In The News

The New York Times: As Trump Exits Paris Agreement, Other Nations Are Defiant

Somini Sengupta, Melissa Eddy and Chris Buckley June 3, 2017
By withdrawing the United States from a non-binding treaty, Donald Trump rejects that climate change is a crisis. He rejects the opinion of a majority of US citizens and virtually the entire global science community. He rejects notions that cities like Pittsburgh and Paris might have common interests or that the US as biggest carbon polluter in history should contribute to a fund helping poor...

The Atlantic: Is Trump's Climate-Change Agenda Politically Sustainable?

Ronald Brownstein June 2, 2017
After long raising doubts about climate change, the US president decided to withdraw from the global treaty on climate change. He claims his decision will create jobs and questions if the agreement will truly stem climate change. He says he will try to renegotiate a deal already agreed by more than 190 countries, and expressed little concern that reopening the treaty could be difficult. The...

Sudan Tribune: Famine Declared in Parts of South Sudan

February 20, 2017
“War and a collapsing economy have left some 100,000 people starving in parts of South Sudan,” reports the government, United Nations agencies and the Sudan Tribune. “An additional one million people in the war-torn nation, the United Nations agencies projected, could be on the brink of famine.” As many as 5 million people in the north part of the country could be at risk by summer. The UN...

Associated Press: UN Security Council Condemns North Korea's Missile Test

Edith M. Lederer and Eric Talmadge February 15, 2017
North Korea launched yet another missile into the Sea of Japan, demonstrating new strides in range and capability with solid fuel. The US ambassador to the United Nations issued a statement calling the launches “unacceptable” and that the time had come to hold North Korea and “its enablers” accountable. The Kim regime in North Korea could not survive without fuel, food and other basic goods from...

Forbes: China Treads Its Way to Global Governance

Shaheli Das February 9, 2017
China is ready to set the terms for global governance as US political leaders show less inclination to support global institutions. “Beijing advocates that the country follows international rules, but these rules were formulated about half a century ago with little participation of China and that global governance norms must be modified with changing times,” explains Shaheli Das for Forbes. “...

UN Resolution on Israeli Settlements

Barak Ravid December 26, 2016
The United States abstained at the UN Security Council, allowing a resolution to move forward on opposing Israeli settlements illegal under international law. “The Fourth Geneva Convention bans nations from the moving of populations into and the establishing of settlements in the territory of another nation won in war,” explains Barak Ravid for Haaretz. For now, the “resolution is a form of...

Blame Game Starts as Aleppo's Rebels Fall

Jeremy Bowen December 14, 2016
Civilians and rebel fighters are trapped in a small section of eastern Aleppo, after that part of the city was pounded for months by Russian airstrikes, Syrian ground forces and Iranian militias. The war began in 2011. Europe, the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and a few other nations selectively supported rebel fighters. Russia then intervened in September 2015. Reports describe hospitals...