An avalanche on Mount Everest killed 16 Sherpas on April 18. Sherpas have refused to return to assist climbers in ascending Everest. They have not prepared a new ice route or reinstalled guiding ropes in the area of the avalanche, leaving it impossible to climb, and they have asked for better working conditions, more access to medical care and better pay. 

Sherpas can each make about $8,000 a season, 10 times the average wage in Nepal, while the Nepalese government makes millions each...

The Sultan of Brunei announced that the country would begin adopting Sharia, or Islamic law, on May 1, 2014. Two-thirds of Brunei’s population are Malay Muslims, but there are also significant Christian and Buddhist populations. According to the new laws, Sharia “shall apply to both Muslims and non-Muslims, except where expressly prohibited.” 

The new laws will be meted out over three years, beginning with fines and prison sentences for lesser violations. In 2015, crimes such as theft...

On March 14, the population of Crimea voted to separate from Ukraine and join Russia. The Russian parliament then drafted a law that allowed the annexation of Crimea, and troops were sent into the region to protect the newly proclaimed Russian territory. The US and Ukraine have condemned the vote and annexation as illegal, but Ukraine has pulled its armed forces out of the region, and Russian forces now hold the peninsula.

The US Department of State says to defer all nonessential...