Student Connections

Following the 2024 U.S. presidential election, local officials in Puerto Rico are facing new challenges in securing federal disaster aid. Recent developments within the Trump administration have cast uncertainty over the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), prompting Puerto Rican leadership to explore alternative funding measures (San Juan Daily Star 1). The Central […]

The Mexican state of Chiapas, Mexico, bordering Guatemala, faces an intense and underreported conflict involving the Mexican government, government-aligned paramilitaries, cartels, and the EZLN or Zapatista movement (WordPress). Chiapas, home to one of the largest indigenous populations of the country -26% of the state’s inhabitants -is also an epicenter for about half of all unresolved […]

Protesters in Puerto Rico have begun organizing against a measure to build a bike lane alongside the beach. The proposed plan would build a bicycle lane crossing a forest (Bosque La Armonia) which would lead to its deforestation and would also be built alongside the beach causing soil erosion. Protesters carried out a walk across […]

Syria’s new government, three months after the fall of Bashar al Assad, is at what the top Syrian UN envoy described as a crossroads between conflict, political fragmentation, violations of Syrian sovereignty, and secular violence or protection of sovereignty, regional security, and an end to the 13 year long Syrian civil war and its aftermath […]

Between 2023 and 2025, a total of 9,308 cybercrime complaints were published, and 8,485 of these cases were resolved (HINDUSTIAN TIMES). In response, 151 officials and 113 police officers were deployed to handle the growing number of cybercrimes (HINDUSTIAN TIMES). The cyber war in Tripura began in 2023, when a 148% increase in cybercrime cases […]

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has endured years of ongoing violence and unrest (AMNESTY). Various militias have been established in an attempt to protect populations after decades of instability (AMNESTY). Current developments, however, indicate that clashes between a terrorist group known as M23 and the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) have escalated massively (AMNESTY), with […]

Following the end of World War II, civil war erupted in China between Mao Ze-Dong’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Kuomintang (KMT), led by Chiang Kai-Shek. By 1949, the CCP declared victory over the KMT, marking the start of the People’s Republic of China (PBS 1). Chiang Kai-Shek and his party subsequently fled to […]

Since April 15, 2023, the North African country of Sudan has been facing a civil war and subsequent humanitarian crisis, leading to mass civilian casualties, suffering, and extensive destruction (Amnesty International). The catalyst for this war was the outbreak of conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the […]

On December 31st, 2024 Puerto Ricans rang in the new year in darkness. Nearly 90% of Luma Energy’s utility customers experienced a blackout which spread throughout the island (NYT 1). This instance is only a small part of the larger ongoing power grid crisis in Puerto Rico (PR). Puerto Rico’s weak energy grid has repeatedly […]

After one year and two months of continual ground and aerial assault on the West Bank and Gaza strip following the October 7th cross-border attack, initiated by Hamas fighters from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam brigade, Israel’s security cabinet and Hamas officials have formally approved a ceasefire agreement. The agreement comes amidst global outcries as foreign […]