The US government published a report delineating a strategy to reduce reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals such as rare earth elements. Rare earth elements (REEs) are...

Increased electricity coverage of the African continent has been an ambitious long-term goal. In 2016, only about 43% of the population in Africa had access to electricity. Estimates calculate that...

On May 24th, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the Chinese Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) announced a joint takeover of the city bank Baoshang Bank for one year, due to what the government says is serious credit risk associated with the bank’s funding. This is the...

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena alarmed Western media when he expressed admiration for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s shoot-to-kill drug policy. At a state banquet in Manila on January 16, 2019, President Sirisena praised Duterte’s war on drugs as an...

In April 2019, the Council of the European Union voted in favor of adopting the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market as European Union (EU) law. The copyright directive entered into force on June 6, 2019. EU member states now have to convert the new legislation into domestic law by...

On June 2, 2019, the Shanghai Stock Exchange announced that the state-owned China Baowu Iron and Steel Group would acquire a controlling 51% stake in its domestic rival, Magang Group Holding Co., Ltd. Following the merger, Baowu will increase its total production capacity from 67.4 million tons...

On Sunday May 26, 2019, roughly 7.2 million Belgians went to the polls to votes in three elections: the European Parliament election, the Belgian federal election, and the Belgian regional elections. Voter turnout is commonly high, as voting is mandatory in the country. Despite this...

As the world is racing for alternative energy sources, many are turning towards wind and solar power. Some companies and scientists, however, have directed their attention at fusion energy. Promising enormous volumes of zero-carbon energy, fusion may become a viable option in the long run...

The global price of coffee fell to historic lows in 2018, with the price of Arabica beans decreasing by as much as 25% from October 2018 to February 2019. Several factors are affecting this volatility in global coffee prices. One particularly salient one is Brazil, which is...

2018 was a critical year for the development of hypersonic weapons. Russia conducted two tests, one in March and one in December, that accelerated the race among a small group of states to attain hypersonic weapons. Aside from Russia, these countries are the United States, China, Australia, Japan, India, and France...