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Weapons

US Air Force fighter aircraft F-35 performs aerobatic maneuvers on the second day of the Aero India 2023 at Yelahanka air base in Bengaluru, India, Feb. 14, 2023.

Military spending around the world reached record highs last year, new data shows

Military

New research shows that military spending grew for an eighth consecutive year in 2022 to an all-time high of $2,240 billion. Europe saw a sharp increase over the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, China has expanded its reach, while the US wants to maintain its military superiority as the world’s largest military.

soliders with weapons

Russian weapons shortage reduces supply going to India

Military
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left, shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as French President Emmanuel Macron, looks on before a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine

Many Germans fear ‘active participation in war’ as country increases military aid to Ukraine

Ukraine
man with a cat

‘Death is still better than living in Russia’: A Ukrainian medic on the front lines says there’s no choice but to fight

Ukraine
A police officer guards the area as investigators comb the site where more than a dozen people were believed to have been gunned down by armed men on Sunday, in San Jose de Gracia, head of the municipality of Marcos Castellanos, in Michoacan state, Mexico

Troubled geography: Part II

Critical State
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The International Space Station is a great example of how space has, for the most part, been a peaceful and collaborative international arena.

Space law hasn’t been changed since 1967 – but the UN aims to update laws and keep space peaceful

Global Politics

Activities in space today are far more numerous and complicated compared to 1967, before humans had landed on the moon or Elon Musk had even been born. Two experts explain the need for better laws to keep space peaceful.

Protesters hold umbrellas in thick tear gas.

Tear gas has been banned in warfare. Why do police still use it?

Conflict & Justice

Despite its illegality in war, police use tear gas to control riots and disperse crowds all over the world. To understand why and how it’s still in use, host Marco Werman spoke with Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s human rights program. 

Mastodons (this one on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles) are just a small part of the story of how humans first migrated to the Americas 15,000 years ago — or longer.

Retracing paths that people first traversed while migrating to the Americas

Books

When it comes to the first people arriving in the Americas during the Ice Age from Asia, Craig Childs says it is a “blank space” in the collective memory of most Americans. His newest book fills up that space with firsthand adventures and exploration.

Romanian Army soldiers deploy a ground-to-air missile launch pad during a joint military exercise with the US Army.

Obama and Putin fueled the biggest global arms market since the Cold War

Conflict

Driven by sales in the Middle East and Asia, Trump could propel sales even higher. US sales are likely to continue to rise due to arms deals signed during the Obama administration that have yet to reach the production line.

A bullet hole near Le Carillon restaurant, one of the attack sites in Paris.

Paris attackers’ AK-47s might be a legacy of the Balkan wars

Conflict

Generally speaking, it’s hard to buy guns in Europe. But there is an exception: It’s easy to buy cheap Kalashnikovs in Europe. Blame the Balkans.

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