Category Archives: International Conflict

August 23, 2022 · 4:09 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of August 22, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of August 22, 2022.

Global News

A team of researchers at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts are developing a targeted cancer vaccine based on mRNA technology.

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A research team from the University of Cambridge has developed a learning algorithm to help automated 3-D printers identify and correct errors and even print new materials.

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Five plants that could help the world’s food supply better adapt to climate change.

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Americas

Canada’s highest court may soon have the country’s first Indigenous court judge with the nomination of Michelle O’Bonsawin

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Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a 12 percent lead on Jair Bolsonaro.

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Human traffickers are using Facebook and WhatsApp to spread misinformation and advertise in Latin America.

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Africa

The Ethiopian government has proposed a peace plan to end the war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and end the violence in Tigray. But the TPLF does not trust the government to keep their word.

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More than 1,400 delegates from various political, civil and military groups met in N’Djamena on Saturday to debate a new government for the nation of Chad. However, two of the biggest rebel groups and a large political coalition did not participate in the talks.

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In Nigeria, a virus that infects 100,000 to 300,000 people in Africa a year, is raging. The Lassa virus could become a major threat outside of Africa and currently has no cure.

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Europe

Droughts in Europe could worsen the cost of living as water stress increases costs of shipping, food, water and sanitation with 60 percent of the continent affected.

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Russian-state communications watchdog organization Roskomnadzor is imposing fines and other punishment against foreign IT companies like TikTok and Pinterest for alleged violations of Russian law regarding the removal of “illegal” content.

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Explainer: What is causing the recent tensions between Serbia and Kosovo?

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Middle East

Israel and Turkey are reestablishing diplomatic relations with ambassadors to be exchanged.

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Explainer: The Iran nuclear deal maybe closer to agreement, but how close is it?

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Asia

Newly elected Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr is taking aim at critics in the media.

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Slavery allegations in Xinjiang, China, are credible according to a United Nations expert on the subject. In the cited report, other nations have been spotlighted for forced domestic servitude and forced and child marriages.

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After failing to curb resistance to military rule, Myanmar, military government chief Min Aung Hlaing is targeting government and business elites. Some analysts see this as consolidation of power by Hlaing and potentially a sign of fragile leadership.

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August 9, 2022 · 5:22 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of August 8, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of August 8, 2022.

Global News

The World Economic Forum has five stories on the environment including the world’s current energy mix, record heat waves in the UK due to climate change and a study on the world’s freshwater is now past it’s critical limit.

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Why OPEC won’t bring down oil prices.

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Americas

The Cristalino II State Park in Mato Grosso, Brazil will be dissolved after the state government refused to appeal a court decision claiming the park was set up illegally in 2001 without public consultation. This case was brought about by a company linked to Antonio José Rossi Junqueira Vilela, who has been responsible for thousands of hectares of land in the Amazon being deforested and stolen.

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Experts worry that the Ortega regime in Nicaragua is setting an example for other repressive regimes in Latin America.

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized the $100 billion profits of oil companies during the first quarter of 2022.

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Africa

According to the World Health Organization, life expectancy between 2000 and 2019 grew by an average of 10 years, while global life expectancy grew by five years.

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Senegal’s government and rebels from the southern Casamance region have signed a peace deal to help end more than 40 years of conflict in the region.

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The Nigerian government will be receiving 72 Benin Bronzes looted during the 19th Century, from The Horniman Museum and Gardens in London.

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Explainer: Kenya’s elections

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Europe

The Ukraine-Russian War at 165 days.

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Victims of Russia’s war in Georgia’s Abkhazia region are still waiting for justice.

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Explainer: Renewed tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.

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The U.S. Senate voted to ratify NATO membership for Finland and Sweden.

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Middle East

Negotiators over the Iran Nuclear Deal are optimistic about the deal’s odds of being passed.

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The protestors in Baghdad are drawing from the support base of Muqtada al-Sadr.

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According to reports, pro-Iranian government hackers launched a cyberattack against Albanian government sites in mid-July to disrupt an Iranian dissident group, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, during a conference int eh capital Tirana.

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Asia

India and the United States will be holding annual bilateral military drills in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, about 95 kilometers from the Line of Actual Control, the border demarcating India and China.

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The government of the Solomon Islands is exerting more control over the state-owned Solomon Island Broadcasting Corporation, a move critics claim is censorship by the government.

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Explainer: Why China is staging drills over a visit by U.S. Senator Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

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The Taliban claims they did not know that a chief of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, was in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

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July 19, 2022 · 3:30 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of July 18, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of July 18, 2022.

