World roundup: April 23 2025

Stories from Iran, India, Ukraine, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

April 23, 1817: Under their leader Miloš Obrenović, a group of Serbian rebels in the village of Takovo declare independence from the Ottoman Empire, setting off the Second Serbian Uprising. After a conflict that lasted until late July 1817, the rebels were able to win de facto independence from the Ottomans, who recognized their autonomous state as the “Principality of Serbia.” The Serbs finally gained full independence at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.

April 23, 1985: In what is considered one of the most catastrophically bad business decisions of all time, the Coca-Cola Company introduces a new formula for its flagship beverage. Although the new formula had outperformed the old one in taste tests, the move was so overwhelmingly unpopular that the company revived the old formula a mere three months later, first as “Coca-Cola Classic” and later, after it had phased out the new formula, as just “Coca-Cola” again. The switch seemed so baffling that it spawned a plethora of conspiracy theories, ranging from a ploy to boost sales to a cover story to disguise changes in the original formula (a switch from sugar to high fructose corn syrup and/or the removal of its remaining coca components).

INTERNATIONAL

According to a new study from the International Coral Reef Initiative, the planet’s ongoing mass bleaching event has now affected a whopping 84 percent of its reefs, making this the largest bleaching event ever recorded. The previous mass bleaching event, which ran from 2014 through 2017, impacted a mere two-thirds of the world’s reefs by comparison. This event began in 2023 shows no signs of when or even if it will end, which means the chances of impacted coral eventually recovering are probably not great. There are efforts underway to breed coral in climate controlled facilities in hopes of eventually reintroducing them to ailing reefs, but without a serious effort to contain climate change those projects likely won’t matter.

MIDDLE EAST

JORDAN

The Jordanian government banned the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday, alleging that the group is plotting the kingdom’s violent overthrow. Last week, Jordanian authorities arrested 16 people allegedly tied to the Brotherhood who are accused of stockpiling weapons in preparation for…well, that part doesn’t seem to be very clear, and Brotherhood officials have denied any involvement in whatever was supposed to have been happening.

This is not the first time the kingdom has tried to legally proscribe the Brotherhood—it didn’t renew the organization’s license back in 2014, for example, and the Jordanian Court of Cassation ordered its dissolution in 2020—so it remains to be seen if this order will actually take hold. It also remains to be seen what impact the ban will have on the Islamic Action Front, Jordan’s main opposition party. The IAF is Brotherhood affiliated but is not necessarily synonymous with it in a legal sense.