WORLD LEADERS
PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL
LULA DA SILVA
The current crisis has left 36.4 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Five consecutive failed rains have left the region facing the worst drought in four decades and extreme levels of hunger. The next rainy season, beginning in March of 2023, is also expected to fail.
It comes amid unprecedented worker organizing — from strike authorizations to work stoppages — Wednesday’s strike is the latest one for the _______ industry this year as it continues to confront burnout with the heavy workloads — problems that were exacerbated greatly by the pandemic.
HEALTH CARE--
Thousands of U.S. health care workers go on strike in multiple states over wages and staff shortages. The strike comes amid unprecedented worker organizing within multiple industries this year, including, transportation, entertainment and hospitality.
THE ASIAN TIGER MOSQUITO HAS INVADED EUROPE. WHAT DISEASE DOES IT CARRY?
DENGUE
Climate change and migration mean the mosquitoes that transmit dengue, as well as other diseases such as chikungunya and Zika, are setting up shop in Europe. While dengue usually results in mild or no symptoms, it can also lead to high fever, severe headache and vomiting. Severe dengue can cause bleeding from the gums, abdominal pain and, in some cases, death. So far, the mosquito has mostly been confined to Southern Europe but it's a worry across the Continent.
OTHER THAN 'REDUCING FF/CO2' NAME A BENEFIT OF THE CARBON TAX
FORCES A SHIFT TO RENEWABLES
PRESIDENT OF FRANCE
EMMANUEL MACRON
Ongoing violence escalated in 2022, with countries affected by new levels of conflict and insecurity. UN experts estimate that the situation will worsen in 2023, which OCHA has described as “the worst humanitarian needs in years.” Taking into account the full region approximately 34.8 million people require humanitarian assistance, and that an additional 3 million will require support this year.
THE SAHEL--BURKINA FASO, NIGER, CAMEROON, CHAD, MALI, NIGERIA
TEMPORARY SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
The House is in crisis, and Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry is tasked with picking up the pieces — again.
The North Carolina Republican is temporarily serving as speaker after the historic ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who had McHenry at the top of his list of hand-picked successors.
Top officials from the EU met with _________ and ______ for undisclosed emergency talks in Turkey designed to resolve the standoff over Nagorno-Karabakh, just days before Azerbaijan launched a military offensive last month to seize the breakaway territory from ethnic Armenian control.
U.S. AND RUSSIA
the discussions came out of an understanding that the Kremlin still holds sway in the region. “We need to be able to work with the Russians on this because they do have influence over the parties, especially as we’re at a precarious moment right now,” the American official said.
WHAT DOES THE OASIS ACT OF 2023 PROPOSE
BAN FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES
PIVOT TO SOLAR
USE PUBLIC LANDS FOR SOLAR
PRESIDENT OF INDIA
DROUPADI MURMU
Increased violence in 2022 has added to a series of emergencies that make up the decades-long humanitarian crisis. 27 million require humanitarian assistance — nearly a 38% increase in need compared to last year.
NAME THE STATE: Because politicians have been unable to make meaningful headway on a deteriorating homelessness crisis, the conflict has shifted to a new arena out of their control: courtrooms. A series of rulings in ___________ has barred cities from clearing encampments even as mayors are contending with lawsuits that accuse them of failing to do so. A judge ordered the city and county to shelter every person in a sprawling encampment.
CALIFORNIA--That is creating a precarious state of affairs for California’s elected officials who are under enormous pressure to demonstrate progress but complain of being hamstrung by the courts. They fear judges are steering them into an impossible corner by limiting their power to manage a crisis for which they will be blamed. And they say the legal system is ill-equipped to address an unprecedented confluence of high housing costs, spiking drug addiction and untreated mental illness.
European Union countries on Wednesday sealed a deal, taking a step towards overhauling the bloc's rules before a pan-European election next year.
Envoys of the bloc's 27 member states reached the agreement on Wednesday after overcoming the latest spat between Italy and Germany
The 27 countries will now negotiate further with the European Parliament. They hope to have a functioning _________ system in place ahead of a 2024 European Parliament election that takes place across the union of some 450 million people.
