The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Thursday, with a possible final vote on her confirmation as soon as Monday, Oct. 26 – a week in advance of the election.
The European Commission has launched a new system designed to link national COVID-19 tracing apps across the European Union — starting with Germany’s Corona-Warn-App, Ireland’s COVID tracker and Italy’s immuni. With the system — known as the interoperability gateway — the apps can work in all participating countries.
On Thursday, a former Mexican defense minister, General Salvador Cienfuegos, was detained in Los Angeles on drug charges. The arrest prompted President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to vow to punish other military officials involved.
Thousands continued to protest in Thailand in the wake of an emergency decree issued Thursday by the government limiting gatherings to groups of five and the arrest of key protest leaders.
Tamara Loos, professor of history and Thai studies at Cornell University, says the events of this week indicate that Thailand has reached a tipping point, with widespread protests necessitating a response from the regime and monarchy.
Hungry giant predators, treacherous mud and a tired, probably cranky toddler – more than 10,000 years ago, that was the stuff of every parent’s nightmare.
Evidence of that type of frightening trek was recently uncovered, and at nearly a mile it is the longest known trackway of early-human footprints ever found.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded on Wednesday to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their 2012 work on the development of Crispr-Cas9, a method for genome editing. This is the first time a Nobel Prize has been awarded to two women.
Questions swirl about President Donald Trump’s health status following his COVID-19 diagnosis late last week, even as he left the hospital to greet supporters.
Mabel Berezin, professor of sociology at Cornell University and an expert on the history and development of populism and fascism in Europe, weighs in on the president’s public appearance Sunday during treatment and his disregard for public health guidelines:
On Monday, British company Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas in the United States, announced it would temporarily close all of its 663 movie theaters in both countries, a move expected to impact 45,000 employees and send the future of the entertainment industry further into uncertainty.
President Trump and others in the White House testing positive for COVID-19 has raised questions about what impact the news will have on coronavirus messaging.
Yagna Nag Chowdhuri, Ph.D. ’20, is a recent alumna of the Asian literature, religion, and culture program at Cornell from which she holds a Ph.D. Now, she will be starting a new position as Manager of Strategic Research at Asian Cultural Council in New York as a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow.
What is your area of research and why is it important?
President Donald Trump will debate former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening in Cleveland, Ohio. Chris Wallace of Fox News will moderate the matchup and announced the debate will include discussion of the Supreme Court, COVID-19, economy, race and violence, and election integrity.
Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday to the Supreme Court. Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, is a religious conservative and draws criticism from Democrats for her positions on healthcare and abortion.
Protests continued in Thailand on Friday after parliament failed to reach an agreement on possible constitutional reforms. Demonstrators have been taking to the streets since July in an effort to pressure parliament to limit the powers of the country’s monarchy.
Tamara Loos, professor and chair of history, says that the rallies highlight how Thai society has changed its approach to politics, and the monarchy:
On Sept. 23, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky declared a state of emergency for the city in advance of the attorney general’s announcement regarding possible charges against the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor in March.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump will host leaders of Israel, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House in a ceremony to mark the normalization of relations between Israel and the two Gulf countries. The deal, which the Trump administration has described as a pivotal step towards peace in the Middle East, signals a shift amongst Arab countries, traditionally wary of siding too close to Israel.
An international team of researchers has discovered the presence of the chemical compound phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus — a discovery that could indicate some form of life on the hot planet. They describe their findings in the journal Nature Astronomy.
In the wake of the largest anti-government protests in Thailand since 2014, the Thai King Vajiralongkorn reinstated his Royal Noble Consort, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, after having demoted her in October of 2019.
Tamara Loos, professor and chair of history, says that the King’s treatment of Sineenat represents one of the many reasons why protestors in Thailand have targeted the monarchy for reform:
European and international history from 1870 to the present, with a particular focus on the interwar period (1914-1945) and on questions of political economy. I am also interested in international organizations, international law and the history of war.
Emily Donald is a doctoral student in history from Brisbane, Australia studying modern southeast Asian history; feminist, gender, and sexuality studies; and queer history. After attending the University of Queensland as an undergraduate, she chose to pursue further study at Cornell due to its scholars, library collections, and commitment to graduate student learning.
What is your area of research and why is it important?
