WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The State of the World: Spain, the South China Sea, and Strikes

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

The final episode of The State of the World breaks down top headlines in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. Key topics include the selection of Spanish blackouts, South China Sea tensions, strikes on the Houthi terrorists, and Western Hemisphere elections.

Hello, my name is Aaron Osborne, and this is the State of the World on WRFH 101.7 FM, where we talk about breaking news in international relations over the past week. Starting off this week with Europe, the Spaniards and Portuguese alike have recovered electricity after a massive blackout. The Washington Post reported that the blackout was the biggest in Spanish history and impacted millions of people. In France, Paris accused Russian military intelligence of dozens of cyber attacks against French ministries, programs and media outlets, according to the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, on Ukraine, the Kremlin rejected a 30-day ceasefire proposal after Ukrainian President Volodymere Zelenskyy criticized the previous ceasefire proposal. Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed a three-day ceasefire, which would have been

commemorating Russia's 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany and World War II, according to Radio for Europe. There's also been a story combining European and Asian thesis. this week as Germany has charged a former political staffer with spying on behalf of China. The staffer, according to the Wall Street Journal, obtained more than 500 documents from the European Parliament. These tensions just come days before Germany elects a new chancellor. Also in China, tensions are increasing over the Sandy Key region in the South China Sea. South China Sea has been a point of tension as Beijing increases territorial claims in the region,

particularly with the Philippines. The Philippines deployed Navy and Coast Guard ships to Sandy Key in the neighboring islands on April 27th, according to the Washington Post. And also with China, China has sent a number of non-contraimental organizations to lobby about Chinese treatment of Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans, and Hong Kong activists, according to the Washington Post. And in India, tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi are increasing over a water-sharing agreement. These tensions between Pakistan and India are not a new thing and again span both Asia and the Middle East, as Pakistan says that India has suspended the six decades-long agreement following last week's militant attack in the Kashmir region, according to Radio Michal. That attack, which we covered on last week's episode, was in the Muslim majority region of India. And in addition, the United States Central Command executed a missile strike on a Houthi strong.

in the Yemeni city of Sada. Houtis have accused the United States of dozens of civilian casualties in the ongoing American campaign to secure the Red Sea. And in addition, more than 40 people have died following an explosion in southern Iran. Over 900 people have been injured,

and environmentalists have raised concerns of airborne pollutants from the port explosion, according to the Washington Post. In conjunction with the Yemeni strikes that we just talked about, Houthi-run media outlets claim that dozens of casualties were actually African migrants rather than Yemeni residents of the Civil War-torn country. The U.S. military, however, claims to have hit more than 800 targets since President Trump ordered an increase in anti-Huti operations on March 15th, according to the BBC, and indicated

that the mission was successful. In Africa proper, there's been a series of wildfires in Cape down South Africa. Almost 200 households have been evacuated from their homes, according to local media. And to round out the continent, human rights organizations are calling once more for investigations into the deaths of protesters at the hands of the Kenyan security forces last summer. The deaths occurred in conjunction with large-scale protests throughout Kenya against new higher tax regulations. And in the biggest news of the Western Hemisphere this week, Mark Carney has won the Canadian elections. Carney, a liberal, pulled through against strong opposition.

His platform included opposing Trump's tariffs, which is what many people think led to his victory. However, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation indicates that the liberals may not have a parliamentary majority. The Washington Post reports that the new Canadian Prime Minister is the fourth liberal term in power of Canadian Parliament. And in other election news, the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago elected the centrist United National Congress leader as the next prime minister. Prime Minister Kamla Parasad Bississasar previously served as prime minister from 2010 to 2015, according to the BBC. That's all we have for today. Thank you so much for listening to The State of the World on WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.