In The News

Gambia vs Myanmar at the ICJ: Dhaka Tribune

Manzoor Hasan and Jessica Olney • January 24, 2020
Gambia filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice over Myanmar's harsh treatment of Rohingya people, denying the minority group citizenship and launching military attacks on villages that have resulted in the deaths of thousands and displaced more than 700,000 people. Many Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. Bangladesh ended entry for Rohingya in March 2019. The International...

Threats on Nuclear Arm Control: Financial Times

Tony Barber January 24, 2020
The United Nations’ nuclear non-proliferation treaty has been remarkable for limiting nuclear arms over the past 50 years, but three trends threaten those efforts. The first is slow breach of nuclear arms control agreements between Russia and the United States. The second is that nine known nuclear-armed countries are still spending a lot to modernize their own arsenals. The last one is the...

Lockdown on Coronavirus: South China Morning Post

January 23, 2020
China has taken the unprecedented step of quarantining Wuhan, a city of 11 million, to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus. The virus has infected more than 500, killed 17 people and spread to at least six nations since the start of the year. Public health officials connect foreign cases to travel and time spent in Wuhan. Wuhan's public transportation is closed. “Local residents rushed...

The West’s Stake in Hong Kong: Diplomat

Brian C.H. Fong January 23, 2020
Hong Kong protests continue after seven months, bringing scrutiny to the territory’s relationship with China and the promises for semi-autonomy through 2047. Disagreement between protesters and the Hong Kong government is not a local issue, but a “complicated geopolitical issue involving great power competition,” explains Brian C.H. Fong for the Diplomat and HongKong Brief. He describes the...

Firms to ID Message Creators for India? TechCrunch

Manish Singh January 22, 2020
India’s regulators may be considering regulations that would require social media and instant-messaging firms to help authorities identify the source of messages and content. Law enforcement agencies would have to obtain court orders. “But regardless, asking companies to comply with such a requirement would be ‘devastating’ for international social media companies, a New Delhi-based policy...

UN Urges Probe of Alleged Saudi Hacking: NPR

Avie Schneider and Shannon Bond January 22, 2020
The United Nations has urged a probe after an investigation pointed to a 2018 WhatsApp message, sent by an account of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince to the CEO of Amazon that when opened allowed exposed contents of the phone. The target, Jeff Bezos, commissioned the investigation and report, reviewed by UN human rights experts. “The forensic analysis assessed that the intrusion likely was...

Brexit and EU Citizens’ Rights: Euronews

Alasdair Sandford January 21, 2020
The House of Commons approved the EU Withdrawal Bill without change, but the House of Lords approved three changes. The first would give EU citizens an automatic right to stay in the UK after Brexit rather than expecting them to apply. The upper chamber also approved issuing physical documents to EU citizens as proof of their right to stay post-Brexit. The government supports a digital system and...