In The News

CIA “Torture” Report: The 54 Countries That Will Be Worried By Controversial Revelations

Adam Withnall December 10, 2014
The US Senate Intelligence Committee released a 500-page summary to a report that outlines a six-year investigation of enhanced interrogation techniques described as violation of international law. The Bush administration deemed measures proposed by contract psychologists as lawful after the September 11 attacks on four airlines, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon: “Nevertheless, such...

77 Chinese Accused in Cyber Bust

Samwel Born Maina and Maureen Kakah December 5, 2014
Kenyan police arrested 77 Chinese nationals on charges cyber-surveillance. About 70 people lived in the home and traveled to the country on tourist visas. “The Chinese ambassador to Kenya has been summoned to the Foreign Affairs ministry to explain how his nationals were running such a huge centre,” reports the Daily Nation in Kenya. “The Chinese were discovered after a fire broke out in the...

Back After a Lifetime in IS

Samyabrata Ray Goswami December 2, 2014
Hundreds of young radicals have fled comfortable homes in Muslim and non-Muslim nations alike to join the Islamic State’s fight for control in Syria and Iraq. If not killed during battle or by superiors for insubordination, many soon want to return home. Such is the case of Arif Majeed from India who traveled to Iraq in May. He fled to Turkey and returned home with bullet wounds on November 28....

Jokowi’s Sea of Troubles

September 5, 2014
As Indonesia prepares for incoming President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo taking office in October, the transition is rough. The government faces a range of challenges, including a need to reduce fuel subsidies. The outgoing president dashed hopes that he would launch the needed reductions. Fuel subsidies represent 14 percent of the budget, reducing government spending on infrastructure and social...

Brutal Efficiency: The Secret to Islamic State's Success

Siobhan Gorman, Nour Malas and Matt Bradley September 4, 2014
The Islamic State group of terrorists, also known as IS or ISIS, is controlling swaths of territory throughout Syria and Iraq, community by community, with coercion, brutal tactics and US-made weapons captured from the Iraqi army. Strategies that include kidnappings with big ransoms and takeover of oil fields as well as extreme support for Islam win over young men from around the globe seeking...

Thailand’s Ultra-Monarchists Export Vigilante Justice

Michael Peel September 3, 2014
The rise of ultra-monarchism and harsh penalties for speaking against the monarchy in Thailand are heightening political conflict and tension throughout the diaspora. “Part-absurd, part chilling, the case highlights how the ever harsher application in Thailand of lèse-majesté laws protecting the frail 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is spilling across continents in uncontrolled and...

Study: Illegal Poaching Could Drive African Elephants to Extinction

Brad Plumer August 22, 2014
Demand in China for African elephant ivory drives illegal poaching and could push the creatures into extinction. “A kilogram of ivory can now fetch as much as $7,000 in China, where it's used for ornaments or ground up for use in traditional medicine,” explains Brad Plumer for Vox. The study examines the connections between poaching, China’s internal legal ivory market, the black market, and...