Front and Center: Long Stories Short

Too Important To Miss

• Thursday, 4 Aug 2022
  On June 29, 2022, the earth's rotation clocked in at nearly 2 milliseconds shy of 24 hours. That's the shortest day recorded since the speed of the earth's rotation was first measured in the 1960s. Just why the planet has been rotating faster in recent years is still a bit of a mystery.
• Thursday, 4 Aug 2022
  The political fallout from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's controversial visit to Taiwan continues to grow. In its largest military drills ever in the region, China has fired missiles into the waters near Taiwan.
• Wednesday, 3 Aug 2022
  Since early March, Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. Now, in the last few weeks, they've begun launching artillery strikes from the site — making it all but impossible for Ukrainian forces to fight back without catastrophic consequences. While Russian forces occupy the largest nuclear plant in Europe, Ukrainian engineers are still operating it.
• Wednesday, 3 Aug 2022
  US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is heading to South Korea Wednesday afternoon after a controversial stop in Taiwan. Despite warnings from China, which sees Taiwan as part of China and views the visit as a provocation, Pelosi offered full-throated support for democracy and Taiwan. China responded with military exercises around Taiwan and economic sanctions on the island.
• Monday, 1 Aug 2022
  The first ship out of Ukraine since Russia's invasion, loaded with corn and headed for Lebanon, departed the port of Odessa on Monday at 9:30 am local time. Sixteen more ships loaded with grain are waiting to depart. With Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea having caused global food shortages, the UN and Turkey worked to broker this deal.
• Saturday, 30 Jul 2022
  There are renewed fears of a US recession, with the news that the US economy has shrunk two quarters in a row. While unemployment remains low (3.6%), there have been notable declines in the housing market, business investment, and both consumer and government spending.
• Friday, 29 Jul 2022
  In a strongly worded opinion piece for the New York Times, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has advised the West not to be fooled by Russia's claims of readiness for a ceasefire and negotiations. Kuleba insists that Russia "aims to ruin Ukraine and shatter the West," and that "Mr. Putin will not stop until he is stopped" on the battleground.
• Monday, 18 Jul 2022
  With elevated gas prices, and fears over Russia cutting off gas to the EU, the euro has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years. It's now at parity with the US dollar, and there is widespread concern over the possibility of recession ahead.
• Monday, 11 Jul 2022
  At a preview event on Monday, President Biden released the first of a collection of extraordinary photos captured by the James Webb Space Telescope — showing galaxies billions of years old, some of the first to have formed in the universe.
• Monday, 11 Jul 2022
  After two decades in office, Paul Kagame has announced his intention to seek a fourth term as president of Rwanda. That would leave him in office for another 20 years. In 2015, Kagame changed the country's constitution, allowing him to remain until 2034. And in the 2017 election, official figures reported him having received 99% of the vote — widely considered a sham.
• Sunday, 10 Jul 2022
  In Colombo, Sri Lanka, protestors are occupying the residences of the president and the prime minister, vowing to remain until they resign. The country has for months been suffering from shortages of food, fuel and medicine, which are blamed on mismanagement by the leaders. Both the president and prime minister have said they will resign.
• Monday, 4 Jul 2022
  An avalanche caused by the collapse of the glacier at Marmolada, the tallest peak in the eastern Dolomites of northern Italy, has left 7 hikers dead, 8 injured, and 15 still missing. The intense heat in the region since late June is thought to have contributed to the glacier melting. Given the effects of global heating, the Marmolada glacier is expected to be gone completely in 25-30 years.
• Tuesday, 28 Jun 2022
  On Tuesday, the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capital scheduled a last minute hearing for the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Donald Trump's chief-of-staff Mark Meadows. The explosive testimony sent shudders through Washington and the nation. Hutchinson testified that Trump asked that metal detectors at his rally be removed so that his supporters could proceed armed; that he physically attacked a Secret Service agent; and that he expressed approval for rioters' calls for VP Mike Pence to be hanged.
• Friday, 24 Jun 2022
  After weeks of heavy fighting, Ukrainian forces have been ordered to pull out of Severodonetsk, a key city in the east of the country. A retreat would leave nearly the entire region of Luhansk in the hands of Russian troops. Hundreds of Ukrainian civilians are still thought to be in the city, though the city's infrastructure has been completely destroyed.
• Tuesday, 21 Jun 2022
  Lithuania has drawn the ire of Russia after announcing last Friday that they are enforcing EU sanctions on goods into Russia's Kaliningrad enclave. Coal, metals and construction materials will no longer be allowed to transit through Lithuania. Situated on the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad is detached from the rest of Russia and strategically important. It is home to Russia's Baltic Sea Fleet, and nuclear weapons have been positioned there.