By Michele Testoni, Professor of International Relations, IE University
A “fundamental disagreement” persists. This was the only concrete outcome of the meeting at the White House between US, Danish and Greenlandic officials on January 14, as each side maintained its original position on Greenland’s sovereignty. The Trump Administration argued that the US has to take direct control of the island, while both Danish and Greenlandic officials firmly rejected the idea.
This was perhaps to be expected. The recently released…
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Fires are lit as protesters demonstrate in Tehran, Iran, on January 8, 2026. © 2026 Anonymous via Getty Images Iran’s security forces have carried out mass killings of protesters after nationwide protests escalated on January 8, 2026.The mass killings by Iranian security forces are a stark reminder that rulers who massacre their own people will keep committing atrocities until they are held to account.UN member states should urgently convene a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to put human rights and accountability in Iran front and center of the international…
(Full Story)
|
By Zulker Naeen
Since the August 2024 political upheaval in Bangladesh, India has restricted most visas for Bangladeshis, weakening people-to-people ties between the two countries and causing broader economic consequences.
(Full Story)
|
By Marcus Mayers, Visiting Research Fellow, Manchester Metropolitan University
David Bamford, Professor of Operations Management, Manchester Metropolitan University
The UK government says it has learned valuable lessons from the expense, delays and political embarrassment of HS2. And now it has laid out detailed plans for train passengers in northern England who have been so badly “let down” in the past.
Northern Powerhouse Rail will apparently bring new and upgraded routes from east to west of the region, linking Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull. Major capacity and journey time improvements have been promised.
Away from the actual tracks though, the scheme could come to represent a welcome change in the…
(Full Story)
|
By David Larkin, Senior Lecturer in Musicology, University of Sydney
Opera Australia’s new production of Turandot has elements of staging and singing to commend – but nothing quite comes up to the level of Young Woo Kim.
(Full Story)
|
By Hammond Pearce, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science & Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Alexandra Vassar, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Rahat Masood, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science & Engineering, UNSW Sydney
From Bondi to Venezuela, Gaza to Ukraine, AI supercharges online misinformation. But understanding exactly how it impacts voters is a challenge.
(Full Story)
|
By Rory Nathan, Honorary Professor Hydrology and Water Resources, The University of Melbourne
We must get used to the idea such events will become more common as the climate changes, and adapt accordingly.
(Full Story)
|
Thursday, January 15, 2026
The UN Security Council is meeting in New York in emergency session on Iran, amid escalating concern over reports that hundreds have been killed during weeks of nationwide anti-government protests. The meeting was requested by the United States. Demonstrations that began in late December, fuelled by soaring inflation, rising food prices and the collapse of the national currency, triggered a deadly and widespread crackdown with thousands injured and detained, according to numerous firsthand accounts. The UN has called for independent investigations into all killings and warned against the possible…
(Full Story)
|
Thursday, January 15, 2026
In his final annual address outlining his priorities, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world is “brimming with conflict, impunity, inequality and unpredictability” – even as international cooperation is fraying at the moment it is most needed.
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Hoang Thi Hong Thai outside the police interrogation room in Hanoi, April 2025. © Private (Bangkok) – The Vietnamese government has escalated arrests of perceived dissidents in the weeks before Vietnam’s 14th Communist Party Congress, which is scheduled to begin on January 19, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should end its intensifying campaign against its critics and release everyone imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their political views.Most recently, Hanoi police arrested the blogger Hoang Thi Hong Thai on January 7 for comments…
(Full Story)
|