Global News

The I2U2, also known as the West Asia Quad, focuses on clean energy, infrastructure, food security, health, space and other areas.

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United States domestic politics have hindered the funding and utilization of the Green Climate Fund, the United Nations mechanism started in 2010 to help developing countries transition to renewable energy. Funding for the organization comes from developed countries, but the prior Trump Administration refused to fund the mechanism and current Republican opposition has delayed additional funding.

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Log4j vulnerability will continue to be a pervasive threat according to a report from the Cyber Safety Review Board, a cyber security panel. However, the vulnerability has only been exploited at low level attacks so far.

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Americas

The United Nations has decried the ongoing gang violence in Haiti, which has taken the lives of more than a thousand people since January. The UN is calling for a freeze of small arms sales to the country in response.

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Venezuela has one of the worst vaccination rates in the world. The country is barred from accessing a regional system that helps pay for and provide affordable vaccines until it pays off a debt of 11 million dollars, which came mostly from an ongoing political fight between the government and opposition.

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Drop boxes for ballots were highly secure during the 2020 presidential election in the United States, according to Associated Press survey. This result conflicts with the claims made by the former president.

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Africa

Egypt will suspend sending peacekeepers to Mali in August.

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A team of highschool students from Zimbabwe are the world champions of the International Highschool Moot Court competition, which simulates the proceedings of the International Criminal Court pre-trial chambers.

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Laurent Bucyibaruta, who was governor of the Gikongoro province during the Rwandan genocide, has been convicted for complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. 

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Europe

Wildfires are raging through South Western Europe.

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The main events of the Russian-Ukraine War as of Saturday.

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Two studies show that immigrants in France are integrating but still face discrimination and racism. Many in France have an immigrant ancestor.

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Middle East


Explainer: The islands of Sanafir and Tiran are strategically important for access to the Red Sea. While their possession has been contested, new ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia might see these islands become tourist sites.

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Government officials are preparing for possible protests across Iraq after a mass gathering by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad.

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The war in Ukraine has damaged wheat supplies for the Middle East and North Africa, the largest consumers of wheat exports.

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Asia

Pacific Island nations demand solid action against climate change from the United States and China.

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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as the interim president of the country.

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The legacy of former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

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June 21, 2022 · 6:22 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of June 19, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of June 19, 2022.

Global News

The World Health Organization is creating a vaccine-sharing program with nations in Africa and 30 countries outside the continent to combat Monkeypox. However, the program might draw away vaccines from the continent to richer countries where the cases of Monkeypox are mostly mild whereas the ailment is endemic in Central and Western Africa.

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Explainer: The Russian war against Ukraine is causing a global food shortage and raising global food prices.

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While not published last week, here is a guide for making one’s garden into a carbon sink.

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Americas

Columbia has elected their first leftist president in former rebel Gustavo Petro. Several other Latin American countries have also elected more progressive and leftist presidents, but in Columbia there was a mood of who the electorate wanted least in power.

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Puerto Rican politicians are pushing to hold a vote on the future of the island as either a commonwealth, independent or the 51st State of the United States of America.

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Juneteenth celebration in America, commemorating the arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas June 19, 1865, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in Texas.

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Africa

Explainer: The tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo goes back decades and is currently flaring again.

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Facebook moderators failed to remove extremist content from Jihadist groups such as Islamic State and al-Shabab according to a study by Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

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Explainer: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and “Farmgate”, which could see the president facing criminal charges.

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Europe

Dutch authorities stopped a GRU operative from infiltrating the International Criminal Court in the Hauge. The ICC is currently investigating war crimes allegations against Russia in Ukraine.

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The United Kingdom and European Union are in a row over a unilateral change to the Brexit agreement made by the UK government regarding trade on the Northern Ireland border.

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The EU will fine tech companies that fail to consistently deal with deepfakes with fines up to 6% of global turnover.

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Middle East

Israel and Egypt signed a deal with the EU to export natural gas and oil in exchange for the EU’s assistance with energy exploration in the two nations’ territorial waters.

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The EU has unfrozen aid for the Palestinian Authority.

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In Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, the head of the Sadrist movement and ordered 73 politicians from his movement to resign from the government.

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Asia

Bank customers in Henan, China found their COVID tracker apps turning red when they entered the city to withdrawal money from troubled rural banks, denying them access to public services like trains and entry into buildings. 

