by Jonathan Sharp | 2 Aug 2018 | Asia, China
It’s been four years since young activists in Hong Kong launched a movement for democratic reforms. Now, a sense of powerlessness is growing. Pro-democracy protesters holding yellow umbrellas, Hong Kong, 28 September 2017 (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Few birthday...
by Julian Nundy | 11 Jul 2018 | Europe, Human Rights, Ukraine
Ukraine has had two revolutions and a war since 2004 but is still mired in conflict and graft. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, 7 May 2018. (EPA-EFE/Mykhaylo Markiv) Four years ago, the then nascent war in eastern Ukraine suffered...
by Harvey Morris | 27 Jun 2018 | Americas, History, Human Rights
Watching news from Nicaragua, where protests are challenging the authoritarian rule of President Daniel Ortega, I’m transported back exactly 40 years. Anti-government demonstrators take cover behind a barricade in Managua, Nicaragua, 30 May 2018 (AP Photo/Esteban...
by Robert Hart | 12 Jun 2018 | Europe, Spain
Spain has been hit by a political earthquake that has sent shock waves around the country and through Europe and financial markets. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the swearing-in ceremony of his cabinet, Madrid, Spain, 7 June 2018 (EPA-EFE/Javier Lizon/pool)...
by News Decoder | 31 May 2018 | Europe, Indiana University
(This story has been corrected to make clear, in the fourth paragraph, that it was Shushkevich who fell victim to an anti-corruption drive, and not Lukashenko, who was a former state farm boss.) By Elaine Monaghan Twenty-one years ago, I learned the true meaning of...