Story by Yashowanto Ghosh, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of Deutsche Presse-Agentur

BRAZIL – Brazil’s new president, Michael Temer, has declared the country’s political instability “quelled” and now expects to attract foreign investors, reports The Wall Street Journal.  Six parties pledged to support Temer’s austerity measures on Thursday, Sept. 15; however, Temer remains highly unpopular going into Brazil’s nationwide local elections scheduled for October.

GERMANY – Chancellor Angela Merkel faces yet another trial by fire at the ballot box when Berlin holds state elections on Sunday, Sept. 18.

Merkel’s party, CDU, is currently the junior coalition partner in Berlin’s state government, but Merkel’s open-door refugee policy has translated to escalating election setbacks this year, with losses in two out of three state elections in March and a worse loss in Merkel’s home state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the CDU finished in third place in state elections on Sept. 4.  CDU’s losses have been the gains of AfD, a far-right party with a Eurosceptic and anti-immigration platform.  Merkel declined to reconsider her refugee policy during a radio interview on Thursday, Sept. 15, according to Daily Mail.

Germany will have federal elections in 2017; while Merkel herself has been silent on the question, the CDU has released a statement that she will run for chancellor again, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

INDONESIA – A tourist boat with at least 30 passengers and four crew members was hit by an explosion on the way from Bali to another island; two people died and at least 14 were injured, reports BBC.  Officials have ruled out a bomb and said that the explosion may have been caused by a short circuit near the boat’s fuel tank.

JAPAN – Japan will increase its presence in South China Sea, participating in training cruises with the U.S. Navy and multilateral exercises with other regional navies, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said before her meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Sept. 15, reports Reuter.  While Japan does not claim any territory in South China Sea, it has its own territorial dispute with China in East China Sea.

About the Writer…

Yashowanto Ghosh is a senior with a major in communication and minors in journalism and writing. Jasho is also an alumnus of Aquinas (B.A. German ’11).