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China launches the Type 003 “Fujian” carrier on Friday.

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Islamic State launched an attack on the Sikh community in Afghanistan, killing one and wounding seven in Kabul.

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June 1, 2022 · 5:24 am

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of May 31, 2022.

Global News

The tobacco industry is a major polluter and climate change according to the World Health Organization.

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Chinese disinformation and misinformation are especially prominent in Google News. CCP propaganda showing up in 88% of new searches on search engines like Bing and Google.

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Chinese foreign lending often targets the home providence of incumbent political leadership, favoring projects in the home city or providence of a sitting head of state. However, this effect disappears when the incumbent is out of power. This also means that China is at risk of backlash from projects that serve little or no benefit to the borrowing country and the debt for these projects become a debt burden.

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Americas

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree increase the fine amount for individuals who provide false information in order to gain logging license applications or forest concessions. Environmental activists point out that the legislation doesn’t really address the core problems related to illegal logging or that fines can expire if not paid.

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Cyber criminals launched a ransomware attack on Costa Rica’s public health agency computer systems, causing the government to shut down the system.

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The Summit of the Americas will be held in the United States of America for the first time since 1994, but Mexico might not attend. Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela had not been invited to the summit.

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Africa

Protests are taking place in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo over alleged Rwandan support for M-23, a rebel force that clashed with the Congolese military in Northern Kivu, which borders Rwanda.

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The war in Ukraine is causing food shortages in Africa. Both Ukraine and Russia are major food and fertilizer exporters, with Africa being a recipient of more than 40% of grain and wheat exports from Russia in the past few years.

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The United Nations Security Council passed unanimously a resolution condemning armed robbery, hostage-taking and piracy off the Gulf of Guinea. Piracy in the region costs coastal states around 2 billion USD a year while piracy in the region remains high despite global decline of piracy.

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Europe

Turkey and Russia in discussions over incursions in Northern Syria.

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The European Union will embargo 90% of Russian oil exports by December. Poland and Germany are also planning on phasing out Russian oil as well by the end of the year.

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After being sworn in for a second term on Tuesday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will seek European Union membership for the country, but not join NATO.

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Middle East

 Israel and the United Arab Emirates have signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a free trade deal that is potentially worth more than 10 billion USD, according to the UAE.

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Lebanon has re-elected Nabih Berri for a seventh term as Speaker of Parliament.

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Oxfam is calling on warring sides of the Yemeni war to renew the ceasefire struck in April, citing the need for humanitarian aid and assistance to millions at risk of starvation.

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Asia

China’s attempt to sign comprehensive security and regional coordination over fisheries and other issues, ended up falling short as the 10 Polynesian nations approached by Beijing had refused to sign on.

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 The Bai Lan attitude, or “let it rot”, reflects a growing disillusionment in Chinese youth. The lack of economic opportunities and uncertainty for the future are driving the attitude. However, it’s not unique to China.

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A leak of alleged documents and photos from a database in Xinjiang provides more evidence of abuses and involuntary detention of Uighurs in the internment camps. Beijing denies the claims despite this being the second data leak since 2019 showing abuses.

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The Department of Foreign Affairs is protesting Beijing’s imposition of a unilateral moratorium of fishing in disputed and Filipino territorial waters, an act that is illegal according to a ruling by the  Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016.

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May 16, 2022 · 6:18 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of May 16, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of May 16, 2022.

Global News

Coronavirus infections have risen by 14% in the Americas and 12% in Africa, have been steady in the Western Pacific and have fallen in the rest of the world.

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International donors have fallen short of promised financial aid for Syria for a second year.

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Satellites revealed 4,000 square kilometers of tidal wetlands have been lost over the last two decades. About 27% of losses and gains were from human activities such as draining swamplands and attempts to restore mangroves, and 70% of the loss are in Indonesia, Myanmar and China.

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Americas

White hat hackers attempted several dozen hacking attempts against Brazilian voting machines and failed. This was in response to President Jair Bolsonaro’s claims of potential risks to the vote based on hacking.

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Thousands in the United States rally to defend the right to abortion access and reproductive autonomy. Draft opinion leaked from the Supreme Court indicate that the conservative majority will overturn Roe v. Wade, the law that established a legal right to abortion in the United States. If overturned, abortion access would be left to individual states, though Republicans have indicated they might make a case for a federal ban outlawing abortion nationally.

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Honduras has abolished the ZEDE law, which allowed private companies to create effectively autonomous enclaves in country with investors effectively governing those enclaves rather than the local government. The current enclaves can stay as long as they reapply and follow national laws and regulations from the government.

