It's been a chaotic week around the world. Here are a few of the big stories you need to know about.
All hell broke loose in Yemen.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are basically at war with each other — in Yemen. The government of Yemen, which has long been unstable, collapsed fully early this year. Now, two main groups are fighting each other: those loyal to the recently deposed president, and the Houthi rebels who overthrew him. But, the two groups have become proxies for larger, more powerful countries: One side (the Houthi, who are Shia) are backed by Iran. The other side (in favor of the government) are largely Sunni — and have the support of Sunni Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia. With support of neighboring allies this week, Saudi Arabia mobilized tens of thousands of troops and began airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. Iran denounced the strikes, warning they could inflame chaos in the region. With Egypt's recent announcement that it may also send troops to Yemen, the situation shows no sign of settling down soon. And, to make things weirder...
The United States is officially in a bizarre love triangle of sorts with Iran. In Yemen, we support the Saudis, a major U.S. ally, in their fight against the Iran-backed Houthi. In Iraq, we're teaming up with Iran to fight ISIS — and if that's not weird enough, we're also in the midst of our own negotiation with Iran over its nuclear program and hoping to reach a deal by the end of March.
Our longest war got even longer.
We've been engaged in military activity in Afghanistan since 2001, which makes it the longest war in U.S. history. And, despite years of promises from President Obama that we're going to bring our troops home, it looks like our engagement just got extended.
Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, visited the U.S. this week, and while he was here, Obama officially announced we'll be keeping our nearly 10,000 troops in the country into 2016.
All hell broke loose in Yemen.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are basically at war with each other — in Yemen. The government of Yemen, which has long been unstable, collapsed fully early this year. Now, two main groups are fighting each other: those loyal to the recently deposed president, and the Houthi rebels who overthrew him. But, the two groups have become proxies for larger, more powerful countries: One side (the Houthi, who are Shia) are backed by Iran. The other side (in favor of the government) are largely Sunni — and have the support of Sunni Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia. With support of neighboring allies this week, Saudi Arabia mobilized tens of thousands of troops and began airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. Iran denounced the strikes, warning they could inflame chaos in the region. With Egypt's recent announcement that it may also send troops to Yemen, the situation shows no sign of settling down soon. And, to make things weirder...
The United States is officially in a bizarre love triangle of sorts with Iran. In Yemen, we support the Saudis, a major U.S. ally, in their fight against the Iran-backed Houthi. In Iraq, we're teaming up with Iran to fight ISIS — and if that's not weird enough, we're also in the midst of our own negotiation with Iran over its nuclear program and hoping to reach a deal by the end of March.
Our longest war got even longer.
We've been engaged in military activity in Afghanistan since 2001, which makes it the longest war in U.S. history. And, despite years of promises from President Obama that we're going to bring our troops home, it looks like our engagement just got extended.
Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, visited the U.S. this week, and while he was here, Obama officially announced we'll be keeping our nearly 10,000 troops in the country into 2016.
Ebola is still in the news, here's why.
Ebola may have mostly dropped out of headlines, but the disease has not disappeared. The African nation of Sierra Leone is enforcing a three-day lockdown, asking everyone to stay home, to combat fears of a new outbreak. More than 10,000 people have died of Ebola there and in neighboring Liberia and Guinea over the past year. There have been continued signs of progress in developing a treatment, though. Most recently, researchers at the University of Wisconsin created a vaccine that made primates resistant to the disase — as published in a recent study in the journal Science.
Ebola may have mostly dropped out of headlines, but the disease has not disappeared. The African nation of Sierra Leone is enforcing a three-day lockdown, asking everyone to stay home, to combat fears of a new outbreak. More than 10,000 people have died of Ebola there and in neighboring Liberia and Guinea over the past year. There have been continued signs of progress in developing a treatment, though. Most recently, researchers at the University of Wisconsin created a vaccine that made primates resistant to the disase — as published in a recent study in the journal Science.