In April, a 21-year-old woman from Northern Ireland was given a three-month jail sentence for committing a crime considered heinous in her country. It was a relatively light sentence—under the law, she could have been condemned to life in prison. Strangely, the punishment was handed down for an action considered legal throughout the rest of … Read more
Last summer, gas masks were a common sight on the streets of Beirut. But residents weren’t wearing the masks to protect themselves from a chemical attack or toxic pollution; rather, they were to combat the stench of a quickly growing pile of garbage. “We are coughing, we have allergies and there are mosquitoes and flies … Read more
Upon initial inspection, he’s unassuming: tall, thin as a rail, with large glasses dominating the frame of his face. His voice is neither powerful nor commanding. He’s quite the opposite of the burly, hardened, Stalin-esque impression many have of a dictator. Perhaps that’s why it’s surprising that he holds an autocratic grip on Rwandan “democracy.” … Read more
On September 6, 2006, members of La Familia Michoacán—a drug cartel based in the southern Mexican state of Michoacán—entered the Sol y Sombra night club and threw five human heads onto the dance floor. Four months later, newly sworn-in Mexican President Felipe Calderon called for a War on Organized Crime—or War on Drugs—as drug-related violence spiked in … Read more
Over the last decade, Africa has experienced previously unseen levels of economic growth and market vibrancy. Developing countries can only achieve equitable growth and reduce poverty rates, however, if they are able to make the most of their available resources. To do this, they must maximize the impact of aid from donor governments and NGOs … Read more
The Yasukuni Shrine houses spirits of fallen Japanese soldiers from the Meiji Restoration to World War II. Yet, it also enshrines 14 World War II war criminals convicted by the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, including the wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. Yasukuni is a reminder of Asia’s unhealable wounds from World War II, housing ghosts … Read more
Nigeria faces a critical crossroads as it wages war on the terrorist group Boko Haram. This April, the country’s citizens elected Muhammadu Buhari president, forwarding a broad mandate to overhaul the nation’s counterterrorism strategy. Since its inception in 2002, Boko Haram has been responsible for numerous kidnappings, suicide bombings, and armed attacks on popular landmarks. … Read more
Some onlookers have drawn parallels between Britain’s new Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Both are left wing (albeit to varying degrees), and both have white hair. Both look a bit scruffy, and both grace the iPhone screens of Buzzfeed and Huffington Post readers regularly. But the similarities end there. The rise … Read more
The global divide between rich and poor is startlingly large and has only increased in recent decades. Currently, the poorest 50 percent of the world’s population holds less than 1 percent of global assets. These high levels of wealth inequality are most obvious in one of the poorest regions in the world: sub-Saharan Africa. 45 … Read more
Aralkum “The color of the water was shocking blue, really blue. Like the sky,” an aged Kazakh man reminisces, mentally replenishing the waters of the Aral Sea as his eyes scour the desolation. Once the fourth largest inland body of fresh water on the planet, the Aral Sea was resplendent with natural beauty, endemic species, … Read more