Our daily journey around the world

🇻🇪🇬🇾 Venezuela approved the annexation of two-thirds of neighboring Guyana. The largely symbolic referendum comes during a period of heightened tensions following ExxonMobil's discovery of billions of dollars worth of oil in Guyana’s densely forested Essequibo region in 2015. Venezuela claims the land was within its borders during the Spanish colonial period, while Guyana’s independent government says an 1899 ruling set the current boundaries when it was a British colony. The International Court of Justice warned Venezuela not to modify the status quo, though Venezuela doesn’t recognize the court’s jurisdiction.

🇷🇺🏳️‍🌈 Russian police raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow following a recent Supreme Court LGBTQ+ ruling. The raids on Friday night came less than 48 hours after Russia’s Supreme Court issued a decision labeling the country’s “LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization in response to a lawsuit from Russia’s Justice Ministry. Critics of the Court’s decision say it was rendered against a movement that isn’t an official entity, and its broad and vague definition allows authorities to crack down on any individuals or groups they believe are a part of the “LGBTQ+ movement.”

🇨🇳 Chinese borrowers are defaulting in record numbers. Defaults surged to a record high 8.5+ million people – 1.5% of working-age Chinese adults – this month, up from 5.7 million in early 2020. Defaulters face more severe punishment in China; a blacklisting process is triggered when a borrower is sued by creditors and then misses a subsequent payment deadline. Blacklisted defaulters are blocked from a range of economic activities, such as making purchases and payments through mobile apps, using toll roads, and finding government jobs.