Happy New year to all and to wish everyone a peaceful and prosperous 2024.

A lot has happened since late last year and in the last quarter of 2023 and is still happening now. The conflicts have intensified with fears of it spreading in the Middle East and far beyond! Tankers are being attacked by Houthi rebels who have stated that they are in solidarity with Palestinians and want a ceasefire. Israel on the other hand, intends to raze Gaza to the ground to flush out Hamas and all tunnels so there is never a repeat of the horrific & barbaric acts of Oct 7th.

The Houthi attacks could lead to severe disruption of the Global Supply Chains, given that, 12-15% of annual global trade is shipped through the Red Sea/strait and the rise in cost of goods and products would lead to further increase in inflation. Shipping companies have been using alternative longer routes around Africa's Cape of Good Hope and up the West side of Africa, which then adds 10 more days or more to the journey and millions of dollars to shipping costs that would be passed unto  Consumers.

Meanwhile, ordinary Palestinians have been displaced with no shelter, food or humanitarian aid entering Gaza. There is chaos, hunger and disease with the sick dying due to lack of  hospitals and humanitarian aid. Also, remaining hostages have still not all been released and the families are still waiting! Negotiations continue for the release of hostages and a humanitarian pause/cease-fire that would allow for food, medicines, water and electricity supply and hospitals to function.

South Africa accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and took the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with a unanimous decision by the judges who ruled that Israel must prevent genocide and ensure that Palestinians are not denied necessary humanitarian aid & assistance to survive and, to allow provision of the basics they need.

“Under international law, genocide is defined as committing one or more acts such as (killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group) with the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Israel denies the allegations of genocide against the Palestinians.

At the same time, it was reported that 12 employees of UNRWA, the largest Gaza aid agency that helps with education, distribution of food, etc. participated in the 7th of Oct massacre of Israelis, following which, many Countries that contributed to the funding halted/withdrew their aid contributions. Namely, US, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Austria. It was also reported that the staff involved have been sacked.

Norway and Ireland stated they will continue to provide funding. Countries funding the Organisation were appalled by the news and there has been pleas that collective punishment should not be inflicted on the whole population. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres expressed that he has been horrified by the accusations and appealed to donor countries to guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’S operations. 

Many Countries are having elections this year and it would be interesting to see what happens/results. Liberia elected a new President, following elections, late last year, in which, President George Weah conceded defeat to Opposition leader of the Unity Party and former Vice President, Mr. Joseph Boakai who had lost to George Weah in 2017. The move was lauded as a peaceful transfer of power in a region that often times has seen and known violence and conflict. The election was closely contested. Many Liberians had become disillusioned with Weah’s govt that won a landslide victory with 62% of votes. There has been lack of progress in the Country as poverty still persists, high unemployment, food insecurity and poor electricity supply.

In Argentina, far-right candidate and an outsider, TV pundit, Javier Milei won the Presidential election with over 55% of votes. Milei, a Social Conservative with ties to the American right, opposes abortion rights, promised to slash government spending by closing Argentina’s ministries of culture, education, and diversity, and by eliminating public subsidies as well as adopting US dollar as its currency because of the exorbitant and out of control inflation of 142%.

Voters in Taiwan went to the polls to elect a new President, Mr Lai, Pro-Sovereign Democratic candidate of the Progressive Party, the DPP who won the elections a 3rd time with 40% votes while the opposition Party candidate, Mr Hou Yu-ih of Kuomintang (KMT) party lost. The Country has been run by the two parties, since 2000. Mr Lai, definitely not the preferred choice of Chinese Govt. because of his views on Taiwan Independence.

However, he has stated that “Taiwan will continue to walk the right path forward and not look backwards but favours more exchanges and dialogue over obstructionism and conflict for peace and stability with Beijing”. He wants to maintain the status-quo with Beijing by neither seeking Independence nor Unification and since no one party managed to win an overall majority Mr Lai will need to work with other parties to form alliances and to govern which won’t be easy if China meddles in Taiwan’s internal affairs.

 

Japan’s Airline Plane, Flight JL516 burst into flames on the runway after a collision with a smaller coastguard aircraft on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport but miraculously, the Crew were able to evacuate all 379 passengers to safety. However, 5 of the 6 Coastguard crew died while the Captain was injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with all and may the 5 crew members who have died, RIP!

 

A public inquiry was launched into the Post Office scandal in which, Sub-Postmaster Generals were falsely accused of defrauding the Organisation and either made to pay back or were imprisoned, as well as, being subjected to alleged bullying and harassment to take responsibility with some losing their lives and many suffering injustice when it was well known that there was a problem with the Horizon IT system and equipment used owned by Fujitsu, which was reported. Families and survivors are still waiting for compensation which is being looked into by MPs in Parliament.

The first Tennis Tournament and Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open commenced two weeks ago with the finals over the weekend. In the Men’s final, Jannik Sinner won defeating Daniil Medvedev in 5 sets (3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3) after Medvedev led and won the first 2 sets but the match went the distance whilst Aryna Sabalenka won the Ladies final beating Zheng Qinwen in 2 sets, 6 - 3, 6 - 2. Congratulations to both winners and Commiserations to the Runners Up.