Mass Flooding Submerges Libya in Disaster

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at mass flooding in Libya, a rare foreign visit between North Korea and Russia, and the United States’ largest antitrust trial in a quarter century.

Thousands of people are feared dead after mass flooding from Storm Daniel swept through the eastern port city of Derna in Libya, causing two dams to burst and submerging entire neighborhoods. According to Health Minister Othman Abdul-Jalil, the death toll is expected to rise to as many as 10,000 people, more than one-tenth of the city’s total population. Vital telecommunication infrastructure, including emergency phone services, went down across much of the region on Monday and Tuesday, leaving search and rescue teams cut off from the outside world.

On Monday, the area was declared a disaster zone. Roads into Derna have been closed, and helicopters have been deployed to continue search operations. Thousands of residents remain missing. “The situation is catastrophic,” Derna’s city council wrote on its Facebook page. “The city of Derna is pleading for help.” Numerous countries have stepped up to assist Libya. Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Jordan have dispatched search and rescue teams, medical personnel, and humanitarian supplies. Iran announced on Tuesday that it would send medical aid to Libya, and the United States said it was coordinating with local authorities to best assist relief efforts.

The catastrophic nature of Libya’s flooding is largely due to its history of poor, underinvested infrastructure. After the death of dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi following the country’s 2011 civil war, control over Libya split between rival factions in the east and west, each backed by various international actors. This lack of central governance decreased state investment in public services, road construction, and building regulations. The tragedy caused by the destruction of the two dams exemplifies the dire impacts of Libya’s frail governance.

“Ten years since Qaddafi’s death, Libya lacks a constitution, a state with a monopoly on force, and economic institutions able to rationally order the economy,” Libya expert Jason Pack wrote in Foreign Policy in 2021. To sort out this mess, “there is more of a need for global governance than ever before—and ironically less effective global governance than at any time in modern history.”

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#Besties. In a rare foreign visit, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin, marking Kim’s seventh trip outside North Korea since coming to power nearly 12 years ago. The two heads of state plan to discuss the launch of joint tourism and agriculture projects as well as new trade agreements. However, both the United States and South Korea fear talks will largely center on arms deals.

North Korea remains one of the few countries to openly support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and experts worry that Pyongyang will supply the Kremlin’s forces with new weapons. Putin’s tarnished image as a powerful international statesman and Russia’s floundering economy have made Tuesday’s meeting all the more significant.

When the two leaders last met, in 2019, the isolated Kim was hoping for a diplomatic lifeline from Putin. “Now, it is Putin looking to Kim for lifelines, on both the diplomatic and military fronts, as he seeks to stave off a disastrous defeat in Ukraine and drastically reshape Russia’s foreign policy,” FP’s Robbie Gramer and Amy Mackinnon reported.

Google’s legal standoff. The largest antitrust trial in the United States in 25 years kicked off on Tuesday between the U.S. Justice Department, along with several states and territories, and Google. Set to continue through late November, the trial will examine whether the Big Tech powerhouse used illegal tactics to create a monopoly on internet search engines. If Google loses, another trial will be held to determine possible repercussions, such as prohibiting Google from paying other companies to make its search engine their default browser. Google controls 90 percent of the internet search market.

Tuesday’s trial is just the latest in a series of regulations seeking to prevent large tech companies from abusing their market power. Recently, the European Union issued two key legislation packages—the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act—aimed at keeping big corporations, such as Google, from exploiting their size and at forcing online platforms to be responsible for content posted.

Judicial challenges. Israel’s Supreme Court began hearing challenges to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform bill on Tuesday, the first legal step to counter the controversial legislation. The law, passed in July, prohibits the court from nulling government decisions or appointments deemed “unreasonable.” Critics have urged the court to strike down the law, saying it limits a key check on a government increasingly centralizing its power.

Imagine winning $1,070 for doing absolutely nothing. That may be in the cards for one of the seven people still battling to win the title of “Laziest Citizen” in Montenegro’s annual lying down contest. Contestants can get up for only 10 minutes every eight hours to use the restroom, read, or look at their phones. Despite 20 days already under the contestants’ belts, the race appears far from over.