Sat, Jan 3, 2015
Throughout the past several months, Jerusalem has been a scene of clashes and violent attacks. Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood just steps away from Jerusalem's Old City, has been at the heart of the unrest, and is becoming one of the most contentious neighborhoods in the most contested city in the world. As settlement expansion into East Jerusalem continues, Israeli authorities have ramped up their practice of demolishing homes built without proper permits - permits which are near impossible for Palestinians to acquire. In addition to the demolitions due to lack of permits, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in early November the reinstatement of the policy of demolishing terrorists' homes, which Palestinians claim is a form of collective punishment. VICE News traveled to Silwan and met with Palestinians and Israelis living in this contested neighborhood at a time when Jerusalem is more divided than ever.
Wed, Jan 7, 2015
At 91 per cent, Puerto Rico has the world's highest overall percentage of homicides by firearms. But this statistic hasn't stopped the NRA from setting up shop, establishing their 51st chapter in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico's sky-high murder rates and extremely strict gun laws have only encouraged the association to fight for their constitutional rights, and arm the island with more and more guns. In 2014 alone, gun permit applications doubled, possession of guns tripled, and licenses for shooting ranges quadrupled the previous year's numbers. Vice News traveled to Puerto Rico to look at the rising tide of firearms that are changing the commonwealth and the culture. We met up with street thugs, the Puerto Rican SWAT team, pro-gun advocates, a gun control politician, and a women's gun group, to find out how the NRA's 51st and newest testing ground is working out.
Thu, Jan 8, 2015
San Pedro Sula, Honduras, has made it to the top of the list of the world's most dangerous cities (outside of war zones) for three consecutive years, with an annual homicide rate of 187 per 100,000 people. Reporting crime in Honduras is considered a high-risk job - according to the Honduran National Human Rights Committee, at least 47 journalists and media executives have been murdered between 2003 and 2014. VICE News spent four nights alongside Orlin Castro, a young reporter who covers the crimes that occur in the streets of San Pedro - which often result from the never-ending turf war between the 18th Street and MS-13 gangs, two of the city's most notorious criminal groups.
Tue, Jan 13, 2015
What really happened at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility on the night of June 9, 2006? According to the US government, three detainees - all imprisoned as part of the global war on terror - hung themselves in their cells that night. But Army Staff Sergeant Joseph Hickman, who was on guard that night at Camp Delta, came to believe something very different: that the three men were murdered in a secret CIA black site at Guantanamo. After leaving the Army, Hickman spent years looking into the deaths. His investigation has led him to write a new book, Murder at Camp Delta. Hickman sat down for the first time on camera with VICE News to tell the story of his investigation and what he learned about what happened that night in 2006.
Wed, Jan 14, 2015
In response to last year's Gaza conflict, the Israeli government announced the construction of further settlements in the West Bank - a move condemned by the international community for escalating tensions that were already highly fraught. The expansion of the settlements has consumed privately owned Palestinian land, causing the destruction of Palestinian homes, produce, and livelihoods. Despite Israeli settlements taking up only one percent of land in the West Bank, they now exert control over 42 percent, with settlement boundaries often 10 times larger than the settlements themselves. VICE News traveled to the West Bank to speak to displaced Palestinians and activists who are trying desperately to address the grievances that boiled over with such horrific consequences in 2014.
Thu, Jan 15, 2015
In this episode of Talking Heads, George Soros discusses his essay "A New Policy to Rescue Ukraine." Soros wrote the essay this month, calling on members of the European Union to behave as countries indirectly at war with Russia and to provide Ukraine with $50 billion to defend itself and kick-start political reforms. Russian President Vladimir Putin's imperial ambition has unintentionally brought into being a new Ukraine that is adamantly opposed to endemic corruption and inefficient government. By offering assistance, Europe can foster an open society in Ukraine and protect itself from Russian aggression. VICE News sat down with Soros to discuss why it is imperative that the EU wakes up and recognizes that the principles on which it was founded are at stake in Ukraine.
Thu, Jan 22, 2015
Bangladesh's leather industry is worth a billion dollars a year, but that value comes at a significant human cost to the many workers employed in the country's leather tanneries. The process of tanning leather hides is highly toxic. Workers face appalling conditions and are exposed to dangerous chemicals that also pollute surrounding waterways. VICE News correspondent Tania Rashid traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, and visited the tannery district in the city's Hazaribagh neighborhood - ranked by international research organizations as one of the most polluted places on Earth - to investigate the conditions in which workers produce leather that is exported and sold all over the world.