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Africa

Mali is pulling out of the G5 Sahel force, which was assembled to counter local Jihadists, claiming the force has not been effective in countering the militants.

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Protestors took to the streets demanding a return to democracy in Tunisia last week, in opposition to President Kais Saied’s rule.

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Somalia has a new president after Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won the elections last week.

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Europe

A larger view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Day 82.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is headed to Northern Ireland to try and solve the political gridlock based on the Brexit deal with the EU.

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Turkey lays out their conditions for Sweden and Finland to join the NATO.

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Middle East

Protests over price hikes and loss of government subsidies have turned political in Iran, where almost half of the population is under the poverty line.

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The United Arab Emirates appointed Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the new president of the nation.

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15 European nations criticize Israeli plans to build more than 4,000 housing units in the Occupied West Bank, settlements considered illegal under international law.

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United Nations calls for an investigation into the death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who had been shot during her coverage of a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Akleh was wearing a journalist helmet and vest at the time.

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Asia

Sri Lanka’s government has four new ministers. This comes two days after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to help stabilize the country following protests and economic instability.

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Yohannes Abraham has been named as ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by U.S. President Joe Biden. This follows the U.S.-ASEAN summit in Washington DC.

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The election of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will likely be accompanied by his supporters taking both houses of Congress in the Philippines.

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North Korea is facing a pandemic of COVID-19 infections in country, much to the anger of the government.

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During the U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Washington, DC, the National Unity Government (NUG) Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung met with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. The military junta running Myanmar since the coup against the NUG has been effectively shunned from official events and meetings at ASEAN after the junta refused to work towards a peace plan.

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May 2, 2022 · 6:04 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of May 1, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of May 5, 2022.

Global News

The war in Ukraine is causing major shortages in food supply globally.

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has a thriving community of sea life, complicating efforts to combat pollution.

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Climate change will drive the emergence of new animal-originated diseases in heavily populated areas.

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Americas

Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin developed new enzymes that can dissolve plastics in a matter of hours to days. Normally plastics can take decades or even centuries to biodegrade naturally and are mostly left in landfills rather than recycled.

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Economic inequality in Latin America is the core factor in COVID-19 deaths, according to a report by Amnesty International and the Center for Economic and Social Rights.

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Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela might not be attending the Ninth Summit of the Americas in June.

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Africa

South Africa could be facing a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections.

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Many nations in Africa are employing mercenaries to fight armed groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram. In some cases, the mercenaries are supplemental forces assisting local military forces, while in other cases, the mercenaries are replacing local military forces.

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After reporting on allegations of Malian military abuses, two French media outlets were suspended in the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the latest move by the Malian government to limit press freedoms.

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Europe

Sweden and Denmark have summoned their Russian ambassadors over Russian spy planes violating airspace. Both nations are strengthening their Western ties, with Sweden considering joining NATO and Denmark being a member.

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Serbia showed off newly acquired Chinese-made surface to air missiles, along with weapon systems from other countries as part of Serbia’s military buildup.

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The main events of the Ukraine War, at day 67.

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Finland is likely to join NATO in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Middle East

Security forces have seized around 6.2 million pills of Captagon, an amphetamine that is primarily consumed in the Middle East.  

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Islamic State may be reestablishing in North East Syria.

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Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are in discussions to increase investments after the kingdom deposited $3 billion in Pakistan’s central bank.

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Asia

The terror attack targeting Chinese academics in Karachi University in Pakistan is an example of evolving tactics by Baloch insurgents. There is more to the story as explained in this story.

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Afghanistan is facing hunger during Eid, with more than 90 percent of Afghans facing food shortages due to the devastated economy and inflation and mismanagement by the Taliban.

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Uzbekistan has outlined regulations for cryptocurrencies and their mining and trading.

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North Korea’s leader called upon the military to “bolster strength” in a night time parade.

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The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia is coming to an end after decades of prosecuting cases against former Khmer Rouge.

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April 5, 2022 · 5:00 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of April 3, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of April 3, 2022.

Global News

U.S. Federal Reserve is mulling another interest rate bump after positive news on job growth. The federal interest rate affects global financial assets denominated in the U.S. dollar, such as treasury bonds or debts denominated in dollars.

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The United Nations is appointing a 16-member panel to investigate climate change projects and efforts by private sector actors to determine their effectiveness and how to improve corporate efforts to fight climate change. The announcement comes after environmental groups accuse some large corporations of ‘greenwashing’- when a climate damaging activity is rebranded as fighting climate change.

