Buzz
Staying updated with the news can be exhausting. To ease the burden, we’ve compiled a roundup of the week’s most impactful, strange, or simply jaw-dropping stories.
The major headline this week was the dramatic downfall of Harvey Weinstein, once a powerhouse in Hollywood. The wave of sexual assault allegations against him dominated airwaves in the U.S. and abroad.
But Hollywood wasn’t the only place witnessing a private crisis. Around the globe, events both massive and surprisingly small were unfolding, each more shocking than the previous.
10. A Flood of Assault Allegations Brought Down Harvey Weinstein’s Empire
They say a week can feel like an eternity in politics, but in the world of entertainment, it’s even more so. Just a week ago, Harvey Weinstein was at the top of Hollywood, as close to royalty as one can be. He had influential connections, a trophy-laden production company, and some say he was thanked more times in Oscar speeches than even God.
Fast forward to now, and Weinstein’s name is synonymous with scandal. His marriage has unraveled. He’s been ousted from the company he founded and banned from the Golden Globes. What caused this fall from grace? A damning New York Times report that exposed Weinstein as a long-time sexual predator, harassing and abusing women for decades.
The allegations broke last Thursday, but the story truly gained momentum over the weekend as more actresses stepped forward with their assault claims. By Wednesday, the New Yorker accused him of raping three women. Although Weinstein denies the charges, the sheer volume of allegations has been enough to shatter his career.
9. Catalonia Declares Independence (Or Does It?)
Last week, we told you how the autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia (home to Barcelona) was likely to declare independence following a contentious referendum. Turns out we were partially correct. On Tuesday, Catalan president Carles Puigdemont signed a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain. But in an unexpected move, he suspended it right away, leaving everyone uncertain about whether Catalonia has actually seceded or not.
This uncertainty has extended to the political corridors of Madrid. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given Puigdemont eight days to confirm if Catalonia has officially split, warning that the region’s autonomy will be suspended if he doesn’t comply. This confusion also permeates Barcelona, where Catalan independence parties like the left-wing CUP have expressed outrage, accusing Puigdemont of mishandling the independence issue.
Puigdemont seems to be using the threat of secession as leverage to extract concessions from Madrid in negotiations. It’s a bold strategy, but one that could backfire. Businesses are already relocating their headquarters out of Catalonia, and there’s no support for an independent Catalan state—from the EU to the UK to the US. Expect this story to evolve significantly in the coming weeks.
8. Devastating Wildfires Ravaged California
On Sunday night, three raging blazes erupted across California’s wine region. Before long, they merged into a monstrous inferno, ravaging the countryside, consuming entire towns, and leaving only a trail of ash in their wake.
As of this moment, the fires are still raging. The Sonoma County sheriff has warned that this blaze could go down as “one of the worst natural disasters in California history.”
The figures already paint a bleak picture. At least 31 people have lost their lives, more than 160 have been hospitalized, and nearly 200,000 acres of land have been decimated. Perhaps the most troubling detail is the staggering number of missing persons. Around 285 Californians vanished in the wake of the fires and have yet to be found. The death toll could very well rise significantly as the situation unfolds.
While fires wreaked havoc in California, an equally tragic disaster unfolded halfway across the world. Flash floods in Vietnam have claimed the lives of 37 people, marking one of the deadliest storms of the season. At least 40 more people remain unaccounted for.
7. A Vampire Panic in Malawi Escalated Into Mob Violence
Malawi is one of the world’s most impoverished nations. Around 85 percent of its 18 million citizens reside in rural areas, where superstitions still hold considerable sway. This week, an age-old fear resurfaced in the southern African nation. A vampire panic erupted in the southern regions, sparking widespread hysteria about bloodsuckers. What began as a fear quickly escalated into deadly vigilante violence.
Malawi has experienced this before. In late 2002, rumors spread that vampires were colluding with international aid organizations to steal villagers’ blood, triggering a mass panic that nearly toppled the government.
During the peak of the frenzy in January 2003, a senior government official was even dragged from his home and publicly stoned by an angry mob. Compared to the chaos of those times, the current panic is relatively minor.
Nevertheless, there have been consequences. At least five people have been lynched under accusations of being vampires, and vigilante groups are setting up makeshift roadblocks to capture and torture alleged bloodsuckers.
6. Italy Sentenced One of Africa’s Most Ruthless Human Traffickers
He was compared to a Nazi concentration camp guard. Osman Matammud, 22, ran a grim, makeshift detention center for migrants in the blistering heat of the Libyan desert. Isolated from the world's view, he imposed a reign of terror that surpassed anything seen in wartime.
Matammud repeatedly assaulted teenage girls who arrived at his camp. He tortured older women sexually. He brutally beat individuals for imagined offenses. He extorted money from families by threatening to assault their daughters. He murdered with a brutality that would have fit right into Hitler’s Germany. This week, he was finally convicted by an Italian court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Matammud’s crimes came to light in 2016 when he tried to enter Europe via the Mediterranean, posing as a migrant. His past victims recognized him, and he narrowly escaped a lynching. His trial in Italy raises an unsettling possibility: there may be more people like Matammud along the African migrant route, abusing and killing with impunity.
