Lebanon, North Korea, Uganda.

Today's three stories you should know.

Oct 04, 2022

Subscribers,

Trust you’re all doing well. Wanted to apologise for the lack of newsletters recently. Proximities is a one-man operation and I’ve been tied up with personal things, including organizing a house move. Hoping the more regular frequency will return now.

Bests,

Barry.

Lebanon

More desperate Lebanese people have stormed banks attempting to access their own savings. The country’s banks had only just reopened after being closed for more than a week following a previous wave of raids. A retired police officer, Ali al-Sahlik, raided one bank, demanding $24,000 of his trapped savings to transfer to his son, who owes rent and tuition fees in Ukraine. “Count the money, before one of you dies,” al-Sahli, wielding a gun, was heard saying in a video he recorded himself. As Lebanon goes through one of the worst economic crises in world history, banks have restricted people to taking out between $200 to $400 of their own money each month, leaving many with large amounts of savings devalued and effectively trapped.

North Korea

North Korea today fired a test missile further than it ever has before, sending it whistling over Japan. The test was unusual, and will be seen as particularly provocative, because Pyongyang ordinarily tries to avoid other countries when it conducts ballistic missile tests. In response, US and South Korean warplanes conducted bombing drills in the Yellow Sea and drills with Japanese fighter jets over the Sea of Japan. The North, the South and the US routinely engage in such posturing.

Uganda

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has sacked his son as commander of the country’s land forces after a series of sabre-rattling and strange tweets. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, widely assumed to be his father’s heir apparent, threatened on Twitter to invade neighboring Kenya and occupy its capital. Bizarrely, he also asked his followers how many cows he should offer as a bride price for Italy’s incoming prime minister Giorgia Meloni. Kainerugaba has said the tweets were meant to be jokes.