PNUT GALLERYAu revoir, Alexander Shprygin! Following the violence at the Russia-England match, France is deporting the far-right leader of the Russian Footballer Supporters’ Association, along with 19 other Russian citizens. |
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IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READUK Mourns The Death Of Jo CoxJo Cox, a British Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was fatally shot and stabbed yesterday in West Yorkshire, England following a meeting with constituents. A 52-year old man was arrested near the scene. One eyewitness told the BBC that they heard the attacker shout, “Put Britain first” at least twice before she was shot. In her tragically short 15 months in office, she was a known humanitarian who repeatedly called on the UK to do more for Syrian refugees. Cox is survived by her husband Brendan and her two children. What does this mean?Cox is the first sitting MP to be attacked in over 25 years. In 1990, Ian Gow was the last in a string of politicians to die at the hands of Northern Irish terror groups. Reasons behind Cox’s murder, however, remain unclear, and an investigation is under way. In the meantime, the Vote Leave and Remain campaigns in the EU referendum have suspended campaigning. Obituary: Jo Cox, The Proud Yorkshire Lass |
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A 15-Hour Filibuster Forces GOP To Consider Gun ControlUS Senator Chris Murphy, fed up with Senate Republicans refusing to let gun control bills onto the floor for a vote, held a filibuster in an effort to halt Senate activity. A whopping 15 hours later, the GOP caved and agreed to vote on two proposed gun control measures. Traditionally, filibusters are used to prevent a vote, but it is no easy task getting the Republicans to even consider a vote on gun control. Because Murphy could not lose the floor, he stood the entire 15 hours, making it the 9th longest filibuster in the Senate’s history. It remains to be seen whether Murphy’s marathon filibuster will fully obstruct GOP obstruction to gun control, but according to Murphy’s FitBit, it was roughly 150,000 steps in the right direction. Pnut Read: What Ever Happened To Our Gun Legislation? |
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NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READJapan Wants To Help You Make BabiesWorried about Japan’s rapidly declining birthrate, a Tokyo suburb decided to get proactive. The city of Urayasu is allocating £600,000 in public funding to give women discounts on freezing their eggs. The procedure to preserve one’s eggs is costly in Japan, ranging between 500,000 and 600,000 yen. Under this new program, women will pay about 20% of the cost. Hopefully, this “better late than never” approach will be a more effective strategy than the infamous “Do it for Denmark” commercials that aired on Danish TV. |
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The UN Finally Gets Around To Acknowledging A Yazidi Genocide Speaking of “better late than never,” the United Nations have – for the first time – accused ISIS of committing genocide against the Yazidis in Iraq and Syria. The UN even went as far as to say that the systematic erasure of the Yazidi identity began years ago, back when survivors and witnesses began calling for action. ISIS didn’t exactly keep their intent of wiping out Yazidis a secret. The minority group is considered “pagan, [whose] existence Muslims should question” and it’s estimated that the Islamic State holds at least 3,200 Yazidi women as slaves. Still, the UN needed to hold an investigation to get to the bottom of this, and their 45-page report concluded that “no other religious group present in Isis-controlled areas of Syria and Iraq has been subjected to the destruction that the Yazidis have suffered.” In A Nutshell: The Origins Of ISIS |
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Venezuelan City Creates Curfew To Avoid Scenes From ‘The Purge’The city of Cumana is under a de facto curfew after a mass looting left at least 20 shops ransacked and 400 people arrested. The drop in the global price of oil combined with years of economic mismanagement has left the Venezuelan government struggling to import enough food to feed its people. While President Nicolas Maduro obviously didn’t take responsibility for the crisis, he acknowledged it by blaming his political enemies. At the moment, there is little sign the situation will improve. You know it’s bad when the chant “we are hungry” is in regular rotation on the streets outside supermarkets. |
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KEEPING OUR EYE ON…EgyptAir: A day after investigators found wreckage from missing flight MS804, an object believed to be the cockpit voice recorder was found. Although damaged, the retrieval process is underway. Niger: The bodies of 34 migrants were found in the desert, presumably abandoned by people-smugglers. At least 20 of the bodies were children. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: CZI made its first major investment since the initiative was launched last December. Mark and Priscilla are investing in Andela, a Lagos-based company that trains and deploys software developers. |
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LOOSE NUTS: FOR YOUR ENJOYMENTGerman Coach Joachim Löw Apologizes For Smelling His TesticlesHe will forever be known as Coach Scratch-n-Sniff. Germany’s Coach Löw must have been in the zone and forgot his surroundings when he threw his hands down the front of his pants on the field during the Euros. After a good hearty scratch, Löw checked his health in the crudest way possible. He apologized and seemed pretty humiliated after footage of the scratch-n-sniff disaster went viral. Seeing that his coach clearly needs new methods of support, star forward Lukas Podolski defended Löw, saying, “about 80% of you here have at some point scratched your balls. Therefore, everything is good.” |
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