Supporters of India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) launched an indefinite sit-in near Parliament in New Delhi on 20 June, banging steel plates with spoons to demand the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The youth-led group is protesting against massive systemic failures, explicitly citing the devastating NEET-UG medical exam paper leaks which were commercialised on Telegram, resulting in millions of students retaking the exam on 21 June and triggering a mental health crisis among young people. India temporarily banned Telegram over the scandal.
“We study in poverty, live in poverty for 24 hours everyday, for years at length, and after that our (exam) papers get leaked. Will I not get angry at this?” Vicky Kumar, a student present at the protest in front of the Parliament, told Associated Press.
The movement’s bizarre name stems from a Supreme Court hearing on 15 May where Chief Justice Surya Kant described chronically online, unemployed young activists as “like cockroaches” and “parasites” in the society, after weeks of student protests against the cancellation of the national medical entrance exam.
Embracing the insult as a symbol of resilient defiance, communications strategist Abhijeet Dipke launched the CJP as the “Voice of the Lazy and Unemployed.”
The parody movement has exploded, amassing 22 million Instagram followers in weeks, more than twice as many as Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP.
“This is just the beginning,” warned protester Deepak Kumar, as the student-led pressure group demands state compensation of 1 crore rupees (€93,000 / $106,000) for families of the 11 students driven to suicide by the exam scandals.
Turkish lake sees encouraging flamingo hatch: Approximately 5,000 flamingo chicks successfully hatched at Lake Tuz in Türkiye at the beginning of June, signalling a remarkable rebound in the ecosystem. The newborns were seen taking their first steps in the lake. Five years ago, Lake Tuz, a traditionally vital breeding ground for the species, faced near-complete desertification due to intense, climate-driven droughts and uncontrolled agricultural irrigation. Thousands of greater flamingo hatchlings died as a result. “The current number is more than double that of last year, which was more than double that of the year before,” Fahri Tunç, president of the Bird’s Eye View and Ecology Association, told the Demirören News Agency (DHA). The rapid recovery was catalysed by a 2022 water supply initiative by Türkiye’s General Directorate for the Protection of Natural Assets, which pumps groundwater directly into the nesting deltas to sustain the young birds until their autumn migration.
Colombia’s far-right candidate wins elections: Far-right millionaire lawyer Abelardo “The Tiger” de la Espriella won Colombia’s presidential elections on 21 June, defeating progressive senator Iván Cepeda, backed by president Gustavo Petro. Running under his new Defenders of the Homeland movement, De La Espriella secured 12.96 million votes (49.66%) in the tight runoff, compared to Cepeda’s 48.70%. However, “the margin of victory for the far-right candidate over the left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda limits the momentum for the start of his term”, notes El País. “The combined votes for Cepeda and the blank ballots reveal that more than half the country does not want him as president.” Endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the eccentric political outsider capitalised on public frustration with President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” initiative with armed groups. De la Espriella promises “to be tough on crime”, according to The Bogotá Post, with plans of building ten mega-prisons in the jungle, but also to resume drilling and to slash the state apparatus by 40%.
JNIM launches deadly dawn attack on Niger airport: Al-Qaeda’s Sahel branch, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), launched a “suicide attack” on Niamey’s Diori Hamani International Airport, the largest airport in Niger, in the early hours of 18 June. Gunfire erupted early in the morning and went on for hours near the airport, where a large military presence was later deployed, residents said (via Africanews). According to Niger’s Ministry of Defence, 11 soldiers and two civilians died during the fighting. Security forces killed 22 JNIM attackers and arrested 20 suspects. Niger’s military government, which struggles to contain jihadist violence plaguing West Africa for a decade, claimed the attack was carried out by “armed mercenaries under the funding of [French President] Emmanuel Macron”. France denied the claim.
Deadly “heat dome” paralyzes Western Europe with unprecedented 44°C: A massive African anticyclone has trapped a record-breaking heartwave across Western Europe, prompting authorities in France, Spain, and Italy to issue maximum red “danger-to-life” alerts for over 50 million people. Temperatures have soared 10°C (50°F) to 15°C (59°F) above seasonal norms, hitting 43°C (109°F) in Bordeaux and a blistering 44°C (111°F) in southern Spain. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said some 40 deaths had been recorded since last Thursday, including many drownings as people “attempt to cool off during the heat wave”, precises the Deutsche Welle. “Very high temperatures are setting in for the long term,” warned Météo-France, which placed 49 departments under red alert. The heat has forced the closure of 1,300 French schools, disrupted high-speed rail lines due to expanding tracks, and forced EDF to shut down a nuclear reactor near Toulouse as the Garonne River grew too warm to safely cool the facility.
Top 10% of “mega-consumers” generate up to $5.7 trillion in annual ecological toll: A joint study by the universities of Oxford and Leiden has revealed that the world’s top 10% of consumers inflict environmental damage costing “between $1.7 trillion and $5.7 trillion” [€1.5 and €5 trillion] annually. Published in Nature on 18 June, the study reveals concentrated harm across four major planetary boundaries and shows that more than 60% of these ultra-consumers live in the United States and the European Union. Notably, the researchers found that biodiversity loss, rather than climate change, accounts for the largest proportion of this substantial global cost, accounting for 47–56% of the total damage via habitat destruction. Climate change followed at 36–45%. “The top 10% are not only consumers, they are also investors, citizens, employers and role models, and serious mitigation policy needs to engage all of those roles”, co-author Paul Behrens told the Oxford Martin School.
Typhoon Francisco threatens Northern Luzon in the Philippines: Tropical cyclone Francisco (internationally known as Mekkhala), which has weakened from a super typhoon into a typhoon on 23 June, approaches Northern Luzon with “maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour [109mph] near the center and gustiness of up to 215 kph [134 mph]”, reports the Manila Bulletin. “Despite remaining offshore, the outer rain bands could still bring heavy rains and strong winds over parts of Northern Luzon,” warned Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) weather specialist Benison Estareja. Typhoon Francisco is pulling the southwest monsoon (habagat) inland, threatening Metro Manila with midweek flash flooding, while a separate system, Tropical Storm Higos, is developing rapidly further out in the Pacific.
The 2,000-year-old tradition of the Dragon Boat Festival began on 19 June in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taking place in the fifth month of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, the festival coincides with the summer solstice. At its core, the festival is about preventing disease, warding off evil and maintaining health.
“The festivities vary from region to region, but they usually share several features”, writes UNESCO, which classified the festival as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
“A memorial ceremony offering sacrifices to a local hero is combined with sporting events such as dragon races, dragon boating and willow shooting.” And, of course, there is plenty of food: zongzi (the festival’s symbolic sticky rice dumplings), eggs and ruby sulphur wine.
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