Current World Issues: What's Going On

Iraqi Kurds vote in independence referendum Polls open in northern Iraq as Kurds cast ballots in referendum on whether to support independence from Baghdad. People in Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan are voting in an independence referendum, amid rising tensions and international opposition. Polls opened at 05:00 GMT with balloting also taking place in the disputed areas between the northern city of Erbil and the capital Baghdad, as well as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which is ethnically mixed. The central government in Baghdad, which strongly opposes the referendum, sought control of the  region's international border posts and airports on Sunday, in anticipation of Monday's vote. Iraq's government has also called on foreign countries to stop importing oil from the Kurdish region and to deal with them instead.  In a televised  address  on Sunday, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned of the dire consequences of the vote and vowed...

Will Germany's new law kill free speech online? By Patrick Evans In October a new law comes into force in Germany that will impose huge fines on social networks if they don't delete illegal content including hate speech. It's touched off a huge debate over freedom of expression and has attracted an unusual collection of opponents. The law is called Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz - NetzDG for short. It obliges the biggest social networks - those with more than two million German users - to take down "blatantly illegal" hate speech within 24 hours of it being reported. For material that's less obviously violating the law, networks such as Facebook and Instagram will have seven days to consider and, if appropriate, delete posts. Failure to meet these deadlines could lead to fines of up to €50m. Critics argue the short timeframes coupled with the potentially large fines will lead social networks to be overly cautious and delete huge amounts of content - eve...

Lee Ming-che: Taiwanese activist goes on trial in China Share this with Facebook Share this with Twitter   Share this with  Share this with Email   Image copyright Image caption Selected clips of Mr Lee's trial are being posted on the Hunan court's Weibo account A Taiwanese pro-democracy activist has gone on trial in China accused of "subverting state power". Chinese authorities say Lee Ming-che promoted multi-party rule in group messaging chats. The 42-year-old activist went missing in China in March and was later revealed to have been detained. Little information has been given by Chinese authorities, but the case has gripped Taiwan amid already strained relations with China. His wife Lee Ching-yu, who has led calls for his release, is attending his trial in Hunan province. She had warned he may be pressured to make a confession against his will. What happened to him? Mr Lee, an NGO worker, is a well-known democracy and human right...

North Korea's nuclear tests: How should Trump respond? Image copyright AFP Image caption The US is drawing up a new proposal to punish any countries doing business with North Korea North Korea's dramatic testing of a sixth nuclear device has once again raised fears of rising tensions in north-east Asia and the prospect of war breaking out on the Korean peninsula. The size of  the latest test  - equivalent to a 6.3 magnitude earthquake - suggests a step-change in the destructive power of the North's nuclear assets. It was five to six times larger than its last test in September 2016, and potentially seven times as large as the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. But it is too early to assess Pyongyang's boast to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. The North has made  similar uncorroborated claims  in the past, but irrespective of the precise nature of the explosion, there seems little doubt that the destructive capacity of Pyongyang's nucle...