which only two places remain.

To qualify for the debate stage, candidates must earn at least 1 per cent of respondents in three national or early-state polls conducted between Jan 2019 and two weeks before the given debate, or have received donations from at least 65,000 individuals across 20 different states, with a minimum of 200 unique donors per state.

• Democrats to hold 1st 2020 presidential primary debates this June in Miami (ABC Mar 2019)
• The RS Politics 2020 Democratic Primary Leaderboard (Rolling Stone Apr 2019)

#23086 Updated: 05/19/2019 UPDATED MAY 19 TO INCLUDE CONFIRMED QUALIFIERS FOR THE DEBATE

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On the Pyramid Stage, the Cure and the Killers join previously-announced headliner Stormzy. Others on the confirmed lineup include Janet Jackson, Tame Impala, Lauryn Hill, Vampire Weekend, Christine and the Queens, the Streets, Rosalía, Hot Chip, Lizzo, Sharon Van Etten, Little Simz, Kamasi Washington, Jorja Smith, the Chemical Brothers, Cat Power, Neneh Cherry, Low, Kurt Vile, Interpol, Janelle Monáe and Kylie Minogue.

A Woodstock-like event that started in 1970, Glastonbury has grown into the largest green field open-air music and performing arts festival in the world. The venue takes an environmental thrashing from the hordes of fans and from periodic downpours, which turn the site into a bog. Festival founder Michael Eavis said it would be moved some 100 miles away every five years to help the land at his farm recover. The 2019 festival will be held at its traditional site.

• Glastonbury Festival web
• Glastonbury 2019 – line-up rumours, performance dates and headliners for the festival (Sun Aug 2018)
• Glastonbury Festival 2019 rumours (Somerset Live Aug 2018)

#22804 Updated: 05/19/2019 UPDATED MAY 19 TO INCLUDE CONFIRMED LINEUP

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