Russia's deliberate targeting of energy infrastructure — unnecessarily increasing the suffering of civilians — amounts to war crimes. This continuing Russian barbarity must be confronted.
Attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure are a direct consequence of the failure of the country's leadership to meaningfully engage in peace talks and thinking they can defeat Russia on the battlefield. These attacks will stop once a more sober position is reached.
There's a 31% chance that Vladimir Putin will be charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Clinton's foreign policy approach to Northern Ireland was a resounding success. Even his harshest critics were amazed at the love the former president received during his trip to the region, and the peace agreement was largely a triumph for the Clinton Administration. The US continues to be a positive influence in the nation.
The US has its own economic interests, and although it holds a commitment to peace in Ireland, America will ultimately seek to advance its own goals. There is no obvious reason for the US to take sides in the current Brexit-fueled dilemmas surrounding the region, and no one should count on the country to support Ireland's interests, despite America's diplomatic success there in the 1990s.
There is a 41% chance that Northern Ireland will hold a reunification referendum before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Casinos are illegal in Thailand, but they are an important part of Cambodia’s tourism industry. Poipet is especially famous for its busy cross-border trade, tourism, and countless casinos. Local authorities must answer why nothing had been done to improve health and fire safety in the area despite repeated complaints. This is a national disgrace.
It's too early to jump to conclusions. Potential factors could include faulty wiring, criminal intent, or government apathy. Right now, the nation is in mourning, and the focus must remain on rescuing the trapped and saving as many lives as possible instead of casting blame. Due process will ultimately yield the truth.
To stay in power, corruption-plagued Netanyahu has bowed to the demands of the most extreme elements of Israeli politics. His concessions to ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalist parties are a massive blow to Israeli democracy, the rule of law, and thus to the future of Israel. Moreover, by rejecting the two-state solution, the new government is poised to risk fresh Arab-Israeli violence. It's time for Washington to end its ambiguity about Israel and stand up for democracy, as it otherwise does all over the world.
Even before Netanyahu was sworn in, media activists warned that his new government poses a threat to Israeli democracy. However, these critics ignore the fact that Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East and that it was the Israelis who wished Netanyahu back in power. Washington should think twice before joining the doomsayers' camp and alienating its closest ally in the region. Instead of jumping to conclusions and demonizing the coalition government, the actual political work should be evaluated as it happens.
As Israel's right-wing coalition takes control, all eyes are on Israel and how it will solve the religiously sensitive situation around the Temple Mount. Jordanian officials have warned that any attempt by the new government to change the status quo at the site could threaten peaceful relations with Jordan and inflame the entire region, as it has before. While the new PM has sent reassuring messages, this will be a major test for Netanyahu's new right-wing government.
There's a 50% chance that Israel will recognize Palestine by Nov. 8, 2065, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Any former military personnel that assists a foreign adversary, especially one like China, is a traitor to their country. The West cannot allow misguided, greedy, and naive pilots like Duggan to profit from weakening the US's military posture in Asia. All appropriate legal avenues to combat this crime must be taken to mitigate future incidents like this one.
Though Duggan's actions may be morally and legally gray, his detention, and now extradition, is politically motivated as the US increasingly faces rising tensions with China. The case has been shrouded in secrecy since the start, and Duggan is being charged for actions that took place a decade ago. His treatment by Australian authorities has also been unjustifiably cruel, as he was held in isolation and classified as an "extreme high risk" inmate. There is more to this story than meets the eye.
Both empirical research and common sense tell us that the fear of potentially having to carry a baby to term if one mistakenly gets pregnant only grows when abortion restrictions are enshrined into law. Most women who have abortions have already given birth at least once, meaning they understand the physical, emotional, and financial toll it will take on them if forced to endure another pregnancy.
While pro-abortion advocates label it a myth, studies have also shown that having abortions can lead to increased depression, anxiety, post-abortion stress syndrome, eating disorders, and suicide among women. Sometimes these effects come immediately, and sometimes they appear years after the procedure, but either way, women aren't being given all the facts related to this issue, and that is what's dangerous to their mental and physical well-being.
There's a 5% chance that abortion will be banned nationally in the US before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
India has earned its place as a world leader in pharmaceuticals, with its $42B industry serving a critical role in the COVID pandemic by producing vaccines and cementing its title as the "pharmacy of the world." The Indian government will continue to expand by focusing on drug production and consistently improving quality control. The country's commitment to healthcare and pharmaceuticals will serve as an engine of growth for the Indian economy, its people, and the global community.
While India is the world's largest exporter of generic medications, India-based pharmaceuticals face significant challenges in the world market. The government needs to step up and provide support like academic collaboration and technology transfer. India's drug producers are begging the public sector to help them better compete — especially if these products are being sent to developing nations. It's not fair to blame the nation's pharma industry alone for any shortcomings.
As anyone following the committee could tell, this subpoena was purposefully dead on arrival and only issued to create an anti-Trump media cycle the month leading up to the midterm elections. While that goal was certainly achieved, the subpoena itself was still a failure by the committee. It centered the entire so-called "investigation" around Trump and was never able to get what it wanted from him.
The committee's goal from the beginning was to collect evidence of wrongdoing by both Trump and his associates before and on the day of Jan. 6, 2021, which is exactly what it achieved. After months of revelations showing Trump's attempts to change the election and subsequently provoke an insurrection, the American people said enough is enough and voted against almost every Trump-endorsed candidate in November.
There's a 37% chance that any US court will rule that Donald J. Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency before January 20, 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
The United State's recent push to provide defensive military aid to Taiwan is an effort to prevent China from even attempting an invasion in the first place. China seems to only be ramping up both its military capabilities and aggressive rhetoric toward the island. Taiwan must begin taking faster steps toward completing its asymmetric defense strategy to defend itself from aggression antithetical to a rules-based order.
After decades of non-interference policies beginning under the Carter and Nixon administrations, recent US presidents have betrayed the "one China" policy. Even before Nancy Pelosi's reckless trip to the island — in which she was escorted by warships and aircraft carriers — the Biden admin. pondered expensive military-industrial complex weapons packages for Taipei. This is a recipe for unnecessary war and a gross waste of taxpayer funds.
This outage is everyone’s fears come to life. Musk was warned about his cost-slashing measures, including cutting back on staff and data centers. If there was a software update gone wrong, it might be that no one was available to deal with it. This could be a sign of more troubles ahead.
Don’t blame Musk for this outage. There were global outages in February and July, long before Musk purchased the platform. And plenty of other big technology companies, such as Rogers Telecommunications in Canada, have suffered through long outages this year. That’s the way life in the tech world goes.