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Weekly Summaries

17th of May – 23rd of May

Israel and Gaza reach a cease-fire

At the beginning of last week, Israel continued to conduct airstrikes on the Gaza Strip while Hamas fired rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip. Some say that such levels of violence were last seen in 2014. During a phone call with President Netanyahu of Israel, President Biden reportedly expressed “support for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas,” according to the New York Times. Furthermore, Egypt has been continuously working with the United Nations, in the hopes of reaching a cease-fire. Foreign ministers of the European Union have also called for an “immediate cease-fire.” A cease-fire appears to now have finally been reached after 11 days of fighting, coming into effect at 2 am local time on Friday. Both sides claimed victory and there were celebrations both in Gaza and in the West Bank.

Other News

  • In “Nowhere Land” on Mars China has successfully been able to land a rover, even releasing the first photos that were shot of Mars this week
  • Around 8,000 people crossed the border from Morocco to Spain, with Spain reacting by troops, military trucks, and helicopters into Ceuta
  • In Indonesia, a lawsuit pursued by citizens aims to force the government to address the pollution in the metropolitan area of Jakarta
Categories
Weekly Summaries

26th of April – 2nd of May

The U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan

This past week, the U.S. military has begun its complete withdrawal from Afghanistan. The New York Times wrote this past week that the Afghan security forces are “unprepared to face the Taliban, or any other threat, on their own. Over the past few years, the U.S. and NATO have spent tens of billions of dollars to build up the the Afghan security forces, but serious shortages of ammunition, the low pay, and abundant corruption are still causing problems.

Other News

  • A fire in an Iraqi hospital caused by an exploding oxygen cylinder killed at least 82 people
  • In the Somali capital of Mogadishu, gunfire erupted when forces loyal to the president confronted groups that sided with his rivals
  • A spacecraft built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company arrived at the International Space Station last weekend
  • This past month, Iranian military vessels are supposed to have “harassed American ships in the Persian Gulf” twice, according to the New York Times