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.
Monday, July 27th, Papua New Guinean President, James Marape, ordered the lockdown of the capital city of Port Moresby (Asian Age). The lockdown came after the small nation’s first COVID-19 death and a rapid spike in confirmed cases (Asian Age). Within a day, Marape announced the discovery of twenty-three new positive cases (Asian Age). Before […]
Posted July 31, 2020
A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) details sexual violence against gay and bisexual men, transgender women, and non-binary people in Syria (HRW). The Syrian state and non-state actors have targeted people based on their perceived or known sexual orientation or gender identity, people they saw as “soft” (HRW). HRW conducted 40 interviews in […]
Posted July 31, 2020
Due to climate change, polar bears have been listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (BBC). According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are an estimated 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears left in the wild (NBC). A new study, published in Nature Climate Change, puts a timeline […]
Posted July 30, 2020
Poland’s right-wing government is officially planning to leave the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty against domestic violence. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro stated he will formally ask the Ministry of Family on Monday to start the process to leave the treaty (AP). Ziobro stated the treaty is “harmful” because it forces schools to teach about gender, […]
Posted July 30, 2020
Ecuadorian Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrin told reporters last week that the country was monitoring a fleet of Chinese fishing vessels off the Galapagos Islands (Reuters). Vessels like these pose a threat to the marine life of the Galapagos Islands, and species such as sharks, manta rays and tuna (El Universo). Patrols are currently surrounding the […]
Posted July 30, 2020
Kuwait’s ruler Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah left the country early Thursday to complete medical treatment in the US (Reuters). Sheikh Sabah recently underwent surgery for an unannounced medical condition (Al Jazeera). A Kuwaiti royal said Sheikh Sabah lost consciousness twice since entering the hospital over the weekend (WSJ). The ruler suffered a debilitating stroke […]
Posted July 27, 2020
On June 3, illegal waste was reported at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), located in the southern state of Johor, Malaysia (Bernama). According to the Environment and Water Minister, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, 1,864 tonnes of electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) was found (Reuters). The waste was abandoned by Romania on June 15, as […]
Posted July 27, 2020
Zimbabwe police arrested prominent journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and opposition leader Jacob Ngarivhume on Monday (AP News). Police accused Chin’ono and Ngarivhume of inciting violence prior to protests planned for July 31st, which aim to speak out against government corruption (Al Jazeera 1). Chin’ono has been a leader of this charge, using his platform to encourage […]
Posted July 27, 2020
Japan’s health ministry has approved dexamethasone, a widely used steroid, as the second treatment for coronavirus (Reuters). The approval comes after the drug was proven to be effective in reducing the number of deaths caused by the coronavirus in Britain (Straits Times). The drug proved to reduce the chance of death by a third, on […]
Posted July 27, 2020
An all-girls robotics team invented an inexpensive new ventilator model that will help the thousands of Covid-19 patients in their homeland (Good News Network). The Afghan Robotics Team, which has won international awards for its robots, started work in March when the pandemic hit the war-torn nation (Reuters). The ventilator can be replicated for as […]
Posted July 27, 2020
