June 16 Argentina; Uruguay; Paraguay: All of Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Paraguay experienced a massive power outage, leaving some 50 million people without power. According to TeleSUR, the blackout…
Hong Kong protests extradition bill
Protests have erupted in Hong Kong after the Chinese territory’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam proposed a new extradition bill that would allegedly assist in the closing of a year-old murder…
A ‘revolutionary escalation’ in Sudanese protests
After months of calling for a civilian-led government, Sudan’s protest leaders called for nighttime demonstrations in Khartoum amid the standoff with the ruling military council on June 17. Thousands of…
Citizens elect 751 European Parliament members
Citizens from the 28 European Union member states voted to elect 751 European Parliament members from May 23–26 in the world’s second largest democratic exercise in history. The European Parliament…
Wikipedia takes Turkey to court
Wikipedia filed a lawsuit against Turkey with the European Court of Human Rights regarding the ban on the website that has been in place since April 29, 2017. The current…
Human-elephant conflict
Botswana, home to almost one third of the world’s African elephant population, recently lifted a ban on elephant hunting. Approximately 130,000 wild African Elephants reside in the country, some of…
216 people rescued from Mediterranean
Approximately 216 migrants and refugees were rescued from two dinghies in the Mediterranean Sea and taken to Malta by an armed forces patrol boat on May 25. At least four…
Taiwan first country in Asia to legalize gay marriage
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage on May 17, which went into effect on May 24. Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples had the…
Brazilian Supreme Court votes to make homophobia a crime
The majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court decided discrimination on the basis of gender or sexuality should be punished under the same laws as racism on May 24. Six out of…
This Week Around the World – May 26–June 2:
May 26–27 Brazil: Prison riots across four different jails in Brazil left almost 60 people dead in two days. According to The Independent, the first riot broke out around noon…
Indian election highlights
After a month-long, seven-phase election process, the Indian elections have come to a close with Narendra Modi winning a second five-year term as prime minister on May 23. With 900…