In The News

Slate: Hunger and Obesity Can Be Two Sides of the Same Coin

Eleanor Cummins October 4, 2017
The recent United Nations report on “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017” explains the troubling recent increase in world hunger and obesity rates. Global hunger rates had been steadily declining for decades, but from 2015 to 2016 there was an increase of 40 million people who went hungry. Obesity has doubled since 1980. Each year, an estimated 815 million people go hungry...

The Hankyoreh: Chinese Support of Sanctions Suggests Increasing Concern Over NK Nuclear Program

Kim Oi-hyun September 13, 2017
The United States views China’s support for North Korea as key to ending the rogue nation’s nuclear-weapons program. After the North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test, the UN Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions. China accounts for the bulk of trade with North Korea. The sanctions boost enforcement and toughen restrictions on North Korea's oil imports, textile exports,...

Reuters: UN Brands Myanmar Violence a “Textbook” Example of Ethnic Cleansing

Stephanie Nebehay and Simon Lewis September 11, 2017
At least 300, 000 Rohingya people have fled to Bangladesh away from Myanmar and the military’s brutal crackdown since August 25, and “The United Nations’ top human rights official on Monday slammed Myanmar for conducting a ‘cruel military operation’ against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, branding it ‘a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,’” reports Reuters. Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein “said...

Al Jazeera: Nearly 20,000 Rohingya Flee to Bangladesh From Myanmar

August 31, 2017
More than 18,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in recent days to escape fighting in western Myanmar. The two nations share a border of 270 kilometers; Bangladesh is 90 percent Muslim, and Myanmar is about 90 percent Buddhist and 4 percent Muslim. Bangladesh, already hosting 400,000 Rohingya refugees, tries to block the new waves of refugees. With the Rohingya Muslims denied citizenship rights...

Reuters: As Sanctions Loom, Seafood Trade Slows on China-North Korea Border

Philip Wen August 15, 2017
In response to North Korea testing two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month, the UN Security Council issued a new round of sanctions “intending to press the Asian state to renounce its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs,” reports Philip Wen for Reuters. The sanctions prohibit North Korea from exporting seafood and various minerals like iron and coal. The country earns more...

The New York Times: North Korea Threatens Retaliation Over Sanctions, Hints at Possible Attack

Rick Gladstone August 7, 2017
The United Nations Security Council approved sanctions drafted by the United States and China against North Korea that could reduce the nation’s $3 billion in exports by $1 billion. “The resolution was a direct response to North Korea’s successful tests last month of two intercontinental ballistic missiles that for the first time demonstrated an ability to reach the United States mainland,”...

Al-Ahram Weekly: Failure in Geneva

Bassel Oudat June 4, 2017
The Syrian opposition and Assad regime attended a sixth round of talks in Geneva to end the civil war, just before Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East. Little progress was reported, and there is a sense that the talks in Geneva compete with Russian-led talks in Astana to end the war. UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura proposed “formation of a precarious human rights and constitutional...