Wed, Jan 28, 2015
The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it is also rich in natural resources. One of the official mining sectors has collapsed amid the country's ongoing conflict, and now both sides are benefitting from the illicit trade of gold and diamonds. Clashes over control of the many mines have also created religious tension in places where there previously had been none. VICE News traveled to mines located in the heart of the Central African Republic to see how the battle over natural resources is playing out in one of the world's most violent conflicts.
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Wed, Feb 4, 2015
Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim nations where prostitution is legal, and the country's largest brothel is called Daulatdia, where more than 1,500 women and girls sell sex to thousands of men every day. Daulatdia is infamous for drug abuse and underage prostitution, and many of its sex workers are victims of sexual slavery who were trafficked into the area and sold to a pimp or a madam. They are forced to work off the fee that was paid for them, a debt that takes years to clear because they receive as little as a dollar for sex. VICE News correspondent Tania Rashid visited the notorious Bangladeshi brothel - where human trafficking, underage prostitution, and drugs are commonplace - and met the traffickers and the trafficked, as well as the clientele.
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Sat, Feb 7, 2015
On the International Day for Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, VICE News reports on a little-known surgery that restores sexual function to the clitoris for women who had their genitals mutilated as children. We meet and follow a 32-year-old prospective patient who was mutilated at the age of six in Somalia, and who now lives and works as a nurse in the United States. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural tradition that affects millions of women worldwide. Sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital cutting, the practice varies in severity depending on where it is performed. The procedure can range from minor nicks to the clitoris to the total removal of the clitoris and labia. In its severest form, the two sides of the vulva are sewn together, leaving only a small hole for menstruation and urination. While the practice has been outlawed in many of the 29 countries where FGM is concentrated, it persists in some rural areas as a centuries-old cultural tradition, where it is usually performed by women elders as a part of a coming-of-age ritual. The tradition is sometimes believed to "purify" a woman and performed to preserve virginity before marriage. The World Health Organization estimates that some 6,000 girls undergo FGM around the world every day. The procedure is often performed in unsafe and unsanitary conditions on girls between the ages of four and 12. FGM can be fatal, and can lead to immediate complications such as infections and urine retention, as well as long-term complications such as severe pain and tearing during intercourse and major complications during childbirth. VICE News saw the result of the severest form of FGM first-hand in Dr. Marci Bowers' operating room in San Mateo, California, and watched as she performed a defibulation procedure - the re-opening of genitalia that had been sewn shut - and clitoroplasty, the reconstruction and restoration of sexual function to the clitoris.
Thu, Feb 12, 2015
Last summer, the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) swept from Syria into northern Iraq, routing Iraqi security forces and seizing the city of Mosul. Soon afterward, the group declared the establishment of a dubious "caliphate" in the area it controls and rebranded itself the Islamic State. With Iraq's army weakened and radical militants advancing on Baghdad, the country's Iran-backed Shia militias - which have their own history of sectarian abuses - fought back, halting the Islamic State's progress. The militias have successfully combated Islamic State fighters on the ground with the assistance of air strikes from a US-led military coalition. But their growing influence within Iraq's government amid accusations that they have harmed Sunnis in areas that they control has led many to fear that the militias threaten the country's fragile sectarian and political balance. VICE News traveled to Iraq in December to witness firsthand how Shia militias are taking the fight to the Islamic State, and to document the fallout of their controversial rise to power.
Sun, Feb 22, 2015
Coal ash, which contains many of the world's worst carcinogens, is what's left over when coal is burnt for electricity. An estimated 113 million tons of coal ash are produced annually in the US, and stored in almost every state - some of it literally in people's backyards. With very little government oversight and few safeguards in place, toxic chemicals have been known to leak from these storage sites and into nearby communities, contaminating drinking water and making residents sick. VICE News travels across the US to meet the people and visit the areas most affected by this toxic waste stream. Since coal production is predicted to remain steady for the next few decades, coal ash will be a problem that will affect the US for years to come.
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Fri, Feb 27, 2015
During the devastating 50-day war in Israel and Gaza this past summer, around 18,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged, leaving around 120,000 residents homeless. Now, with trouble in neighboring Sinai and infighting between Palestinian factions, reconstruction efforts in the beleaguered Gaza Strip are moving slowly. With the UN warning of a growing humanitarian crisis for the people of Gaza, many fear that another armed conflict is imminent. Six months after the end of fighting, VICE News returns to the region to investigate the progress on reconstruction.
