Day: July 7, 2019

Imposing Sanctions Increases Tensions Between Iran And America

Iran has breached the limit of the amount of stockpiled enriched uranium it is allowed to have. Imposed on Iran as part of the 2015 nuclear deal in exchange for the relief of international economic sanctions, Aljazeera reported that Iran had surpassed the 300kg cap with plans to enrich the

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Iran Exceeds Uranium Enrichment Limit Set In 2015 Nuclear Deal

Following the growing tensions between Iran and the United States, Iran has announced that it will be enriching its uranium beyond the limit set in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with other world powers. This decision comes in response to the withdrawal of the U.S. from the nuclear

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Protesters Arrested In Demonstrations Against Kazakh Leaders

Police arrested dozens of protesters on July 6 after they took to the streets demanding Kazakh veteran leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev’s cessation of power.  “Wake up Kazakhstan!” protesters shouted in Almaty, the largest Kazakh city. Others cried out, “Old man, go away!”, a commonly used anti-Nazarbayev slogan. These demonstrators gathering near

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South American Trade Bloc Signs ‘Historic’ Trade Deal With EU

After nearly 20 years of negotiations, the South American bloc, Mercosur has agreed to draft a free-trade treaty with the European Union. The two parties have been negotiating since 2000, but the election of United States President Donald Trump intensified efforts to reach an agreement due to the EU freezing

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Statelessness: A Tragic Side Effect Of Our Modern World

Consider for a moment, your citizenship. For most people our nationality, and therefore our citizenship, is something we were born with, something we inherited and are in no danger of ever losing. Yet, around the world today, there is an estimated 10 million stateless people. That’s 10 million people without

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The Burqa Ban: Secular or Isolationist?

This week, Quebec’s education minister Jean-François Roberge has sparked criticism with a social media post in which he poses next to human rights activist Malala Yousafzai in France. Although seemingly an innocent photo with an inspirational Nobel Peace Prize winner, the irony of the shot amidst Quebec’s recent Bill 21,

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Summit Aims To Place Afghanistan On The Path To Peace

In Doha, Qatar, a summit scheduled for the 7th and 8th of July may help place Afghanistan on the path to peace. This ‘intra-Afghan’ summit aims to bring representatives from the Afghani government and the Taliban together in order to negotiate an end to the eighteen-year long war which has

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Indian Megacity Runs Out Of Water

Chennai, a city of eleven million people, is devoid of water. The coastal city in India’s south is a disaster capital of the world. Prone to cyclones, flooding, and droughts, Chennai’s unpredictable conditions are predictably devastating. For weeks taps have run dry, leaving residents at the mercy of government relief.

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WeChat And AliPay: Transforming Or Disrupting NZ Businesses?

On 4 July 2019, the North Asia Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence held a revolutionary speaker event on the new payment and integration technology of WeChat and the Chinese payment system AliPay. Specifically, the speaker Ralph Shale addressed some key discussion points from Chinese e-commerce and mobile payments, why it matters,

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Cristiano Da Costa – Ambassador For Timor Lester To NZ

Cristiano da Costa, a representative from Timor Leste, was a very important voice on the perspective of international relations for smaller island countries. In a recent seminar, da Costa indicated that as a small country, Timor Leste has limited power and therefore has to create and maintain diplomatic relationships very

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Haftar’s Forces Release Six Turkish Detainees In Libya

Six Turkish men detained by rogue Libyan General, Khalifa Haftar, have been released, according to an announcement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Monday. The men were working on a Libyan ship when they were detained by Haftar and his forces. Al Jazeera reported that they were released at the

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