MIGRATION
OTHER THAN THE U.S., NAME ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT IS RESTRICTING THEIR MICROCHIP EXPORTS TO CHINA
JAPAN
NETHERLANDS
PRESIDENT OF ITALY
SERGIO MATTARELLA
The level of severity escalated in 2022 due in large part to last year’s floods, which affected 33 million people — roughly one out of every seven people in the country. The rains were the worst the country has faced since it began recording climate data in 1918. “The magnitude and scale of the destruction to the country cannot be underestimated,” said Sherzada Khan, Concern’s acting Country Director , last August. “We are responding to a very serious humanitarian situation.”
PAKISTAN
The Pentagon will transfer thousands of weapons and rounds of ammunition seized from ____ and send them to ______, according to a Defense Department official, a move that comes as congressional infighting threatens to delay or derail aid to Kyiv.
IRAN, UKRAINE--The transfer is aimed at helping Kyiv’s forces push through Russia’s defensive lines before winter sets. It comes as funding for Ukraine has fallen victim to political infighting in the House, where a group of hardline Republican members are opposing any additional aid to the conflict.
The European Commission officially opened an investigation into _______electric vehicle sector on Wednesday, saying it has provided subsidies that risk damaging EU industry. Depending on the evidence uncovered, and majority support garnered among EU member states, the union could slap import duties on vehicles coming from ______
CHINA
A Chinese Ministry of Commerce statement slammed the investigation as “naked protectionist behaviour that will seriously disrupt and distort the supply chain of the global automotive industry chain, including the EU”.
DAILY DOUBLE. NAME ONE OF THE TOP 5 MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS
PRESIDENT OF MEXICO
ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR
What began as a peaceful protest in 2011 has now become more than a decade of crisis The violence has not stopped, and millions are displaced abroad (often with limited legal rights, resources, and language skills). More than 6.8 million are internally displaced, and 15.3 million require humanitarian aid — the highest amount of need since the conflict began. It is also one of the epicenters of the current cholera outbreak, one of the largest in recent history.
SYRIA
THIS COUNTRY JUST ELECTED ITS FIRST BLACK MAN AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Canada’s House of Commons has elected Liberal MP Greg Fergus as speaker — the first time a Black Canadian will hold the role. Fergus takes on the task of presiding over a fractious House. Some Conservatives were vocally opposed to Fergus’s candidacy. Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner claimed a past ethics violation made him unfit for the role.
DAILY DOUBLE
European Union leaders will discuss how to reform the 27-nation bloc to take in new members at a summit in Granada on Oct. 5-6, launching a long process to prepare the EU for enlargement by a tentative deadline of 2030.
Name a country that wants to join the EU. Each country you name is worth 500
TURKEY (candidate since 1999). Turkey's accession talks with the EU have long been frozen, largely over human rights and governance concerns.
NORTH MACEDONIA (candidate since 2005). It has been on a path to the EU since 2003 . But talks have yet to begin in earnest, due to objections from neighbouring Bulgaria.
MONTENEGRO (candidate since 2010). 33 chapters of negotiations - areas in which the candidate needs to emulate EU laws - have been opened and three of those have been provisionally completed.
SERBIA (candidate since 2012). 22 out of a total of 35 chapters of negotiations have been opened and two completed.
ALBANIA after Albania met conditions on changes to the judiciary, fighting corruption and organised crime, intelligence services and public administration. But its talks have yet to begin in earnest as the EU has coupled Albania's membership bid to that of North Macedonia, effectively meaning both are held up by Bulgaria.
MOLDOVA To progress to the start of accession talks, the European Commission asked Moldova to reform its judiciary, curb corruption and organised crime, get rid of oligarchs, reform public administration and finances, involve civil society and boost the protection of human rights.
UKRAINE applied for EU membership several days after it was invaded by Russia in February 2022, and was granted candidate status in June that year.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA To start accession talks Bosnia needs to implement 14 priorities set by the Commission in 2019 which focus on democracy and functionality of the state, rule of law, fundamental rights and public administration reform.
WHAT AM I ???
Areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious fresh food. Grocery stores that qualify for these tax cuts must earn at 6 least 25% of their gross revenue from locations in these areas