Month: March 2019

This summer marks the two-year anniversary of the NBA’s swift and decisive ban on former Clipper’s owner Donald Sterling, following leaked audiotape of him making casual racial slurs in private. Since his fine, lifetime ban, and sale of the team to Microsoft founder Steve Ballmer, little else has been heard of Sterling—who’s retreated to a…

The unpredictable day-to-day behaviour of the new United States administration continues to provoke widespread consternation. Amid the noise, however, one important signal of the unfolding Donald Trump era is being neglected: the rebuilding of the American military. Why this is so, when the country's armed forces are already by a very large margin the most…

We live in an age of boycotts. It seems as if every week a new company or product is the subject of a trending boycott hashtag: #DeleteUber, #BoycottNordstrom, #BoycottPepsi, #NoNetflix. And we don’t just speak out against a company’s actions—we vow to use our power as consumers to hit brands where it hurts the most,…

People and machines. At Malahleni, Mpumalanga of South Africa.In the short-term, communities need to address some of the most pressing issues they face. They cannot always afford to wait for laws to be changed or amended. This is why community empowerment is so critical, particularly in the mine-hosting communities of Southern Africa, where community members…

Nato summit in Warsaw, Poland, where Cameron announced MP vote on replacing ageing Trident submarines on July 18. Dominic Lipinski / Press Association. All rights reserved.The UK has consistently opposed discussion at the United Nations on possible routes toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.  This has been described as ‘scandalous’ by some and for good…

Johanna Quass was 9 years old when she entered her first gymnastics competition all the way back in 1934, and nearly 83 years later, the nonagenarian still hasn’​t given it up. At a recent competition in Berlin, she was back on her favorite apparatus, the parallel bars, to perform a routine that hasn’​t eroded with age….

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson with US Secretary of State John Kerry and other European foreign ministers at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, at the start of international talks aimed at finding a way to break the political stalemate in Libya.Yui Mok PA Wire/PA Images. All rights reserved. Unlike what some politicians may think, the…

The Boston Red Sox announced Thursday that they will be asking the city of Boston to change the name of Yawkey Way, the public street that leads to Fenway Park and is named after the team’s former owner, Tom Yawkey, a notorious racist. In an email to the Boston Herald, current team owner John Henry…

Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil war survivors listen to the UN, 2013. Photo: Eranga Jayawardena/ Press Association. All rights reserved The Sri Lankan government is currently designing transitional justice mechanisms to address human rights abuses connected to the three decade long war which ended in May 2009. But a key question is whether victims of sexual…

Los Angeles is one of the few places left that actually wants to host the Olympic Games. Huge cost overruns to build up for an Olympiad, followed by the expense of maintaining a bunch of white elephant sports facilities after the athletes leave (How much use is there for a velodrome anyway?) is causing potential host cities to…