Peru political crisis
Peru is launching a preliminary investigation into President Dina Boluarte on charges of genocide, homicide and serious injuries. The country’s attorney general said Prime Minister Alberto Otarola and the defense and interior ministers will also be investigated. This shortly after the prime minister announced a three-day night-time curfew in the southern region of Puno running from eight p.m. to four a.m. local time. On Monday, eighteen people, including one police officer, were killed in clashes between police and demonstrators. The death toll in a month of protests against the ouster of President Pedro Castillo has risen to forty. The government has defended the actions of security forces claiming the protests amount to a quote-organized coup attempt. Protesters want early elections, resignation of the new president and the closure of Congress. They also want the ousted president released. Castillo was arrested after being removed from office in December.
Russia-Ukraine war
Washington escalating its military aid to Ukraine. In a first, the Pentagon says it will bring Ukrainian troops into the United States for training on how to use the advanced Patriot air defense system. The move follows last month’s decision by Washington to transfer a Patriot battery to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the training will take several months and prepare up to one hundred Ukrainian soldiers. Kiev had repeatedly pushed the United States for the system to counter aerial attacks by Moscow. Russia had warned against the deployment of the system in Ukraine. The Kremlin said the system and any crews accompanying them would be quote legitimate priority targets for the Russian military. Meanwhile, Germany says it will send more weapons to Ukraine as the country's foreign minister makes a surprise visit to eastern Ukraine.
French industrial action
In France, unions are mobilizing to strike after President Emmanuel Macron’s government announced plans to raise the retirement age. The comments were made after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne proposed raising the legal retirement age from sixty two to sixty four by 2030 in a major reform to the pension system. That sets the stage for a bitter fight and weeks of disruption nationwide. Unions have called the reform quote-one of the most brutal measures in the past thirty years. Opinion polls show around two-thirds of French people oppose raising the retirement age. The move comes amid high inflation and the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.