The Weekly Report: July 13-20
United States
Recently the Trump administration announced that they were actively trying to bring back recently retired members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE). This news comes as ICE has continuously been trying to reach quotas it has for rounding up illegal immigrants. President Trump announced a plan to increase the ICE force by as many as 10,000 officers to ensure his goals are met.
This past week President Trump announced that he instructed the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to request the release of the Grand Jury Testimony. Over the course of recent weeks President Trump has been getting pressured from many right and far right supporters alongside congressmen. He alongside his administration have been facing criticism for the handling of the situation. Attorney General Pam Bondi is the one who has been in the hot seat after she announced essentially that the case was closed without releasing everything like she had been promising for months. The likelihood that everything related to the Epstein case remains slim.
Asia
The long serving Liberal Democratic party of Japan suffered defeat in parliamentary elections. The elections saw right wing populist groups gain significant ground and influence in the parliament. This is important as for a long time now Japan's political system has been very stable. Time will tell whether this result will cause political instability or not in Japan.
A boat in Vietnam which was carrying many tourists capsized resulting in the death of at least 35 people. The boat was carrying 46 passengers and crew at the time. At the time of the boat going out severe thunderstorms rolled in creating high swells that overturned the boat. So far only 10 people have been found alive following the capsizing.
Europe
Germany and the UK announced they signed a new mutual defense pact. This move comes as we have seen many European countries in recent time take their security into their own hands due to the unpredictability of President Trump when it comes to defending them. In the pact both countries will help defend each other should one of them be attacked. This pact could pave the way for future pacts between other European countries.
The United Kingdom(UK) announced this week that they would lower the voting age to 16 from 18, a move that has been criticized by certain politicians. If this will actually go through the parliament successfully is a different question as it will require a law to be passed through both houses of parliament. The labour party, the party in power, has a good amount of time to get this passed as the next round of general elections aren't expected until 2029.
South America
This past Friday a prisoner swap was conducted between Venezuela and the U.S. which included the release of a former U.S. Navy Seal from Venezuelan custody. All together around 260 people were released from both Venezuela and El Salvador as part of the deal. 252 Venezuelans released from El Salvador will be heading back to Venezuela while 10 Americans and U.S. permanent residents will be heading back home to the U.S.
Africa
The African Nation of Eswatini announced they would repatriate five migrants who were deported to the nation by the U.S. These migrants will be sent back to their respective nations which include Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen, and Cuba.
Middle East
After many days of fighting the City of Sweida in Syria has been badly damaged. More than 500 people have been killed in the sectarian fighting between the Druze and the Syrian Government. This fighting shows how the new Syrian Government is having trouble pulling the country together following years of civil war during the past regime which was run by Bashar Al-Assad.
