Every week, GPII Interns and Fellows scour the global news to write about what is happening in a specific issue area or region. Each post includes multiple sources and gives a brief recount of a timely event. Check back regularly to see what GPII Interns and Fellows have written.
On Friday July 3rd, members of the German Parliament passed a bill to eliminate coal and nuclear energy as power sources (Reuters). The legislation encompasses two main features, the first is the creation of a legal avenue to gradually reduce emissions by 2038 at the latest (DW). The second feature focuses on regional economies and […]
Posted July 12, 2020
The fight against AIDS has taken a backseat as global and regional health organizations focus their attention on the COVID-19 pandemic (Reuters). Progress against AIDS was already falling behind, but with the pandemic, the fight against HIV may be set back by at least 10 years (Reuters). The World Health Organization (WHO) created a modelling […]
Posted July 12, 2020
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel to abandon annexation plans, warning the plans would threaten peace with Palestinians (Reuters 1). Guterres spoke of the longstanding goal to establish a two-state solution with an independent and contiguous Palestine (France 24). Various UN experts agree experts with Guterres, stating released a statement declaring “The annexation of occupied […]
Posted July 1, 2020
A deadly earthquake hit southern Mexico near Oaxaca on Tuesday, killing at least six people (Reuters). The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.4, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (NPR). Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that 147 aftershocks had occurred before noon (NPR). Additionally, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico in the same […]
Posted July 1, 2020
A special prosecutor’s office indicted Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci and nine others for war crimes, including murder, torture. The alleged crimes committed occurred during and after the 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia (Reuters). The SPO’s statement said the suspects were “responsible for nearly 100 murders” of Serb and Roma people as well as Kosovar […]
Posted July 1, 2020
Nigeria has officially nominated Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the position of Director-General at the World Trade Organization (WTO) (CGTN). The current Director-General, Brazil’s Roberto Azevêdo, will step down in August (Reuters). So far, the West African regional group, ECOWAS, has endorsed Okonjo-Iweala, but Nigeria is having difficulty garnering the support of other African nations (Reuters). […]
Posted July 1, 2020
On Thursday, June 18, a landslide occurred on the northern outskirts of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Landslides and deadly floods often occur during the rainy season, which runs from April to October. Abidjan is home to around five million people, many of whom live in hazardous slums in flood-prone or dangerous areas (Al Jazeera). Defense Minister Hamed […]
Posted July 1, 2020
Human rights groups are growing increasingly concerned over Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “Commission on Unalienable Rights” (Al Jazeera). Pompeo is reexamining human rights in U.S. foreign policy, determining what human rights the U.S. will recognize and protect abroad (HRW). Over 160 human rights groups and advocates have publicly voiced fear over the commission’s work […]
Posted July 1, 2020
On June 19th, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed that several governmental organizations were the victim of a state-based cyber-attack (Al Jazeera). The cyber-attacks were not a single breach, but an aggregation of attacks on the federal, state, and territorial levels of government agencies (ABC). During a press conference, Morrison did not name a specific […]
Posted July 1, 2020
Beijing is currently experiencing a second wave of the Coronavirus outbreak, which began on June 11th, 2020 (South China Morning Post). The second wave brought an end to a 55-day streak without the transmission of any new Coronavirus cases (South China Morning Post). The new wave spread from the Xinfadi market, a major wholesale produce […]
Posted July 1, 2020