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The Middle East and North Africa are experiencing more frequent and damaging climate disasters and higher temperatures than anywhere else in the world.

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Only 2 million Bitcoin left untapped globally.

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Americas

Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York, now have a unionized warehouse after successfully voting for one. This comes after more than 25 years of Amazon preventing unionization company-wide and may inspire other Amazon warehouses.

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Workers for Brazil’s central bank have voted on an indefinite strike starting April 1, while the president of the central bank, Roberto Campos Neto, vacations in Miami. This threatens the Pix payment system that 67% of Brazil’s adult population use.

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The Biden Administration may end Title 42 by May 23, though this has not been finalized. The administration is seeking to address “root causes” for migration in a shift in immigration policy.

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Africa

The duct fiber foundations of a smart city are being laid out in Lagos. Another smart city project, the Eko Atlantic, also in Lagos, held a ground breaking ceremony for a new U.S. consulate.

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Aid is reaching Tigrayans for the first time since December 15, 2021 after a truce was called last week. More then 90% of the Tigrayan population need food after the 16-month long civil war between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front left the thousands dead and brought hundreds of thousands to starvation since November.

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The United Nations voted unanimously to endorse an African Union force fighting armed groups like al-Shabab and Daesh. The new force will transition responsibility for Somalia’s domestic security to the Somali transitional government over time as the government gains strength.

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Europe

Putin’s war is not a sign of genius, and has been a disaster.

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Ukrainian officials and civilians accuse Russian military personnel and the Russian government of atrocities and massacres across the Kyiv region.

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Lithuania stopped importing Russian gas at the beginning of April, the first European nation to stop buying Russian gas.

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Middle East

In Jordan, Prince Hamza bin al-Hussein has renounced his title and claim on the throne.

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The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is working with nations in West Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East to develop water conservation and use strategies to promote stability and cooperation. Known as the Blue Peace Strategy, the SDC believe this could be a tool to promote peace in the Middle East and beyond as water scarcity becomes a greater threat.

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Yemen’s 7-year long war might be seeing peace as all warring factions agreed to a two-month truce for the month of Ramadan.

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Asia

Pakistan is headed for early elections after president Imran Khan avoided a no-confidence vote and dissolved Parliament.

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 Several cryptocurrency mining companies took advantage of tax cuts and exemptions not meant for them specifically, according to auditors in Kazakhstan. While not actually breaking any laws, these companies were an example used by the Accounts Committee to claim the Digital Kazakhstan program was not working as intended.

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The President and prime minister of Sri Lanka lost all 26 ministers in the government in protest over the nation’s woes- national debt, rising cost of living, shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

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March 28, 2022 · 5:58 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of March 27, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of March 27, 2022.

Global News

Two state-backed North Korean hacker groups exploited a vulnerability in Chrome to launch a zero-day attack. The vulnerability, CVE-2022-0609, has been patched but the primarily means to actually target people was a complex social engineering operation that involved either compromising legitimate sites or creating fake profiles and sites to lure potential targets in various industries.

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The deep ocean current is impacted by global temperature and carbon, and it’s getting faster with more carbon. This could have a major impact on future sequestration of carbon and on ocean life.

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A new lithium battery that can stretch and flex. This could one day lead to clothing that can recharge and power electronics.

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Americas

Canadian Indigenous delegations will be meeting with Pope Francis this week to ask for a formal apology from the Catholic Church for abuses and crimes against Indigenous communities due to the residential schools that operated between the early 19th Century and 20th Century.

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El Salvador is moving forward with trying to popularize bitcoin as a legal tender, including the release of bitcoin-backed bond for the treasury. While the president and crypto enthusiasts love the idea, many Salvadorans are not using the currency and critics, such as the International Monetary Fund, point to the risks and volatility of the digital currency as threat to the economy.

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Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Organization of American States, Arturo McFields, resigned on Wednesday after accusing president Daniel Ortega and his government of suppressing freedoms and attacking opposition parties.  

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Africa

A court in Uganda issued an arrest warrant for Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, an author and critic of the government who fled the country for Germany after he was allegedly tortured by government agents. He is the second critic to flee the country.

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A ceasefire and truce were have taken hold yesterday in Ethiopia between the government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. First initiated unilaterally by the government, the TPLF has agreed to the truce, which could help deliver humanitarian assistance to the hundreds of thousands living in the Tigray region and possibly lead to an end of the conflict.

