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.
Protesters have marched in the United States for six consecutive nights over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer (CNN World). Floyd, an unarmed black man, died o f suffocation after a white police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes (Reuters). Thousands of people around the world have […]
Posted June 5, 2020
The election commission of Burundi announced Monday that the ruling party candidate, Evariste Ndayishimiye, won the 2020 presidential election (Al Jazeera). With an 87.7 percent voter turnout, Ndayishimiye of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) won 68.72 percent of the vote (Al Jazeera). Ndayishimiye ran […]
Posted May 29, 2020
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that a best-case scenario sees global GDP growth falling to negative 3 percent in 2020 (IMF). Their worst-case scenario, in which the pandemic’s spread does not diminish in the second half of 2020, subtracts an additional 3 percent from GDP growth (IMF). Before the coronavirus pandemic began circulating […]
Posted April 22, 2020
Research led by a U.S. trafficking group stated that arresting survivors of human trafficking for their testimony in criminal prosecutions creates more trauma (REUTERS). According to The Human Trafficking Legal Center (HTLC), witnesses who do not want to testify can be detained (REUTERS). Victims who are detained risk losing custody of their children, jobs and […]
Posted April 22, 2020
New research shows that China’s Mekong River dams held back large amounts of water during a damaging drought in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam (NY Times). The findings by Eyes on Earth Inc, a research and consulting company specializing in, were published in a US-government funded study (Bangkok Post). The drought, which saw the […]
Posted April 22, 2020
Brazil’s Environment Minister Ricardo Salles has fired the country’s top environmental enforcement officer after a news program broadcast a dramatic raid on illegal mining in the Amazon (Reuters 1). The move appears to be the latest attempt by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro to undermine the federal environment agency Ibama, which fights against deforestation […]
Posted April 22, 2020
India has extended the world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown until May 3rd, 2020 (AP). India went into lockdown on March 25th, 2020, closing schools, offices, factories, parks, temples, railways, and airspace (NYT). The lockdown was originally set to be lifted on April 14th, 2020 but will now last for a few more weeks. At the end […]
Posted April 22, 2020
Caribbean nations seeking to acquire protective gear to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (Miami Herald). A new policy from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) prevents U.S. vendors from shipping personal protective equipment, PPE, overseas (Miami Herald). To accomplish this, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will detain shipments of PPE and allow […]
Posted April 22, 2020
On Wednesday, officials from the G20 major economies agreed to freeze debt owed by the world’s poorest countries (Reuters). The measure is aimed to help developing nations focus their spending on healthcare and protecting their vulnerable citizens from the pandemic (AP). An estimated 76 nations will be eligible for the debt deferment, with 40 being […]
Posted April 22, 2020
The regional director of the World Health Organization, Hans Kluge, stated that European nations should be cautious when considering easing lockdowns and restrictions (Reuters). Kluge told reporters “In the past 10 days, the number of cases reported in Europe has nearly doubled to close to one million” (France 24). He also stated that about 50% […]
Posted April 22, 2020
