Blogs

Disasters such as floods, earthquakes, wildfires, and hurricanes, along with other humanitarian emergencies, continue to increase in frequency and impact. Indeed, a report by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters revealed that in 2018, there were 315 reported natural disasters affecting over 68.5 million people worldwide. These disasters resulted in the loss […]

The Coronaviru s which is currently infecting hundreds of thousands of humans may to be able to target other animals as well such as one of our closest relatives’ gorillas (Washington Post). While there is currently no evidence that states other great apes can be infected they can be susceptible to other human respiratory diseases […]

On March 24, 2020Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered India’s 1.3 billion people to stay inside of their homes for 21 days (NY Times 1). Prime Minister Modi stated, “To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out” (AP). This is the largest and most severe action taken […]

On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuela’s contested president, Nicholas Maduro (La Patilla). The U.S. accused him and several members of his government of supporting drug trafficking to the U.S. or narcoterrorism (Reuters). This indictment adds to U.S. grievances against Maduro who maintains […]

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a decision to slash U.S. aid to Afghanistan by $1 billion (Reuters). Pompeo stated that Washington was “disappointed” with the rival Afghan leaders who have failed to form a government following last year’s disputed presidential elections (NPR). In September’s election, incumbent Ashraf Ghani was declared the […]

Economists warn that Britain’s economy is facing a coronavirus-induced recession that could mirror the 2008 financial crisis (FT 1). There is vast uncertainty over the depth and timeline of the forecasted recession, but with unemployment surging most economists agree it is unavoidable (FT 1). Britain faced criticism from Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health […]

As of 25 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed well over 400,000 global cases of the novel coronavirus—COVID-19. The real case numbers, of course, are likely far higher. As this pandemic continues to claim lives, dominate media, and damage economies, many observers are trying to understand the patterns of this contagion to […]

India has freed Kashmir’s three-time chief minister and top leader Farooq Abdullah. (Reuters). Abdullah was one of several politicians taken into detention in August of 2019 (U.S. News). His imprisonment was done in an attempt to prevent large scale protests from erupting over the loss of Kashmir’s regional autonomy (Reuters). During his time in detention, […]

Coronavirus in the U.S. created volatile stock markets with analysts warning that more than half of American jobs are at risk to be lost. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 2,997 points on Monday, marking its largest single-day point drop in history (WP 1). Following the plunge, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced a […]

Midwives Ellinor Grimmark from Sweden and Linda Steen from Norway have spent years fighting court battles over their refusal to perform abortions. The two originally worked as nurses before training to be midwives (Reuters). Swedish law states that midwives, who receive an extensive education, are required to carry out abortions (BBC). The women claimed that […]