The UN and other non-governmental organizations have warned that catastrophic hunger levels were imminent in the Horn of Africa for over a year. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated an already severe problem, which now is a global problem. According to the World Food Programme, 349M people across 79 countries face acute food insecurity — up from 287M before the conflict in Ukraine. More than 900K people worldwide are fighting to survive famine-like conditions; these numbers are expected to increase dramatically unless aid efforts ramp up quickly. The international community must rise to this urgent challenge.
Western powers argue that Russia and Putin are to blame for the world famine crisis. In reality, supply chains have been disrupted by Western sanctions against Russia, which include restrictions on the movement of goods. When the US and Europe try to punish Russia for the war in Ukraine, they do so without considering the effects of such policies on the people in Africa. The main reason for the famine crisis is not a lack of food but Western disruptions of global markets and logistics.
There's a 35% chance that more than 400M fatalities will occur if there's a 10% global agricultural shortfall by 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Ukrainian forces are planning a "false-flag operation" in Transnistria to justify launching an invasion of the region. Russia's defense ministry is closely monitoring the situation and will respond accordingly to any changes.
Russia's claims about a "false-flag operation" in Transnistria are likely a cover for its potential plans to invade Moldova. Not only would this flagrantly violate the sovereignty of another country, but it could also open up a western front in its war with Ukraine.
There's a 40% chance that Moldova will control Transnistria before 2028, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
These sanctions against the media outlets follow a direct warning to journalists and broadcasters by the regulating agency that they had a legal obligation not to share information that harms the search and rescue efforts in the earthquake zone and causes panic and disinformation. Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council simply cannot look the other way when organizations make manipulative broadcasts with malicious intent — this is in line with the clear language of the earthquake disaster declaration.
The three TV stations were fined for criticizing President Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party for poor performance in coordinating search and rescue efforts following the earthquake. The authorities allegedly failed to mobilize enough people, and the coordination among the teams functioned poorly. This inefficient performance contributed to earthquake victims tragically freezing to death underneath the rubble. Punishing media for reporting and informing the public — especially in times of a major catastrophe — is a crime and should not happen in a democracy.
There is a 59% chance that Erdoğan will abdicate the presidency if he loses the 2023 presidential election, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Leaders of the global public health community must recognize that reproductive rights are human rights and that every government must ensure access to high-quality critical health services before, during, and after childbirth. It's time to step up funding, training, and improving supply chains to reduce the maternal mortality rate worldwide.
While it's critical that women have control over their reproductive health, issues related to income inequality, family planning, education, race, and ethnicity marginalize pregnant women more than the lack of health care services or preventable conditions in pregnancy. Solving the global crisis requires a new look at the entire holistic environment that impacts women — not only providing access to health care.
Left-wing extremists do exist and commit violence, but unlike those on the right, they typically target property rather than people. Right-wing extremism is the most dangerous movement facing the US due to how broad it is. From individual hate crimes to mass shootings targeting people of color and the LGTBQ+ community, the white, straight, and male supremacy ideologies have garnered tremendous support, leading to this dangerously high spike in violence and death.
The so-called studies published by the ADL in recent years have fraudulently rearranged real statistics to promote blatant lies and brainwash the American people into thinking conservatives are the evilest among us. It does this by secretly combining groups such as Islamic radicals with white supremacists — who don't embody conservative values — while conveniently ignoring the vast majority of shooting deaths committed by non-ideological gangs. The US does face a lot of violence, but it has little to do with either left-wing or right-wing extremism.
Humans who yearn for more leisure time will benefit from these robotic technologies, which will be able to do housework, and eventually become so personalized they’ll require little human direction. Interactive toys will also enhance childhood education. Assuming ways could be devised to avoid invasions of privacy and cybersecurity breaches, consumer robots will make people’s lives much better.
Introducing robots into everyday life is a slippery slope, and could change humanity forever. Humans will grow dependent on robots, reduce interactions with other humans, and it will be difficult to return to life before robots. We could be headed to a hybrid society, where we live and work with robots in an uneven dependency.
Smith is one of the worst partisan hacks the Washington establishment has to offer. For over a decade, he abused the justice department to target conservatives, starting with his role in the Obama-era IRS scandal in which he fabricated criminal prosecutions against conservative nonprofits. As the head of this sham investigation into Trump, he will now continue his pursuit of political vengeance.
Both Ivanka and Kushner are key witnesses in the probe, and Smith is merely doing his due diligence by rightly prioritizing justice over the perception of his investigation. These latest subpoenas show he's willing to challenge power in the pursuit of truth, especially when it comes to Donald Trump’s attempted coup.
There's a 53% chance that Donald Trump will get indicted on criminal charges in 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Put together with criminal investigations and the removal of the imagery, the Salus app is likely to become a key tool for the long-term prevention of child sexual abuse content. It will provide a technical barrier for those willing to avoid starting or continuing consumption. In addition, this safety tech will decrease the workload of law enforcement pursuing criminals.
The EU is heading down a dangerous path as its efforts to quell child sexual abuse material may create a mass surveillance regime across the bloc. While this voluntarily-deployed app is well-intentioned, it would be prone to error as available technology is nowhere near enough to be reliable. Instead of focusing on the online world, the EU should be pushing for more accountability, transparency, and strong independent organizations that rebalance power to prevent abuse and provide justice for victims.
The time to increase support for Taiwan was yesterday. China's increasingly aggressive posturing and lack of communication with US military officials are concerning, and Washington — seeking to maintain peace in the Taiwan strait — is right to stand up to Beijing's hegemony.
Every economic, political, and military move the US makes in the Asia-Pacific region is calculated toward the goal of dominating China and the world. The Pentagon doesn't deploy troops and establish military bases to "defend democracy" but rather to scare China into submission. By antagonizing the superpower of the East, the US is asking to go to war over nothing but greed.
There's a 5% chance that China will recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan by 2050, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
It’s disappointing that Google doesn't appear to care about the harm it causes to Canadian media outlets, and is now stooping to bullying tactics that are disrespectful to Canadian users. Instead of running on greed, Google, and all the Big Tech firms, should be open to solutions that will sustainably support a free press and democracy.
This test isn’t an attempt to bully the Canadian government or users, but hopefully, it will catch legislators’ attention. Bill C-18 is overbearing and the Canadian Parliament should consider amending how it defines which news outlets fall into the group that gets to negotiate with social media platforms. Certainly, Big Tech companies can’t be expected to establish deals with tiny outlets that don’t adhere to journalistic standards.