As New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump converged on the White House last week, onlookers braced for a collision worthy of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Yet what happened instead was a remarkable showing of bipartisanship—one that each and every one of us can learn from.
Student free speech is under attack. In October, administrators at Indiana University pulled all news content from the student paper’s homecoming edition. It is one of many instances of censorship and self-censorship.
In a sweeping generational uprising, under-28 Africans—often described as “Gen Z”—have taken to the streets in multiple countries, signaling a rapidly emerging challenge for governing elites and the legitimacy of existing democratic institutions. The youth-led protests, particularly in Madagascar and Morocco, reveal not just frustration over public services but a deeper crisis of governance and trust.
In late July 2025, the long-dormant border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia exploded into open warfare after a land-mine blast near the sacred Hindu temple of Ta Muen left Thai soldiers wounded. The ensuing artillery exchanges marked the gravest fighting between the neighbours in years.
As debates over human rights, sovereignty and global accountability intensify, the United States’ decision to skip its own UN review raises unsettling questions: who gets to define human rights norms, and what happens when the system’s most powerful actors refuse to participate?