the Context

4 PM utc, 2017-09-19

Hurricane Maria makes landfall on Dominica as a category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). Maria is the second category 5 hurricane to make landfall at that intensity in the 2017 season, making this and 2007 the only seasons on record to feature this occurence.

Opinion

The Post-Truth and the Context

Most of the daily information we see on the mainstream media today is the news equivalent of fast-food.

2017-09-18

A few hundred pro-government protesters gather in Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, condemning Rohingya insurgents as well as perceived foreign interference in the Rakhine conflict.

Toys "R" Us files for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Canada as it attempts to restructure its debts.

The once dominant toy retailer has struggled against larger rivals such as Amazon and Walmart.

Hurricane Maria reaches Category 5 as it threatens the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

Maria grew from a tropical storm into a Category 5 hurricane and was bearing down on Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands still bailing out from Irma.

Eberhard van der Laan, the mayor of Amsterdam, takes a permanent leave of absence after disclosing that his metastatic lung cancer has been diagnosed as terminal.

2017-09-17

A roadside bomb kills five people in Bajaur, Pakistan.

Deceased include political tehsildar; one Levies official injured

The Primetime Emmy Awards is held in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Theater. Political satirist and "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert hosts the event.

Catch up on Emily Nussbaum’s reviews and our other TV coverage ahead of Sunday’s awards ceremony.

At least eight people are killed and 137 injured after a strong storm hits western and central Romania.

A strong storm killed eight people and injured at least 67 in western Romania on Sunday as winds of up to 100 kph (over 60 mph) also brought destruction to parts of Serbia and Croatia, officials said.

Hurricane Maria has been upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane. Hurricane watches and warnings have been issued in parts of the Caribbean. It is following a path similar to Category 5 Hurricane Irma which left at least 82 dead.

A British Airways airplane is evacuated at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport after it is verbally threatened. After a search, it is declared safe.

Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif, wife of ousted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, defeats the opposition party's Yasmin Rashid in the by-election for Nawaz Sharif's National Assembly seat. Kulsoom, represented by her daughter and proxy Maryam, is being treated in London for cancer.

Long queues form outside polling stations to vote in the seat vacated by former PM Nawaz Sharif.

Voters in Macau vote for a new Legislative Assembly.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to dissolve the House of Representatives on September 28, 2017 to make way for fresh elections.

The Japanese political world was rocked Sunday after media reports emerged that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to dissolve the Lower House as early as Sep

Hamas, through Egyptian-mediated talks, agrees to dissolve its Gaza administration, hold talks with the Fatah West Bank government, and hold elections for a Palestinian unity government.

Hamas says it is willing to dissolve its Gaza administration, 10 years after it fought a bloody war with Fatah