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The NGO Big Ship is mobilizing communities in Mombasa, Kenya, use plastic waste to fight both marine plastic pollution and deforestation. They accomplish this by using yoghut cups to replant mangrove seedlings. With a survival rate of 95% for the mangrove seedlings, these communities reforest critical swampland in Tudor Creek while taking hundreds of thousands of plastic cups out of the marine and mangrove environment.

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Europe

According to General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ministry of Defence’s Intelligence Directorate in Ukraine, Putin is attempting to cut the country into two and install a pro-Kremlin government in Russian-occupied territory.

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Explainer- What is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, why does it exist, and what it’s doing to help Ukraine?

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Russia’s anti-war protestors and activists are still operating despite massive repression by Putin’s government and over 15,000 arrests and sentences of more than 15 years in prison for individuals protesting the Ukrainian war. While opposition to the war keeps some in Russia, others fear being unable to come back should they leave.

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Middle East

The Houthi movement and the Yemeni government agreed to a prisoner swap on Sunday. The swap will be 1,400 Houthi prisoners in return for 823 prisoners, including the brother of the Yemeni president, according to the Houthis’ national committee for prisoner affairs, however the Yemeni government has not reached a final agreement with the Houthis yet.

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Qatar’s state fund for development will be going into a 50-50 partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help farmers adapt to climate change. The total promised investment is 200 million dollars, and will focus on projects to help low-income farmers in Africa adapt agricultural practices and technologies to better prepare for the changes brought on by climate change.

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The LGBTQ+ community in Iraq faces persecution from state-backed authorities such as the police, and disorganized private groups according to a report from Human Rights Watch.

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Asia

North Korea tested new intercontinental ballistic missiles last week. While promising future tests and greater military capabilities, some analysts see this as both part of the typical activity marking the anniversary of the founder of North Korea’s birthday, Kim Il-Sung, on April 15.

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The United States, U.K. and Canada are launching targeted sanctions on the Myanmar military and government and arms dealers.

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Thousands are heading to Islamabad to rally as embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan potentially faces a no-confidence vote.

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March 14, 2022 · 5:10 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of March 14, 2022)

After two week hiatus, we’re back with more news from the world.

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of March 14, 2022.

Global News

The global reset following the COVID pandemic could provide an opportunity to combat gender inequality.

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According to Ukraine’s top climate scientist, Svitlana Krakovska, the underlying root of the war’s devastation and climate change are fossil fuels. Russian oil and gas exports contribute to climate change and are sold for weapons and cash to fund the war.

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Investors are calling on a 14-point plan for companies lobbying on climate. The coalition of companies and investors supporting The Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying represent more than $130 trillion dollars.

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Americas

To combat anti-Asian violence, Asian American and Pacific Islander American teachers are sharing their history and culture in class.

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Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro confirmed a U.S. delegation met with government officials to discuss several issues, including energy.

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Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro is pushing for a mining law that targets indigenous lands in the Amazon. Despite having only 11% of potash reserves being on tribal lands, the law is being touted as needed.

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Africa

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pfizer to supply COVID antiviral pills.

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Burkina Faso has more militant attacks and violence than Mali.

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The war in Ethiopia killed 750 civilians in the Amhara and Afar regions in the second half of 2021.

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Europe

Greece and Turkey are working to improve bilateral relations.

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In Moldova, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has a mixed response. Officially neutral in the conflict, Moldova holds historic ties to Russia and a minority are traditionally supportive of Russian policies, but some are now blaming the Kremlin for the invasion.

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Internet service providers balance efforts to provide access to service to Russian customers in face of the Kremlin’s censorship and control tools. While cutting down on Internet access would limit the reach of cyber-attacks, it also curtails access to outside information and news.

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Middle East

Iranian oil may provide an advantage in the nuclear negotiations, but it will not be enough to replace Russian oil and natural gas.

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The Saudi-led coalition has killed tens of thousands since 2015 according to UNICEF.

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Saudi redevelopment projects in Jeddah are stirring protests.

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Asia

U.S. officials reported that Moscow might be trying to buy military equipment and possibly weapons from Beijing. Representatives from Beijing have denied this claim.

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The proposed summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and U.S. President Joe Biden will be postponed due to scheduling conflicts according to Indonesian and Cambodian officials.

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Relations between Japan and South Korea may improve soon as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol talked over the phone Friday. Both sides agreed on mending relations between the two nations.

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