Welcome to This Week in Politics, the recurring column covering the highlights in politics for this week.

 

Saturday, April 8 – Sunday, April 9

• Terror strikes Coptic churches

  • Two bombings at Coptic churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday killed at least 44. The Coptic faith is a form of Christianity which has its own beliefs and its own Pope, who was inside one of the churches when the attacks took place, but was not injured.

  • Egypt has declared a state of emergency following the attacks, and the ISIS has taken credit for the suicide bombings.

• Tensions heat up in Korea

  • The United States has moved a battle group of warships closer to the Korean Peninsula after North Korea launched another ballistic missile test. The warships threaten North Korea with their long range cannons and missile systems.

 

Monday, April 10

• Wells Fargo to take $75M from executives

  • The banking firm announced that over $75 million in compensation will be returned from two executives that were held primarily responsible for the company’s fraud scandal.

  • It was revealed last year that Wells Fargo encouraged employees to create false accounts in customer’s names so that they could rack up false fees.

• Judge rules against Texas voter ID law

  • A federal judge ruled that requiring a special ID to vote discriminates against African-Americans and Latinos, and the law has been shot down.

• Alabama Governor resigns

  • Governor Robert Bentley stepped down after a sex scandal emerged, and he was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges. The scandal involved inappropriate conduct with aides and cheating on his wife.

• San Bernardino school shooting

  • San Bernardino has suffered another attack, this time a school shooting, which killed three.

  • The shooter entered the elementary school, killed his wife who worked there, and then shot himself, hitting two students caught in the crossfire. One of the students died in the hospital.

  • San Bernardino was struck by a terrorist attack in 2015 as well, killing 14 civilians after a shooting in an office building.

 

Tuesday, April 11

• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks against Syria

  • Tillerson said that Syria’s government is “coming to an end”. Syria is backed by Russia, which has worsened tensions between the countries.

• President Donald Trump aggravates Russia

  • Trump said that Russia is partially responsible for the chemical attacks in Syria.

  • A white house spokesman also said that Russia has assisted Syria in a misinformation campaign to mislead the public to blame the chemical attack on insurgents instead of the Syrian government.

• Republicans win seat in Kansas

  • A special election to fill CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s House seat in deep-red Kansas was hotly contested, to the surprise of many.

  • The district, which Trump won by 27 points, was only won by the Republican candidate by 7 points, showing the party’s low popularity in the state.

    • This may be a sign of things to come for Democrats, with large gains expected in 2018 elections.

 

Wednesday, April 12

• European Union (EU) High Court on human rights changes transgender law

  • The law, which is in place in 22 EU member nations, requires transgender individuals to be sterilized before having their sex changed on their birth certificate.

    • While the EU High Court can’t force a nation to change its laws, they expect that their ruling will be respected in the member states.

 

Thursday, April 13

• Air Force drops ‘Mother of All Bombs’ in Afghanistan

  • The Air Force dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. The bomb has a blast area of nine city blocks and targeted an ISIS tunnel complex.

    • An estimated 36 ISIS fighters were killed in the blast.

• New York Judge found dead

  • Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first black woman and first muslim to serve on New York state’s highest court, was found dead in the Hudson River this week. The case has been ruled a suicide, but the investigation continues.

• Canada may legalize marijuana

  • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use nation-wide. If passed, the legislation would make Canada the second country in the world, after Uruguay, to legalize the drug.