Fri, Mar 6, 2015
The bitter conflict in Ukraine has cost thousands of lives, but the Russian government has continuously denied sending its soldiers to the frontlines, despite accusations to the contrary from NATO and Western officials. Since August 2014, a small but steady stream of coffins began arriving in villages across Russia, containing the maimed bodies of soldiers killed in "unknown circumstances." Some would be buried hastily at night or in secret funerals, their graves zealously guarded from prying outsiders. Journalists investigating the deaths have reported being threatened with intimidation and attacks. In cases that the Kremlin could not so easily ignore, the dead or injured have been hailed as "volunteers" who entered Ukraine on leave from the army - heroes who fought unofficially for the freedom of their Russian-speaking brethren. VICE News travels to Russia to investigate the mysterious deaths of dozens - possibly hundreds - of active-duty Russian servicemen who are believed to have been killed in Ukraine. Accounts gathered from soldiers' families, human rights workers, and government officials cast doubt on the Kremlin narrative, revealing the unacknowledged sacrifices borne by Russia's ghost army.
Sat, Mar 7, 2015
The brutal beheadings of Japanese nationals Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa by the Islamic State in January have shocked the island nation and lent momentum to an effort to expand the limitations imposed on its constitution and military after its defeat by the United States in World War II. Leftists in Japan fear that the incident will encourage a departure from the country's pacifist constitution, whose Article 9 states that "the Japanese people forever renounce... the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Right-wingers, meanwhile, see an opportunity to allow Japan to assert itself as a truly sovereign state. In the wake of the Islamic State beheadings, VICE News reports from Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to re-militarize the pacifist nation has inspired protests from the left.
Mon, Mar 16, 2015
The biggest financial issue currently facing young Americans is not the decline of manufacturing jobs or the housing collapse, but mounting student debt. To tackle this issue, VICE hosted a roundtable discussion, moderated by VICE founder Shane Smith, with President Barack Obama and five students who discussed the challenges surrounding student debt and the pursuit of higher education in the US.
Wed, Mar 18, 2015
North and South Korea are, both legally and philosophically, in a state of war. While the guns may be silent, the conflict between the two countries has now become one of propaganda. With the assistance of the Human Rights Foundation, North Korean defectors now in South Korea have been launching hydrogen-filled balloons across the 38th parallel - carrying both money and propaganda. In late 2014, a balloon launch sparked a brief exchange of gunfire between North and South Korean soldiers, and even more recently, Pyongyang has promised that hellfire will rain on South Korea if any copies of the controversial Hollywood comedy The Interview make it across the border. VICE News traveled to Seoul to meet frontline soldiers in this information war - and to attend a clandestine launch of propaganda balloons into the Hermit Kingdom.
Thu, Mar 19, 2015
There's a resource curse on the Navajo Nation. The 27,000-square-mile reservation straddling parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah has an extremely high abundance of many energy resources - particularly coal. That coal is what's burned to provide much of the Southwest with electricity, and it creates jobs for the Navajo. But the mining and burning have also caused environmental degradation, serious health issues, and displacement. VICE News travels to the Navajo Nation to find out how its abundance of coal is affecting the future of the Navajo people.
Thu, Mar 19, 2015
The war in eastern Ukraine hasn't just been about territory - religion has deepened the divide. In Donetsk, Protestants are being forced to conduct their services in apartments, persecuted by pro-Russia separatists who believe there's only room for one religion in the region: Russian Orthodoxy. VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky traveled to Donetsk to attend secret Protestant churches, and spoke with members of the Donetsk People's Republic as well as the Orthodox Church to find out whether the DPR's vision for the rebel-controlled region includes the coexistence of religious beliefs.
Sat, Mar 21, 2015
As Libya descends further into civil war and lawlessness, migrants from Africa and the Middle East continue to journey to the country's coast in search of smugglers to take them across the Mediterranean Sea and into Europe. Search and rescue operations by Libya's coast guard are restricted due to diminishing resources, and have to contend with dangerous gangs of armed traffickers. Those rescued at sea by the coast guard are brought to detention centers, where they face deplorable conditions and are forced to remain for long periods of time. In some instances, migrants are detained by militias in unofficial prisons outside of government control. VICE News gains access to chilling footage from the Libyan coast guard and travels to detention centers in Libya, where we hear migrants speak of torture and serious human rights violations.
Tue, Mar 24, 2015
A pipeline network more than 2.5 million miles long transports oil and natural gas throughout the United States - but a top official in the federal government's pipeline safety oversight agency admits that the regulatory process is overstretched and "kind of dying." A recent spike in the number of spills illustrates the problem: the Department of Transportation recorded 73 pipeline-related accidents in 2014, an 87 percent increase over 2009. Despite calls for stricter regulations over the last few years, the rules governing the infrastructure have largely remained the same. Critics say that this is because of the oil industry's cozy relationship with regulators, and argue that violations for penalties are too low to compel compliance. VICE News traveled to Glendive, Montana, to visit the site of a pipeline spill that dumped more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River, to find out why the industry has such weak regulatory oversight.
