In The News

Washington Post: 380,000 Deaths in South Sudan’s Civil War

Siobhán O'Grady September 26, 2018
A study funded by the US Institute for Peace and the US State Department finds that more than 380,000 people died from civil war in South Sudan. The United Nations put the number at 50,000 in 2016, and South Sudan officials suggest it is even lower. Calculating casualties in a war zone is challenging, and the lead epidemiologist with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggests the...

The Atlantic: Trump Issues Scathing Rejection of “Globalism”

Uri Friedman September 26, 2018
The US president’s speech before the UN General Assembly undercut the organization’s mission of global cooperation. Instead, he lashed out at what he called an unelectable bureaucracy, lacking accountability: “We reject the ideology of globalism and accept the doctrine of patriotism.” Uri Friedman writes for the Atlantic: “More than going after a specific leader or country, Trump used this year’s...

ScienceAlert: Why the Earth Wobbles

Mike McRae September 25, 2018
About 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is water and the planet also has a molten core melted core, so the planet wobbles as it spins. The wobbling increased over the 20th century and changed direction with the start of the 21st century, and NASA researchers suggest that melting sea ice is a contributing factor. “NASA piled up a century's worth of data on planetary rotation, sea level...

CNBC: Europe, Russia, China Join Forces to Dodge Iran Sanctions

Natasha Turak September 25, 2018
The United States withdrew from the international agreement to contain Iran’s weapons program and imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil, aviation, auto and other industries as well as others doing business with Iran. Other signatories to the agreement – France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China – have developed a “special purpose vehicle” to “assist and reassure economic operators pursuing legitimate...

Wall Street Journal: UN Gathering and Global Problems

Farnaz Fassihi and Valentina Pop September 25, 2018
Numerous challenges from nuclear weapons proliferation to climate change cannot be resolved without global cooperation. Yet some nations reject such global responsibility and even refuse to acknowledge that challenges exist. More than 130 heads of state and government are arriving for the UN General Assembly in New York City – and will continue debate over two competing world views, national...

BBC: Fentanyl Crisis and Source of Illegal Drugs

September 24, 2018
The escalating trade quarrel between China and the United States prompts other worries and accusations. “The US believes factory-produced opioids - powerful painkillers increasingly abused by US citizens - are being made in China and sold from there too,” reports BBC News. ”One of the main ones is fentanyl - 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine - which is only approved in the US for severe pain...

El País: Spain Wants Special Brexit Chapter

Lucía Abellán September 23, 2018
Any Brexit deal requires approval of the European Parliament and a supermajority of EU members, many of which hold messy concerns. For example, Spain is striving for an agreement related to taxes, labor and pollution concerns, and smuggling in Gibraltar. The territory in Southern Spain, under British control since 1713, has 30,000 residents and more than 50,000 registered businesses, so Spain...