• Sun-03-2024
It’s now or never for Cyprus reunification, says top UN official (March 7, 2024, The Guardian)

UN special representative for divided island says time is running out to settle decades-long dispute.

  • Sun-03-2024
Big Tech companies sign accord to combat AI-generated election disinformation (February 17, 2024, Euronews.next)

Meta, OpenAI, TikTok, Microsoft, and Amazon were among the agreement's signatories at the Munich Security Conference. Elon Musk's X also signed up.

  • Sat-03-2024
How do you escape the war? Three young men’s stories from Sagaing, Myanmar (February 19, 2024, The New Humanitarian)

Myanmar’s February 2021 military coup sparked a humanitarian, economic, and human rights crisis across the country. Peaceful protests soon evolved into an armed uprising, to which the military has retaliated with a scorched-earth campaign targeting not only armed combatants but also their civilian support base.

  • Sat-03-2024
Sharif Takes Oath as Pakistan Prime Minister for 2nd Time (March 4, 2024, VOA News)

Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif took the oath Monday as prime minister for a second time, almost a month after a general election that was marred by large-scale allegations of voter fraud and resulted in a split mandate.

  • Sat-03-2024
Who likes authoritarianism, and how do they want to change their government? (February 28, 2024, Pew Research Center)

While most people see representative democracy as a good way to govern their country, large shares of the public in many countries are open to nondemocratic alternatives.

  • Sat-03-2024
Timor-Leste hits the democratic reset button (March 1, 2024, East Asia Forum)

In Timor-Leste, incumbent president Francisco ‘Lu-Olo’ Guterres and the Fretilin party were defeated in both the 2022 presidential and 2023 parliamentary elections, marking a return to the conventions established during the state's independence.

  • Sat-03-2024
Africa’s largest mosque inaugurated in Algeria after years of delays (February 26, 2024, The Guardian)

Prayer room of Great Mosque of Algiers, beset by political wrangling and cost overruns, accommodates 120,000 people

  • Sun-03-2024
Rare glimpse inside China’s halls of power as Beijing hosts major political event amid high security (March 9, 2024, The Guardian)

Across Beijing, security guards stand shivering. Residents of the heavily monitored capital city are used to encountering security guards, members of an urban management force called chengguan, and police officers every few blocks. But this week, as China hosts its biggest political meetings of the year, even more muscle has turned up in Beijing.

  • Sat-03-2024
China ends 30-year tradition: premier's annual press conference (March 4, 2024, Reuters)

China has scrapped one of the most widely-followed events on its economic and policy calendar, the premier’s post-parliament news conference, a move seen by some observers as a sign of the country’s increasingly inward focus and centralised control. For three decades, during a period when China was opening up, the briefing had offered foreign investors and governments insights into how Chinese policymakers regard the challenges of managing what is now the world’s second-largest economy.

  • Sat-03-2024
What to expect at China’s ‘Two Sessions’ amid sagging economy, party drama (March 3, 2024, Al Jazeera)

Known as lianghui in Chinese, the concurrent meetings are an annual fixture of China’s legislative agenda and run for approximately two weeks. During the period, legislators will approve new laws, political appointments, and government work reports detailing the progress of various departments such as the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission.