In The News

Economist: Rohingya Refuse to Return to Myanmar

December 10, 2018
The vast majority of Rohingya refugees fleeing the surge of anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar into Bangladesh, some 700,000 since August 2017, resist returning to Myanmar. Hundreds of Rohingyas have staged protests against the prospect of return and “demanded guarantees of citizenship and security” before returning. As a result, the government of Bangladesh has delayed repatriation, and as a recent...

Washington Post: Iran Sanctions Choke Medicine Imports

Erin Cunningham December 10, 2018
Economists project the latest round of US sanctions on Iran to have detrimental effects on the nation’s healthcare sector, according to the Washington Post. Sanctions on Iranian financial firms “could endanger the flow of humanitarian goods as foreign banks and outside suppliers abandon business ties with their partners in Iran, analysts and experts warn,” reports Erin Cunningham. Moreover, some...

Globe and Mail: Canada Arrests Huawei Global CFO

Robert Fife and Steven Chase December 7, 2018
The US-Chinese trade war has taken a new turn with news of the December 1 arrest of China’s Huawei Technologies chief financial officer in Vancouver, Canada – about the same time as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping put a pause on the trade war. Meng Wanzhou faces extradition for violation of trade sanctions against Iran. “The decision by Canadian authorities to detain such a high-profile Chinese...

Wired: Quiet War Over Who Makes Online Money

Paris Martineau December 7, 2018
At first glance, giant social media firms like Facebook, PayPal and Tumblr appear to be trying to block hate speech pornography from their websites. But the trend is not simple and suggests an ugly culture war is underway. After Reddit banned forums for incels, the men who identify as involuntary celibates are retaliating. The group distributes content policies of internet firms including social...

The Guardian: Syria Resumes Airstrikes

December 7, 2018
The Syrian government resumed airstrikes in the wake of alleged poison gas attacks by rebels in Aleppo. The bombings in north Syria are in violation of the truce brokered by Russia and Turkey that enabled “relative calm to the country’s north for the past two months,” reports the Guardian. Meanwhile, the rebels have denied carrying out the attacks and accuse that the Syrian government of...

DW: Global Migrant Numbers Up 20 Percent

December 6, 2018
The number of migrants worldwide is growing, especially those of working age, reports the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The report details how migrants aged 15 and older make up 4.2 percent of the global population and migrant workers make up 4.7 percent of all workers. About 68 percent of migrant workers work in high-income countries, down from 75 percent in 2013. Almost 60...

Korea Herald: N. Korea’s “Unreported” Missile Base

Yeo Jun-suk December 6, 2018
For decades, governments raised alarms about the global security crisis of a belligerent North Korea, and subduing public worries is not easy without obvious progress. Satellite images continue to show that an unreported missile base in North Korea, near the border with China, remains active with new construction since the June summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. South Korean and US...