Z H Softs

25 August 2022: Mexican stand-off

A STRANGE madness appears to be afflicting our political leaders. Knives out, they are chasing after each other in the hopes of landing a killing blow, not realising the damage they are doing to their own future prospects with the harmful precedents they are setting that ‘others’ can easily exploit. Consider the developments over the…
Ukraine live briefing: U.N. chief arrives in Ukraine to review month-old grain export deal

The U.N. chief arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday ahead of a summit to review the breakthrough agreement signed nearly one month ago that allowed for the export of Ukrainian grain and offered a sign of hope during a global food crisis. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish…
19 August 2022: Deadly rains

THERE seems to be no end to our monsoon misery. Deadly rains continue to lash several parts of the country, destroying transportation networks and homes as they wreak havoc on human and animal life. The situation in Balochistan, the region worst-hit by floods, destruction and disease, is dire, with a damaged rail and road network…
19 August 2022: Frozen conflict

THE recent discovery of the body of an Indian soldier lost in an ice storm on the Siachen glacier 38 years ago yet again illustrates the fruitless nature of this high-altitude conflict. The fact is that more soldiers from both sides die of causes other than fighting on what has become known as the world’s…
19 August 2022: Pawn sacrifice

IT must be lonely being Shahbaz Gill these days. With his own party now back-pedalling from its ‘moral support’ for the controversial statements he made during a TV show last week, Mr Gill must be feeling abandoned and forlorn. The unequivocal condemnations now being directed at him by other PTI leaders threaten to blow away…
Christianity’s role in Native American boarding schools

American Christians must reckon with colonial history and cooperate with US government’s “Road to Healing” initiative. Last month the United States Department of the Interior published the first volume of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report. The report confirms, in shocking detail, the US Government’s deployment of boarding schools as a tool to…
A new way to help reuse and recycle wastewater

Whitney Fowler, PhD’22, has helped develop a new water reclamation system. Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering July 14, 2022 As an undergraduate, Whitney Fowler saw firsthand how communities are affected by access to clean water when she took a service trip to Uganda. She decided she would use her degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering…
How should developing countries deal with inflation?

While the world still grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, new challenges have surfaced in the last few months: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a global post-Covid-19 cost-of-living crisis, leaving the poor in both the developed and developing worlds struggling to access food and fuel. In an interview with ProMarket, economist Raghuram Rajan speaks about…
Female Saudi activist sentenced to record 34 years in prison for critical tweets

Salma al-Shehab was detained in January 2021 in Saudi Arabia, where she was on vacation, days before the Saudi citizen was set to return to her home in Britain BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia quietly sentenced a woman to 34 years in prison over her Twitter activity last week, marking the longest sentence ever for a…
Ukraine live briefing: Strikes pound Kharkiv; U.N. chief to discuss grain deal, nuclear risk

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres is in Ukraine to review progress on a deal to release the country’s grain exports, and strikes overnight pummeled Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe. Key developments Return to menu The U.N. chief will meet the leaders of Ukraine…