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.
The Chinese government has reopened the city of Wuhan – where it’s believed the novel coronavirus originated – after more than two months of complete lockdown (The Hill). As of just after midnight Wednesday, the city’s 11 million residents are now permitted to leave without special authorization (Washington Post). More non-essential businesses will open their […]
Posted April 12, 2020
Five rockets struck Bagram airfield in Afghanistan on Thursday with no casualties reported, according to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan (Reuters). ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes weeks after a deal between the Taliban and the United States (Al Jazeera). The Afghan affiliate of ISIS, the Islamic State Khorasan, was not included […]
Posted April 12, 2020
A climate summit that had been due to take place in Glasgow in November has been postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus outbreak (Reuters). The decision was taken by UN officials, including UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa and UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma, who is president-designate of the meeting (BBC). Officials decided to push […]
Posted April 12, 2020
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 […]
Posted April 2, 2020
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 […]
Posted March 31, 2020
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 […]
Posted March 31, 2020
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 […]
Posted March 31, 2020
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 […]
Posted March 31, 2020
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, […]
Posted March 20, 2020
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 […]
Posted March 20, 2020
