World Tour: Croatia joins the Eurozone

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with Onize Ohikere, our reporter in Africa.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Brazil’s Lula in office —We begin the first World Tour of 2023 in Brazil.

Veteran leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has assumed office as the country’s new president.

AUDIO: [Cheering supporters]

Cheering supporters dressed in red and crowded Brazil’s capital city on Sunday to welcome the 77-year-old leftist politician.

Lula previously served as president from 2003 to 2010.

He takes over for rightwing leader Jair Bolsonaro, who left Brazil for Florida last week. Lula defeated him in an October runoff vote.

AUDIO: [Lula speaking]

Lula says here his administration will repeal decrees by his predecessor that eased gun-control regulations.

He also pledged to reinstall environmental protections and fight economic decline and rising poverty. But he faces a Congress dominated by Bolsonaro’s conservative allies.

Croatia in Eurozone — Next, to Europe.

AUDIO: [Fireworks in Zagreb]

Croatia has ushered in the New Year with some major economic changes. The European nation joined the EU’s borderless travel area and eurozone on January 1.

The changes mean Croatia will now use the euro as currency and become part of Europe’s passport-free travel zone.

Croatia joined the EU back in 2013, but membership rules required it to delay entering the free travel area and adopting the euro.

Boris Vujcic is Croatia’s central bank governor.

AUDIO: [Vujcic speaking]

He says here the changes will make Croatia more resilient to crises, increase investment options, and ease the cost of doing business.

Croatia is the first country to join the Eurozone since Lithuania in 2015.

Bolivia unrest —We head next to Bolivia.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

Burned cars and barricades covered the streets of the city of Santa Cruz after fighting last week.

Several hundred demonstrators threw rocks at a police building and burned tires on Friday.

AUDIO: [Police transport]

That followed a court ruling earlier in the day that sentenced opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho to four months in pretrial detention.

Camacho, the right-wing governor of Santa Cruz, was detained on terrorism charges, including his alleged involvement in the 2019 resignation of leftist president Evo Morales.

Uganda stampede — We wrap up in Uganda, where people are still dealing with the aftermath of a New Year’s Eve stampede.

At least 10 people died in the crush. They include four children.

Kampala Metropolitan police spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire.

OWOYESIGYIRE: We have decided to open up criminal inquiries against the organizer of this festival to ascertain what went wrong.

The tragedy occurred as a packed New Year’s show ended at a popular mall in Kampala. People began pushing to get outside to watch fireworks and the victims were trampled.

The government has said it would pay nearly $1,400 to each victim’s family to help with burial costs.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with Onize Ohikere, our reporter in Africa.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Brazil’s Lula in office —We begin the first World Tour of 2023 in Brazil.

Veteran leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has assumed office as the country’s new president.

AUDIO: [Cheering supporters]

Cheering supporters dressed in red and crowded Brazil’s capital city on Sunday to welcome the 77-year-old leftist politician.

Lula previously served as president from 2003 to 2010.

He takes over for rightwing leader Jair Bolsonaro, who left Brazil for Florida last week. Lula defeated him in an October runoff vote.

AUDIO: [Lula speaking]

Lula says here his administration will repeal decrees by his predecessor that eased gun-control regulations.

He also pledged to reinstall environmental protections and fight economic decline and rising poverty. But he faces a Congress dominated by Bolsonaro’s conservative allies.

Croatia in Eurozone — Next, to Europe.

AUDIO: [Fireworks in Zagreb]

Croatia has ushered in the New Year with some major economic changes. The European nation joined the EU’s borderless travel area and eurozone on January 1.

The changes mean Croatia will now use the euro as currency and become part of Europe’s passport-free travel zone.

Croatia joined the EU back in 2013, but membership rules required it to delay entering the free travel area and adopting the euro.

Boris Vujcic is Croatia’s central bank governor.

AUDIO: [Vujcic speaking]

He says here the changes will make Croatia more resilient to crises, increase investment options, and ease the cost of doing business.

Croatia is the first country to join the Eurozone since Lithuania in 2015.

Bolivia unrest —We head next to Bolivia.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

Burned cars and barricades covered the streets of the city of Santa Cruz after fighting last week.

Several hundred demonstrators threw rocks at a police building and burned tires on Friday.

AUDIO: [Police transport]

That followed a court ruling earlier in the day that sentenced opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho to four months in pretrial detention.

Camacho, the right-wing governor of Santa Cruz, was detained on terrorism charges, including his alleged involvement in the 2019 resignation of leftist president Evo Morales.

Uganda stampede — We wrap up in Uganda, where people are still dealing with the aftermath of a New Year’s Eve stampede.

At least 10 people died in the crush. They include four children.

Kampala Metropolitan police spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire.

OWOYESIGYIRE: We have decided to open up criminal inquiries against the organizer of this festival to ascertain what went wrong.

The tragedy occurred as a packed New Year’s show ended at a popular mall in Kampala. People began pushing to get outside to watch fireworks and the victims were trampled.

The government has said it would pay nearly $1,400 to each victim’s family to help with burial costs.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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