Mon, Mar 30, 2015
In early March, while the world was watching Iraqi government forces advance on the Islamic State (IS) in Tikrit, IS was launching a series of assaults on what little remains of the Government-held parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi, which has been under siege for over a year. On the morning of 11 March alone - the first day VICE News spent in Ramadi - nearly two dozen IS car bombs were detonated, killing 10 and injuring 60. In a series of interviews, Iraqi officials told VICE News that they fear Islamic State fighters will overrun what remains of Government-held Ramadi if the US did not intervene with air support. According to police in Ramadi, more than 2,000 officers have been killed since January 2014, when the Islamic State - then known mainly as ISIS or ISIL - first announced its presence in the city. VICE News spent three days in Ramadi documenting civilian life and interviewing Iraqi officials, as the town remains under siege from the Islamic State.
Tue, Mar 31, 2015
Peru is now the world's main supplier of coca, the raw plant material used to manufacture cocaine. In the last five years, coca production has grown the most in the tri-border region, an area deep in the Amazon where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. The tri-border region is home to a messianic sect with apocalyptic beliefs whose members dress in biblical robes. Known as "Israelites," the religious group migrated to the Peruvian Amazon in 1995 in search of a promised land that's now infested with coca plantations. VICE News traveled to Alto Monte de Israel, the sacred land of the Israelites, to meet them and understand how they cope with the existence of coca crops on their land, and whether they're involved in the drug trade.
Fri, Apr 3, 2015
In 2007, John Kiriakou became the first Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official to publicly confirm that agency interrogators waterboarded a high-value detainee, terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah - a revelation that had previously been a closely guarded secret. Five years after this unauthorized disclosure to ABC News, the veteran CIA officer pleaded guilty to leaking to journalists the identity of certain individuals who were involved with the CIA's rendition, detention, and interrogation program. He was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison. VICE News caught up with Kiriakou for a wide-ranging interview just a few days after he was released from prison. He detailed how his CIA training became a technique for survival behind bars, and how the government turned him into a "dissident."
Wed, Apr 8, 2015
America's relationship with its mentally ill population continues to suffer as a result of inadequacies in the country's mental health care system. For the mentally ill in Chicago, the effects of this inadequacy are felt on a magnified scale, as budget cuts and a lack of community-based mental health resources have left these individuals with minimal support. More often than not, this means being repeatedly swept up into the criminal justice system for low-level, non-violent crimes VICE News takes an immersive look at this issue by going inside the Cook County Jail and speaking with community members on Chicago's south side.
Thu, Apr 9, 2015
Days before the US launched airstrikes on Tikrit in late March, VICE News traveled to the front lines of the northern Iraqi city, where Iraqi government forces and volunteer militiamen are continuing to battle the so-called Islamic State militant group. The presence of the volunteer militiamen Hashd al Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, has raised fears among civilians of retributive attacks. VICE News spoke to refugees from Tikrit who were detained while attempting to flee the fighting, some of whom accused Hashd al Shaabi of carrying out abductions, forced conscription, and looting.
Mon, Apr 13, 2015
Since 2009, the militant Islamist group known as Boko Haram has wreaked havoc in northern Nigeria. Instilling terror through bombings, abductions, and beheadings, Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in the most populous country in Africa. VICE News traveled to Nigeria to embed with the country's army as it ramped up its fight against Boko Haram, whose rise has caused a state of emergency. As the only journalists on the front line in northern Nigeria, we witnessed the beginning of the largest military insurgency to date.
Thu, Apr 16, 2015
Despite the United Nations confirming in 2013 that Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's top coca and cocaine producer, the country's place atop the drug supply chain has - at least so far - not included the levels of violence seen in Colombia, Mexico, and other international narcotics hubs. The frontlines of Peru's war on cocaine are restricted to remote coca-producing basins, where drug laboratories and illegal landing strips are abundant. But the government's campaign of crop eradication and efforts to destroy narco runways risk further igniting a larger social conflict, alienating the coca farmers whose livelihoods depend on growing the illicit crop. VICE News traveled to the heart of Peru's coca-producing region to witness how the government is waging a war on drugs with the aim of putting an early end to its reign as the world's new king of cocaine.
Sat, Apr 18, 2015
On the Alto Rio Guamá reserve in Brazil, the Tembe tribe has been battling for decades to save its land from illegal loggers and settlers. As tension escalates, the Tembe people have now been forced to take up arms and confront the loggers, sparking violent clashes deep within the jungle. With the odds stacked against the tribe, VICE News traveled to the northern Brazilian state of Para to meet the Tembe and witness the tribe's struggle to protect its land.
