Global Briefs: Labour day for English Parliament

United Kingdom

With the lowest voter turnout in 20 years, the Labour Party won parliamentary elections on July 4, sending Keir Starmer to 10 Downing Street. Observers describe the new prime minister as a pragmatist who focuses on steady administrative advances and positions himself as pro-business. “Economic growth and social justice must go hand in hand,” Starmer says. The new PM quickly started a wide-ranging shake-up of government ministries, and he plans to overhaul the National Health Service. He promised a British public exhausted by post-Brexit negotiations that he would improve the “botched” U.K.-EU deal. Meanwhile, Britain’s Reform Party, led by Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage, gained four seats in Parliament. The Tories face a struggle to fill a leadership vacuum following former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s resignation in the wake of Labour’s landslide victory. —Jenny Lind Schmitt

Brazil

More than 200 million people will be free to consume recreational marijuana in Brazil after a ruling from the Supreme Federal Court (SFC) on June 25. Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barosso said the decision was a way to solve a crisis in the country’s prison system. Brazil has the third-highest incarceration rate in the world, along with a well-known network of organized crime within prisons. Even so, two-thirds of Brazilians oppose recreational marijuana and consider the ruling a judicial overreach. Former President Jair Bolsonaro called it “an arrow in the chest for Brazilian families who suffer as a result of these evils.” If Congress does not ­overturn the ruling, Brazil will become the most populous nation to decriminalize marijuana and will likely influence other Latin American countries to follow suit. —Carlos Páez

Laos

A China-funded Laos-China railway is expanding Beijing’s influence in Southeast Asia. On July 19, Laos and Thailand were set to launch a train service linking the two countries, facilitating a rail route from Thailand all the way to China. The $6 billion line connecting the Laotian capital of Vientiane with the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming is part of China’s ongoing plan to construct the Kunming-Singapore railway network under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. While the Laos-China railroad has created opportunities for employment and business growth in landlocked Laos since it began operations in 2021, critics say it could contribute to the country’s increasing economic and political subservience to China, its biggest creditor. Public and publicly guaranteed debt in Laos, a communist country, totaled 108 percent of its GDP last year. —Erica Kwong

Italy

Leaders of Rome’s Breccia Church will take their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after Italian courts decided against the church in a tax case. In 2016 and 2018, two lower courts ruled in favor of the church after the Italian Revenue Agency said Breccia did not resemble a place of worship and should pay taxes. But on appeal, Italy’s Supreme Court said the church had not made enough “structural changes” to the former commercial space where it meets. It ruled the church must pay $6,500 (6,000 euros) a year plus back taxes. Breccia’s pastors called the ruling “unfair and discriminatory” and said their fight is for religious liberty. But the ECHR is often reluctant to take cases involving religion. —Jenny Lind Schmitt

Saudi Arabia

The Middle Eastern kingdom is defending itself against allegations that its mismanagement of the yearly Hajj pilgrimage led to the deaths of over 1,300 ­pilgrims in June. The Hajj—a pilgrimage to Muhammad’s birthplace in Mecca—is required for all Muslims who are able to perform it. The Saudi government requires pilgrims to purchase Hajj visas, which grant them access to holy sites and accommodations. But the visas cost up to $10,000, so many pilgrims enter unofficially. Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel said 83 percent of those who died during this year’s Hajj were unauthorized, often elderly, pilgrims who walked long distances in the heat. —Elizabeth Russell

Sierra Leone

President Julius Maada Bio on July 2 approved a bill that bans child marriage. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill mandates a 15-year prison sentence, a $4,000 fine, or both to anyone who marries a girl younger than 18. Witnesses to such unions will also face penalties. “I have always believed that the future of Sierra Leone is female,” Bio said on the social media platform X. “This and future generations of girls must thrive in a Sierra Leone in which they’re protected, equal, and empowered.” The U.S. Bureau of African Affairs called the bill a “significant milestone.” Some 800,000 child brides live in Sierra Leone, according to the United Nations children’s agency. Child marriage is most prevalent globally in Niger, where 76 percent of girls are married before age 18. —Onize Ohikere