Headlines in This News Package:

• Senior Doctors Go on Strike in UK, Crippling Health Service

• Storm Ravages Balkans as Global Warming’s Impact Continues

• Dozens of Nations Express Interest in Joining an Expanded BRICS

• Years in the Making, First Original African Animation Series Streams on Netflix

• LGBTQ Rights Improve in Nepal, Under Attack in Turkey

[NEWS ITEM TEXT]

Senior Doctors Go on Strike in UK, Crippling Health Service

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Senior doctors in the United Kingdom went on strike over pay and conditions on July 20, reported ABC News. The doctors struck only a few days after a five-day strike by junior doctors. The industrial actions have put a wrench in the works of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

According to ABC News, “Thousands of operations and appointments have been canceled, and health officials say the impact of the latest round of strikes to hit the country’s public health system is likely to be the biggest yet because almost no work can be done at hospitals unless it’s supervised by a senior doctor.”

The senior doctors are calling out what they see as continuous below-inflation raises. British Medical Association (BMA) consultant committee’s chair Vishal Sharma told the BBC, “We are undervalued and overworked. This government is failing us and failing patients.”

According to the BMA’s analysis, real wages have fallen for senior doctors by 27 percent since 2008. The Conservative government is offering only a 6 percent raise this year.

The industrial action has left some NHS patients frustrated. Sally Knight, a 68-year-old UK resident, told the BBC, “We did everything we should have done in COVID to protect the NHS and now when I want them, they are letting me down really.”

But others appear to be more accommodating. “They do a good job, they need more money… it’ll all get sorted out in the end… You’ve just got to be patient, so I’m a patient patient,” said a woman named Carol (last name undisclosed) awaiting hip surgery to Sky News.

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Storm Ravages Balkans as Global Warming’s Impact Continues

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Balkan Insight reported that a storm with 150-kilometer-per-hour winds struck Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia on July 19. Among the areas affected was Croatia’s capital, Zagreb. The storm left six dead, while there were hundreds of others injured, the outlet said. At least four of the victims were killed by falling trees.

The storm followed a heat wave as well as a prior storm that hit Slovenia just the day before. According to scientists, severe storms are expected to grow more and more frequent as the Earth’s temperature heats up, one of several major signs of ongoing global warming. Impacts of the environmental crisis were also felt elsewhere across the world in July in the forms of droughts, wildfires, and heat waves.

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Dozens of Nations Express Interest in Joining an Expanded BRICS

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Anil Sooklal, South Africa’s head official for relations with the BRICS group of nations, said on July 20 that almost 45 countries have expressed interest in joining the Global South bloc ahead of a summit scheduled for August 22-24, 2023, according to Reuters. Current members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which was the last to join in 2010. Sooklal said that 22 countries had put in formal applications.

The BRICS conference is expected to address the issue of new applicants. The bloc, which has over 40 percent of the world’s population and around 30 percent of the world’s GDP, is attempting to become a major geopolitical rival to the West and its financial institutions, the IMF and the World Bank. It sees itself as a bulwark of the Global South.

The summit has already faced controversy. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin committed war crimes during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. South Africa is a signatory to the ICC, and the country would be obligated to arrest Putin if he set foot on South African soil, where the conference will be held.

This would be tantamount to a declaration of “war,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said to the ICC of the summit host country’s dilemma, according to Reuters. However, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov now set to attend instead, with Putin participating via videoconference, the issue has become moot.

Several countries, including Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, met with BRICS officials in early June as “Friends of BRICS” in the lead-up to expansion talks, reported Reuters.

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Years in the Making, First Original African Animation Series Streams on Netflix

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Four years after announcing that it had purchased the series, streaming platform Netflix debuted “Supa Team 4,” co-produced by animation studio Triggerfish. The show is the first original African animation series to appear on Netflix, reported Agence France-Presse. It follows four young women who become superheroes in a futuristic version of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

“Supa Team 4” was originally pitched by creator Malenga Mulendema to Triggerfish in 2015. “I’m excited that the world finally gets to see the fantastic show that the incredibly talented super team, from Africa and beyond, have put together,” said Mulendema to AFP.

Netflix announced a foray into acquiring more African content in April. The streaming platform has “bet on diversifying its production outside the United States in recent years, scoring big with series including Spanish smash ‘Money Heist’ and South Korean dystopian drama ‘Squid Game,’” AFP reported.

The creative industries are seen as a source of potential economic growth in Africa, with award-winning Nigerian musical artist D’banj saying in a mid-July CNN report, “Content is the new crude oil.” However, Africa and the Middle East combined currently only generate about 3 percent of global economic output from creative industries, a total amounting to about $58 billion.

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LGBTQ Rights Improve in Nepal, Under Attack in Turkey

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A cisgender man and his transgender wife were among those who were allowed by Nepal’s highest court in June to register same-sex and other nontraditional marriages, reported Radio France Internationale.

The ruling, while temporary and incomplete, makes Nepal the second Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage after Taiwan. It was brought to existence by LGBTQ activists who argued that the government must recognize same-sex marriages under its own rulings. Nepali LGBTQ rights activist Pinky Gurung said to Reuters that as many as 200 couples were expected to register their marriages under the new ruling.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, conservative-instigated homophobia continues to rise, Global Voices reported. In response to a tweet by queer volleyball player Ebrar Karakurt, Global Voices said, a newspaper close to the Turkish government said that she was a “homosexual deviant imposing a perverted lifestyle.” While Karakurt “brushed off” the comment, Global Voices said that this is part of a series of attacks on LGBTQ lives and broader open-minded culture.