Welcome to Worldwide Wednesdays, where (almost) every week I cover the biggest worldwide events in politics, entertainment, and business. This last week has been an exciting one with everything from Ye (Kanye) comments to Iranian protests

Kicking off this week we had another bombshell in the Ye (formally Kanye West) saga that has been developing over the last few months and years. Just two weeks ago, Kanye made multiple anti-Semitic remarks during an interview, blaming the Jewish population for various issues in the entertainment and media worlds. Ye then went on to say that Adidas, his biggest partner, “can’t drop [him], now what?” Ye was proven wrong last Tuesday when the sportswear giant announced they would be cutting ties with the media influencer. According to Vulture, multiple other companies including Gap and Balenciaga also dropped Ye in the last week due to the hateful remarks.

News came in from Brazil on Monday, October 31st that the incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro, was narrowly defeated in a run of election against returning president Luis Lula. Claims of election fraud and scattered protests have taken place, but no official word has come from the incumbent as of Tuesday morning. There are fears that Bolsonaro may not cooperate in the transfer of power, but we are yet to see how the situation will develop. 

Jumping into business, the months-long train wreck that is Elon Musk acquiring Twitter has finally come to an end. As an impending court case bore down on Musk over his attempt to back out of the deal, he finally closed the deal at a staggering 44 billion dollars to buy out the company and turn it into a private corporation. The whole debacle began back in April when Musk made the shocking offer to buy out the company. He immediately began walking back the offer but the damage was done and he was now legally required to purchase the company. According to the New York Times, Musk has now “loaded about $13 billion in debt on the company” and the debt “will now balloon to about $1 billion a year.” Musk faces a tough road ahead to make the company profitable and keep up with the massive new debts he has taken on.

Crossing the Atlantic and trekking into the Middle East we arrive in Iran where widespread protesting has been taking place over the last six weeks. It all started on September 13th when a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, was murdered by the police in Iran for not wearing her head scarf in public. This murder sparked outrage across the country which quickly developed into widespread protest and unrest. These protests have developed into more violent clashes over the last couple of days as passionate students and citizens face off against state police. 

As we head farther east we arrive in Seoul, South Korea, where a deadly stampede at a Halloween celebration broke out. While we are still unsure of exactly what led to the horrific scene, we do know that over 150 are dead with 2 Americans being among the casualties. CBS news reported that “A mass of mostly young people celebrating Halloween in Seoul became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley.” Seoul is still reeling from the disaster and our hearts go out to the families affected by the tragedy.