Following his inauguration on Jan. 1, the new Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro assigned the task of certifying indigenous lands as protected areas to the Ministry of Agriculture, which originally fell…
El-Sisi denies presence of political prisoners
CBS aired a 60 Minutes segment on Sunday, Jan. 6 featuring an interview with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi despite backlash from the Egyptian government. In the interview, President el-Sisi…
Sudanese calling for food and freedom
The people of Atbara, Sudan took to the streets on Dec. 19 to protest the tripling of bread prices as a result of losing government bread subsidies in 2018. The…
United States intensifies bombing in Syria
Despite President Donald Trump’s announcement of a full withdrawal from Syria by mid-January, the United States has intensified bomb campaigns in the eastern territories held by Iraq and Levant forces….
This Week Around the World – Jan. 6–13:
Jan. 6 Saudi Arabia: In an effort to protect women’s rights, a new law effective as of Jan. 6 will allow women to be informed by Saudi courts of their…
Deconstructing “the Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax”
The issue of Eskimo vocabulary and its numerous words for snow, known as “the Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax,” has become something of an urban legend and remains hotly contested by…
Redefining ‘Refugee’
While climate change continues to damage parts of the world, those displaced as a consequence do not meet the legal requirements to qualify for refugee status. In response to a…
China-Canada: Huawei detention fallout
China detained two Canadians on Dec. 10 in what appears to be retaliation for the detention of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant. Canada has…
Behind the Holiday Season
Sales during the holiday season were the highest in six years as reported by Reuters, with a rise of 5.1 percent amounting over $850 billion. According to Marketplace, 90 percent…
This Week Around the World: Dec. 30–Jan. 6
Dec. 30–Jan. 4 Bangladesh: Almost 100 million Bangladeshis voted in the country’s parliamentary elections despite widespread voter suppression conducted during the campaign. Al Jazeera reported the previous ruling party—the Awami…
Tsunami in the Sunda Strait
Indonesia is a large archipelago in the Ring of Fire with 127 active volcanoes, so it is not uncommon for the island nation to have frequent earthquakes and tsunamis. Since…