5. Dove Got Caught Up In The Most Absurd Non-Controversy
Normally, this column sticks to major stories. But every so often, a tale comes along that captures the absurdity of our modern world so perfectly that we can’t resist. This week, that tale was the controversy sparked by Dove’s latest ad.
Naytemua had distorted the facts. The actual ad featured no ‘before and after’ scenario. Instead, the black and white models were simply two women in a lineup of seven, all from different races, transitioning into each other. (The white woman turns into an Asian woman, and by the end, the last woman transforms back into the black model.)
It took the black model, Lola Ogunyemi, to speak out and set the record straight. Dove endured several days of terrible publicity and was forced to apologize for something they hadn’t even done wrong. If only those who shared Naytemua’s misleading screenshot had bothered to check before hitting ‘tweet’.
4. Liberia Experienced Its First Peaceful, Democratic Transition Of Power In 70 Years (Fingers Crossed)
By the time you read this, Liberia will likely be deep into its first ever peaceful, democratic transfer of power in over 70 years. This small West African nation, founded by former American slaves as a refuge for freed people, has had a turbulent modern history. It’s been ravaged by two civil wars and a coup, with former President Charles Taylor now imprisoned for crimes against humanity.
Liberia only found real stability under the leadership of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who guided the country through the aftermath of war. However, with the constitution preventing her from serving another term, Sirleaf is set to step down in January. There were fears that the race to choose her successor could reignite violence or unrest.
Fortunately, that feared outcome seems to have been averted. Liberians voted peacefully on Sunday, with only a few irregularities reported. The votes are being tallied, and as of now, the nation is on track to experience its first peaceful power transition in living memory. Let’s hope nothing upends it now.
3. We Uncovered Pyongyang’s Hacking of America’s Plans For a New Korean War
A chilling tale to end with. Recently, the ominous sound of impending war has been echoing throughout the Korean Peninsula. If conflict were to suddenly erupt, it's crucial for South Korea and the US to act swiftly to neutralize the North Korean threat.
Such rapid action demands having multiple contingency plans for various scenarios already in place. This week, it was revealed that North Korean hackers had successfully stolen these plans. Kim now has full insight into the military strategies the US and South Korea have prepared against him.
The hack, which took place back in 2016, targeted South Korea, but it was only this week that Seoul disclosed the full extent of what had been stolen. According to a BBC report, 235 gigabytes of military documents were taken, with 80 percent of them still unidentified.
In addition to the US and South Korea’s military plans, Pyongyang might be sitting on vast amounts of valuable information that could give them a strategic advantage in the event of a conflict. Does anyone else long for the days when Kim was merely a figure of ridicule in the press?
2. The Netherlands Has Finally Established a Government (208 Days After the Election)
For those who regularly follow this column, you might have a faint recollection of the March update about Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s victory in the reelection. Well, over 200 days have passed, and Rutte is back in the spotlight. This time, he's finally putting together his coalition government.
Indeed, for the past seven months, the Netherlands has operated without an official government. This marks the longest delay in the country's history to form a coalition.
The issue arose when Rutte's former allies, Dutch Labor, experienced catastrophic losses in March, leaving him without a clear majority in the 150-seat parliament. While Rutte has previously worked with the right-wing, anti-Islam Geert Wilders, whose party finished second, reconnecting with Wilders after such a divisive election was deemed unacceptable by Rutte's VVD supporters.
In the end, Rutte was able to assemble a coalition of four liberal-centrist, center-right, and evangelical-right parties, securing a one-seat majority to form a government. Interestingly, they might not have needed to bother at all. The period without an official government has coincided with some of the strongest economic growth the Netherlands has seen in years.
1. We Discovered Intriguing Evidence of Shia Influence in Viking Scandinavia
Nearly a century ago, Swedish archaeologists uncovered Viking burial garments from 9th- and 10th-century graves. They didn’t seem particularly remarkable at the time, so the embroidered textiles were tucked away in museum storage.
It wasn’t until this year that textile archaeologist Annika Larsson decided to examine them more closely. What she discovered has the potential to completely reshape our understanding of Viking history. Woven into the fabric were the names “Allah” and “Ali.”
The names were inscribed in the ancient Arabic Kufic script and appeared on 10 of the 100 garments that Larsson was studying. What’s intriguing is not just the mention of Allah—a few references to the Islamic god have been previously found in Viking tombs—but the inclusion of Ali.
Ali was the fourth caliph of Islam and a cousin of Muhammad. More significantly, Ali is revered by Shia Muslims. This textile could be the first proof of interaction between Vikings and the Shia sect of Islam.
If this discovery is verified, it would demonstrate that the Vikings were even more extensive travelers than we had previously imagined.
