In The News

OPEC to Russia – It’s Over: OilPrice.com

Julianne Geiger March 8, 2020
A meeting between OPEC and non-OPC members, more than 20 nations in all, resulted in no deal to cut oil production in order to boost prices. “OPEC and the Coronavirus have been pressuring Russia for weeks as oil prices have tumbled to sub-$50 per barrel, but Russia has so far decided it doesn’t want to participate in further production cuts to offset the loss in demand,” reports Julianne Geiger...

Apple, Google Crack Down on COVID-19 Apps: CNBC

Kif Leswing March 7, 2020
Major platforms like Apple and Google are restricting apps on the COVID-19 to those produced or approved by recognized governments and hospitals. “Four independent developers told CNBC that Apple rejected their apps, which would allow people to see stats about which countries have confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus,” reports Kif Leswing for CNBC. “Some of these apps used public data from...

Legalizing Abortion in Latin America: WSJ

Juan Forero March 6, 2020
After a lawyer filed suit to legalize abortion, the Constitutional Court of Colombia accepted the case to examine the issue – a breakthrough for Latin America where abortion is tightly restricted. While a few small countries including Uruguay, Cuba, and Guyana allow elective abortions, Colombia is the first regional power to consider legalizing abortion. Currently, the procedure is legal for...

Danger for India’s Foreign Policy: Diplomat

Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan March 6, 2020
Corporate and political leaders tend to avoid partnerships that present human rights problems. “Issues such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and India’s actions in Kashmir are beginning to affect India’s relations with its neighbors, major Islamic countries such as Iran and Indonesia, and strategic partners such as the United States,” explains Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan for the Diplomat....

Student Builds COVID-19 Tracking Website: GeekWire

Kurt Schlosser March 5, 2020
A new coronavirus for China emerged in early January, and a 17-year-old student in Mercer Island, Washington, worried about misinformation. Before the disease spread from China, Avi Schiffmann set out make a one-stop website that compiles official data. “The site’s simple homepage consists of quick facts that are updated every 10 minutes, including total confirmed cases, total deaths, countries...

Refugee Crisis for EU: Financial Times

Jim Brunsden and Michael Peel March 5, 2020
EU foreign ministers tried calling a meeting, at Greece’s request, to address a new wave of Syrian refugees after conflict has intensified in Syria’s province of Idlib. Turkey has indicated it would no longer restrict refugees from reaching Europe. Turkey’s president suggest the policy is due to the lack of international support for refugees. "European countries have resisted Russian...

Millions of Websites Face “Insecure” Warnings: BBC

Jane Wakefield March 4, 2020
Internet users value security. The internet security research group and Let's Encrypt issue certificates to internet websites assuring about security, but the organizations warn that 3 million will be revoked due to a flaw in the certificates’ security code, resulting in sites carry security warnings. Google has used the https ranking signal since 2014. “Digital certificates are basically...