• Rohingya refugees forced to flee Myanmar have sued Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms in a class action lawsuit filed in California. It seeks $150 billion in damages, claiming the social media giant failed to take effective action against anti-Rohingya hate speech, which they claim led to anti-Muslim violence and over 10,000 deaths in 2017.
(“Rohingya Refugees Sue Facebook for $150 Billion Dollars for Myanmar Violence,” Reuters, Dec. 8, 2021)
• In mid-November, the city of Lahore, the cultural center of Pakistan, was rated the most polluted place on earth, as smog engulfed the city and forced the shutdown of schools, roads and businesses. Lahore, a city of 13 million, beat out New Delhi, India as the epicenter of toxic air pollution.
(“How Lahore Became the World’s Most Polluted Place,” Foreign Policy, Nov. 29, 2021; “The South Asian Health Disaster That’s Worse Than COVID,”Washington Post, Dec. 6, 2021)
• Global warming is rapidly transforming weather in the Arctic as rain may overtake snow during certain seasons in the frozen north by the year 2060 or 2070. The new research, published in the journal Nature, found that Arctic ice that melts more rapidly could increase the pace of sea-level rise along the world’s coastlines.
(“The Arctic Could Get More Rain and Less Snow Sooner Than Projected,” Washington Post, Nov. 30, 2021)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo.
