News

According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative think tank which has analyzed two years of satellite imagery, “China has largely completed three major military bases in the South China Sea that have naval, air, radar and missile-defence facilities” (The Guardian, March 28, 2017).

On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May prepared a letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk, formally notifying him of Britain’s departure from the EU and triggering “article 50(2)” of the Treaty of European Union. In her six-page letter, the prime minister laid out her hopes for a smooth two-year transition, beneficial for both parties, and a positive, future “special relationship” (Telegraph, March 29, 2017).

“Highly unusual rains have followed a series of storms along Peru’s northern coast after a period of severe drought… The rains have caused many rivers in Peru to overflow and triggered mudslides on the steep Andean hillsides” (Deutsche Welle, March 20, 2017). To date, over 70 Peruvians have lost their lives and nearly 100,000 have lost everything! Over 600,000 people have suffered damage to their homes.

Last Friday, Israeli jets bombed a Syrian military facility near Palmyra, where Russian troops and equipment are based, in response to what Israel views as a growing threat on its northern border with Syria, in the Golan (DEBKAfile, March 18, 2017). The attack also allowed Israel to debut a new missile defense system (ibid.).

On January 27, a number of national and international events took place as part of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. It was on that day in 1945 that over 7,000 prisoners were liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp in southern Poland.