Fri, May 22, 2015
In this episode, Charles Glass discusses his essay "In the Syria We Don't Know." He drove through Syria in October 2014 to see how the country's civil war had impacted daily life. With Bashar al-Assad benefiting from US-led airstrikes on the Islamic State, and large areas of the country under his regime's control, Glass found people carrying on at a relatively normal pace amid the conflict. But signs of death and personal loss were inescapable, as resentment mounted among citizens who feel they have no choice but to support Assad or be slaughtered at the hands of Sunni radicals. VICE News sat down with Glass to discuss America's uncertain foreign policy in the region and the underlying forces propping up Assad's government.
Tue, Jun 16, 2015
As the conflict in Ukraine continues, so too does Russian President Vladimir Putin's denial of any Russian involvement. But a recent report from think tank the Atlantic Council used open source information and social media to find evidence of Russian troops across the border. Using the Atlantic Council's methodology, VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky follows the digital and literal footprints of one Russian soldier, tracking him from eastern Ukraine to Siberia, to prove that Russian soldiers are fighting in Ukraine.
Fri, Jun 19, 2015
Since sea turtle conservation in Costa Rica began in the 1950s, conservationists and poachers have peacefully shared the beach. But the murder of the environmentalist Jairo Mora Sandoval in 2013 shocked the eco-friendly country and brought attention to a violent overlap between conservationism and drug trafficking in Costa Rica's abundant national parks and untouched coastlines. With five per cent of the world's biodiversity, the unique geography of Costa Rica is a hotspot for eco-tourism and conservation work. However, it is that same geography that makes the country so vulnerable to the violent drug trade that surrounds its borders. Costa Rica has become a major transshipment point for drug traffickers, with deadly consequences for those caught in the middle. VICE News travels to Costa Rica to commemorate the two-year anniversary of environmental activist Jairo Mora Sandoval's tragic death and meet with conservationists, poachers, drug dealers, and law enforcement about the intersecting criminality across the country.
Thu, Jun 25, 2015
When al Qaeda terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, Michael Morell was with President George W. Bush at an elementary school in Florida as the CIA's daily briefer. The events that unfolded on that fateful day are just some of the many national security disasters that Morell, the former acting director of the CIA, has been at the center of since 9/11. The veteran intelligence official has spent much of his 30-year career out of the public eye, but he's stepping out of the shadows to talk about his new book The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism - From al Qa'ida to ISIS. VICE News met with Morell at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, and spoke with him about the Iraq war, the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" program, and what he refers to as "the new era of terrorism."
Mon, Jun 29, 2015
In a city with dispensaries as common as coffee shops, Denver is undoubtedly the epicenter of the legal marijuana movement. And if you're in the business of bud, it's a good place to be: Colorado accounted for a third of the country's 2.7 billion dollar marijuana market last year. But with being America's fastest growing industry, comes growing pains. Marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, which has led to conflicting state laws, restrictive regulations, and endless problems for cash-only marijuana business owners and operators. VICE News meets the investors cashing in on the green rush and finds out how fractured marijuana laws are causing the American market to miss out.
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Tue, Jul 7, 2015
An insight into the largest European test center - BPRC. At this facility in the Netherlands, scientists experiment on live primates with the goal of inventing new cures for diseases. Scientists say they provide maximum care to the animals. On the contrary, animal rights activists regularly stand outside the gates of the facility and demand its closure. In doing so, they support the development of alternative testing methods that do not use animals.
Tue, Aug 11, 2015
More than 2,000 migrants have drowned while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea already in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration. As the Mediterranean migrant crisis continues in the face of apparent government inaction, a private organization has stepped in to help. Founded by American millionaire Christopher Catrambone and his Italian wife Regina Catrambone, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) aims to provide search and rescue assistance to the thousands of people fleeing conflict and economic hardship in the Middle East and Africa. VICE News went to meet the team behind MOAS before it launched its operation from Malta.
Mon, Aug 31, 2015
Louisiana is currently losing around a football field's worth of land every hour to the encroaching ocean. The erosion is due to an array of factors, from an ill-conceived historic levee system, the legacy of oil and gas drilling and, of course, the area's susceptibility to hurricanes. VICE News travels to the site of one of the largest man-made environmental and economic disasters in US history to see what can be done as the situation continues to deteriorate.
Mon, Aug 31, 2015
Protesters gathered in Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square on Saturday under the rallying cry "You stink!" - a reference to the city's ongoing waste management crisis, and a slogan which has since expanded to represent the population's frustration with the government's failure to provide basic services, including water and electricity.