Stories from 22 December 2015
Countries Declare States of Emergency in the Face of El Niño
“This El Niño and human-induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways which we have never before experienced. El Niño is turning up the heat even further.”
The Syrian Conflict Won't Steal My Christmas
In a country in the throes of war, celebrating Christmas can be an act of both profound naïvete and staunch resistance.
Meet the People Who Want to Repeal Russia's Draconian Laws
A group of Russian intellectuals has created a public council to determine which Russian laws limit human rights and freedoms, and to recommend that such laws be repealed.
Bangladesh Will Demand Biometric Data From All SIM Card Users
The scheme will create a massive database of citizens' communications data that could give the government unprecedented access to the mobile communications of Bangladeshi citizens.
Massive LiveJournal Troll Network Pushes Pro-Kremlin Narratives
An in-depth analysis of Twitter bots' metadata reveals connections to Russian "troll factories" and a vast network of pro-Kremlin LiveJournal blogs populating RuNet with propagandistic content.
Denmark's Afghan Community Comes Together to Condemn Violence and Extremism
"We hope as well that the global community does not forget the places around the world affected exactly by this epidemic. Afghanistan is exactly one of those places.”
This Is What It Looks like When Thousands of Migratory Birds Descend on Peru
"Franklin's gull isn't native to Peru, but we Peruvians have adopted it as ours as it visits us for centuries during spring and summer."
