After more than a year of indiscriminate bombardment of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the UN General Assembly passed a new resolution calling for the official creation of a Palestinian state. The resolution passed with 175-8 votes (the US and Israel voted No, with 7 member states abstaining), conveying “unwavering support,
Anglo and American leaders are set on temporarily waiving the COVID-19 vaccine patent, with both the US and EU backing a temporary suspension. The arrangement was proposed by the WTO (World Trade Organisation), India and South Africa. The temporary suspension will open the gates to increased production, and thus distribution,
The United States and China have recently forged a bilateral commitment on the need for stronger commitments to climate change. The statement directly followed a meeting between Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry in Shanghai in mid-April, the respective Chinese and American climate convoys. Both Zhenhua and Kerry eagerly issued a
Nationalist and individualistic sentiment has, unsurprisingly, stifled international co-operation, this time in driving an unequal distribution of vaccines skewed against poorer nations, which find themselves stuck at the back of the queue. Most troublingly, an unequal distribution of vaccines creates a bottleneck, depriving poorer nations of a vaccine supply. In
An explosion ripped through the heart of Beirut on August 4th, marking the start of a harrowing episode in the collective history of the Lebanese people, leaving more than 200 dead, thousands with severe injuries, and more than 250,000 homeless. A storage of 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate – a
COVID-19 – 2020’s fulcrum event – has inflamed decades of anger on racial inequality and injustice, triggered by the heinous murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department. Floyd’s death was the tipping point after a series of police murders of Black Americans in recent months. News of the
January of 2020, the annual Holocaust Remembrance – Yom HaShoah in Hebrew – marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The United Nations General Assembly elected to designate 27th of January as Holocaust Remembrance Day, enshrined in a two-fold purpose: honouring over 6 million Jewish victims, and ensuring
India’s ruling BJP Party (Bharatiya Janata Party), led by Narendra Modi, has successfully pushed contentious immigration reform through the Indian Congress. The reformed Citizenship Act grants citizenship to persecuted minorities from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh – implicitly excluding Muslims. Prime Minister Ram Kovind, who in 2010
On the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury embraced the bold act of prostrating at the site of the Amritsar massacre, as a deeply meaningful symbol of a personal request for forgiveness for the British colonial atrocity. Over 400 were slaughtered and more
Carola Rakete, German Ship Captain of Sea Watch 3 – a vessel operated by German NGO, Sea Watch – was arrested on June the 27th after docking the vessel at the Italian town of Lampedusa. Rakete was at sea for 2 weeks with 40 African refugees on board, when she
Thousands of protestors continue to flock to the Algerian capital, Algiers, since February of this year. This comes after President Abdelaziz announced he is seeking a fifth term. Collectively known as the ‘Smile Revolution’, the protestors are demanding democratic transitions in an Algerian political arena comprised of a concentrated elite
Greenpeace activists are certainly adamant to prevent BP drilling in the British North Sea, after activists climbed back onto a drilling rig on Friday, merely days after Scottish Police removed protestors from the rig. BP’s rig is located in the Vorlich Field, a recently discovered oil field located off Cromarty
World leaders, including Trump, Macron and May, overlooked the current tensions facing the Anglo world to attend the D-day tribute held in Normandy on the 6th of June 2019. The commemoration marked the 75th anniversary of the landing of allied troops on the shores of Northern France to push back
Bangladesh’s southern Feni District recently saw 16 individuals, including school students and a headmaster, charged with the murder of Nusrat Rafi, a 19 year-old student who was burned alive on the roof of a local Islamic seminary. Nusrat had accused the headmaster of harassment, landing him a temporary jail sentence
Turkish and Greek Cypriots alike recently celebrated the unification of the divided Cypriot polity. 1974 marked the creation of the boundary on the island following the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus in response to an Athens-sponsored coup. The opening of the eastern and western island crossings, Famagusta Dherniya and Lefke
China is seeking to retaliate to U.S. sanctions, which aim to redefine and restrict the economic activity of Chinese owned companies within the U.S., amongst them Huawei, grounded on fears that the Chinese state may utilize the reach of Chinese enterprise to spy on U.S. technological and military activities. The
Humanitarian aid provision by The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies faced hostility characteristic of a deeply polarized Venezuela. Commendable efforts by the self-proclaimed apolitical organisation represent the first step in relief provision for a fragmented nation, which, according to the World Health Organization, is currently
General elections in Thailand in March of this year characterised a much needed adjustment for the nation since a devastating military coup in 2014. Despite political analysts labelling the elections as unfair and corrupt, youth activists remain adamant in developing a more equitable and democratic Thailand. The election is being
The Auschwitz Memorial has recently implored tourists to stop posing for photos at the memorial site of the death camp. The announcement came in March in a Twitter statement, following a flood of social media posts of tourists balancing on a rail-road beam located at the former concentration camp operated
