[BRIEF] At the APEC summit meeting Tuesday, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a brief conversation while the other leaders were waiting for the two statesmen to arrive for photographs, ITAR-TASS reported. After the first working session of the summit, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders went out for a collective photo, … Read more
One of the most powerful weapons in the ongoing fight against Ebola is considered to be Ebola survivors themselves, who carry antibodies in their blood. Survivors in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are signing up to work in Ebola treatment units, care for children orphaned by Ebola, and provide counselling to Ebola victims. Their fight … Read more
In a recent keynote speech at the Future of Work Summit at NASA Ames Research Park, award-winning journalist and author Federico Pistono elaborated on the concept of “free money”–giving money to all people with no strings attached, an idea that Pistono explored in his best-selling book, “Robots Will Steal Your Job, But That’s OK.” Pistono spoke about … Read more
The warring parties in South Sudan signed a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement Sunday. The agreement was called “the real beginning” by the South Sudanese government and was welcomed by regional trade bloc IGAD, which has been mediating the negotiations since civil war broke out in South Sudan last year. Chief negotiator for the government of … Read more
An international group of protesters has been pointlessly waiting for the arrival of people oppressed by Russia–at Prague airport holding placards. The protesters are reacting to legal actions recently taken by Russia against a well-established Russian human rights society. Activists stood patiently in the arrivals area of the Prague Vaclav Havel International Airport and waited for hours holding placards displaying the … Read more
Member countries of the East African regional body IGAD have stated that if the warring parties in South Sudan do not maintain the peace, the nations will collectively interfere in South Sudan. IGAD is demanding a complete, immediate and unconditional end to all hostilities. “Any violation of the cessation of the hostilities by any party … Read more
In what is considered to be a significant step towards resuming political and economic relations between the two contentious Asian superpowers, the leaders of Japan and China have publicly admitted that each nation has a claim to Japan’s Senkaku Islands and other territory in the East China Sea which China began to claim last year. Both sides … Read more
Several top Islamic State leaders are thought to be dead, and the leader of IS has been reported wounded, after a targeted US-coalition airstrike attack on a house on the Iraq-Syria border. The leader of IS in Anbar province, as well as that leader’s deputy, are though to be killed. IS top commander Abu Bakr … Read more
A report recently published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has found that over half of Tanzania’s elephants have been poached in the past five years. The report also investigated the causes of the “elephant poaching crisis” affecting the relatively stable, peaceful country of Tanzania, and identified the countries that were funding the trade. “The … Read more
Radical British cleric Anjem Choudary is asking the UK government to guarantee safe passage for him to travel to the Islamic State, saying that he was willing to consider renouncing his British nationality, but only “as a last resort.” “I believe the world belongs to God and that one day, hopefully, the UK will be … Read more
Japan’s aging population will be cared for by robots–not immigrant laborers, according to the plans of the Japanese government. The Abe government is increasing investments in healthcare robots to meet the nation’s needs, and recently announced subsidies that will cover up to two-thirds of the research and design costs for the development of various healthcare robots. One quarter … Read more
Photography by Maxim Dondyuk In this photojournal, Ukrainian photographer Maxim Dondyuk documents the tuberculosis epidemic in the hospitals, prisons and homes of the East European nation where multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) affects almost 7,000 people annually, and approximately 30 lives are lost to the disease each day. Ukraine has the highest mortality rate from infectious diseases in the WHO European region–90 … Read more