Editor’s Note: This listicle is part of a weekly series by The Ball State Daily News summarizing five stories from around the world. All summaries are based on stories published by The Associated Press.
The U.S. Vice President’s visit to Iraq, the World Wide Web inventor’s “Contract for the Web,” mass detention camps in China, the pro-democracy vote in Hong Kong and the extinction of Sumatran rhinos in Malaysia make up this week’s five international stories.
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, second from left, serve turkey to troops at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. The visit is Pence’s first to Iraq and comes nearly one year since President Donald Trump’s surprise visit to the country. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Pence works to reassure Kurdish allies in surprise Iraq trip
Vice President Mike Pence worked to reassure the United States’ Kurdish allies in an unannounced trip to Iraq Saturday, two months after President Donald Trump ordered a pullback of U.S. forces in Syria. The visit was meant to hearten United States’ regional partners in the fight against the Islamic State group after the U.S. pulled troops from northern Syria, leaving America’s Kurdish allies there to face a bloody cross-border Turkish assault last month.
Read more: Syria
This Oct. 24, 2018, file photo shows creator of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee speaking during a data privacy conference at the European Parliament in Brussels. Berners-Lee is releasing an ambitious rule book for online governance, a bill of rights and obligations for the internet. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
Web inventor has ambitious plan to take back net
World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee released an ambitious rule book for online governance — a bill of rights and obligations for the internet — designed to counteract the growing prevalence of misinformation, mass surveillance and censorship. The “Contract for the Web” seeks commitments from governments and industry to make and keep knowledge freely available — a digital policy agenda true to the design vision of the 30-year-old web.
Read more: Data privacy
In this Nov. 4, 2017 file photo, Uighur security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang region. Classified documents, leaked to a consortium of news organizations, lay out the Chinese government's deliberate strategy to lock up ethnic minorities to rewire their thoughts and even the language they speak. (AP Photo/File)
Secret documents reveal how China mass detention camps work
Voluntary job training is the reason the Chinese government has given for detaining more than a million ethnic minorities, most of them Muslims. But leaked classified documents lay out the Chinese government’s deliberate strategy to lock up ethnic minorities, even before they commit a crime, to rewire their thoughts and the language they speak. The papers also show how Beijing is pioneering a new form of social control using data and artificial intelligence.
Read more: China Cables
Election winner candidate Kelvin Lam, right, and pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, second right, wave to people and thank for their support, outside South Horizons Station in Hong Kong, Monday, Nov. 25, 2019. Pro-democracy candidates won nearly half of the seats in Hong Kong's local elections, according to partial returns Monday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Pro-democracy camp wins landslide in Hong Kong vote
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition won a stunning landslide victory in weekend local elections in a clear rebuke to city leader Carrie Lam over her handling of violent protests that have divided the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The result could force China’s central government to rethink how to handle the unrest, which is now in its sixth month. District councils have little power, but the vote became a referendum on public support for the protests.
Read more: Hong Kong
In this Aug. 18, 2019, photo, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew, right, looks at rhino “Iman” in cage in eastern Sabah state . The Sumatran rhinoceros has become extinct in Malaysia, after the last of the species in the country succumbed to cancer. (Sabah Deputy Chief Minister’s Office via AP)
Sumatran rhino extinct in Malaysia as lone survivor dies
The Sumatran rhino has become extinct in Malaysia after the last of the species in the country succumbed to cancer. The WWF conservation group estimates there are about 80 Sumatran rhinos left, mostly living in the wild in Indonesia. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature states about 24,500 rhinos survive in the wild with another 1,250 in captivity worldwide. Rhinos are killed for their horns, which are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia.
Read more: Wildlife
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Ball State ends regular season on a loss, eyes next weekend’s MAC tournament
By Daniel Kehn / 9 hours agoBall State Women’s Volleyball (20-9, 15-5 MAC) was unbeaten in 10 matches — even winning 28 consecutive sets. Western Michigan (17-12, 13-5) ended both streaks at Worthen Arena.
Ball State women’s basketball defeats UNI on the road
By Staff Reports / 15 hours agoBall State defeated UNI 76-70 in Saturday's road contest.
Life without my father highlighted the importance of role models in my life
By Zach Carter / 16 hours agoI don’t know if my dad knows what I’m up to or if he knows where my life is going. I’m not going to hypothesize about what happens after death, but I hope he knows I miss him every day.
