The invasion of lands inhabited by Amazon indigenous communities is growing in Peru, due to drug trafficking mafias that are expanding coca crops to produce and export cocaine, while deforestation and insecurity for the native populations and their advocates are increasing
Two politicians have just been sentenced to long prison terms in Eswatini. Their crime? Calling for democracy.
Mthandeni Dube and Bacede Mabuza, both members of parliament (MP) at the time, were arrested in July 2021 for taking part in a wave of pro-democracy protests that swept the southern African country. A third MP, Mduduzi Simelane, remains subject to an arrest warrant after going into hiding.
“The world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures," says the UN Secretary-General as he launches a call to action on extreme heat and its impact on society and the environment.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a pact last month to revive a Cold War-era mutual defense pledge between two of the world’s nuclear powers, it also had the implicit support a third nuclear power standing in the shadows: China.
Around the world countries are taking powerful steps to protect people’s rights, dignity, and health. Dominica and Namibia became the most recent to decriminalize same-sex relations. South Africa made strides towards decriminalizing sex work.
July 28
th is World Hepatitis Day, created to celebrate the life and work of Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Baruch Samuel Blumberg. Blumberg’s work contributed to the discovery of hepatitis B, and the development of a vaccine that could prevent infection with this infectious viral disease. These discoveries revolutionized the public health response in preventing the liver cancer that hepatitis B causes.
New Caledonia, a French overseas territory of about 290,000 people in the southwest Pacific, is facing a challenging recovery from weeks of civil unrest that erupted in mid-May, leaving an aftermath of destruction and political turmoil.
Hotels and other amenities may be lacking for participants at the 30th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP30), in this northern Brazilian city in late 2025, but the bottom line is they will have a unique experience in the Amazon.
Habits can change extremely fast, particularly within so-called “developed” nations, where children, even more than grownups are affected by life changing events. Gone are the times when kids could move around freely and invent games and adventures together with their friends. Far away from the scrutinizing control of parents and authorities they learned to interact with other kids, taking risks and solving problems. It could be tough and often quite merciless times, but educative, beneficent, and fun as well.
Several Asia-Pacific countries are ageing fast. This transition is neither unique nor limited to the region -- it is a global megatrend. However, this time it is different. Why? Because ageing proceeds quite fast.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,
approximately 116 million people in the African region were living with mental health conditions. A large proportion of mental disorders is caused by depression and anxiety, and these conditions take a significant toll on health and wellbeing of people aged 15 to 59 years who are most affected.
Thandi
*, a 14-year-old girl from Malawi, is both a child and a mother. After she and her siblings were orphaned, they were left in the care of their grandmother, who struggled to provide for them.
Many low-income countries (LICs) continue to slip further behind the rest of the world. Meanwhile, people in extreme poverty have been increasing again after decades of decline.
As the African diaspora continues its growth, agencies are seeking ways to tap into this vast demographic to help with the continent's development.
Remittances from millions of Africans scattered across the globe have been hailed for sustaining local economies, but a new initiative is aiming to form upscale diaspora investments for longer-term economic development.
The resolution to the ongoing Kenyan crisis that has since morphed into an anti-government movement is not as simplistic as the withdrawal of the punitive
Finance Bill 2024 as has lately
been suggested by the country’s embattled President; who vacillates between seeking dialogue with - and threatening the youth of Kenya, against their peaceful quest for the realization of their constitutional rights.
Heading into the traditional dry period of winter in southern Africa, there was significant consternation due to the drastically below average rainfall the region has been experiencing since January 2024.
Kenya’s President William Ruto has withdrawn the tax-increasing Finance Bill that sparked mass protests. He has
sacked his cabinet and the head of the police has
resigned. But the anger many feel hasn’t gone away, and protests continue.
The protests have brought Kenya’s Gen Z onto the political stage, with young people – over 65 per cent of the population – at the forefront. Since the protests began, they’ve made full use of social media to share views, explain the impact of proposed changes, organise protests and raise funds to help those injured or arrested.
Today, we are facing a growing and unprecedented array of nuclear weapons dangers. At the same time, this year’s presidential election is also unprecedented, unpredictable, and extremely consequential.
On the heels of a new alliance announced this summer by Russia and North Korea for a pact pledging mutual defense, with the support of China, it is now shockingly being suggested in South Korea that it review its security policy with the US and end its reliance on the US guarantee, to employ on South Koreas’ behalf, US nuclear weapons as part of its “nuclear umbrella”.
The Palestinians in Gaza have been victims of a double tragedy: killings by Israel’s mostly American-made weapons and deaths by starvation.
And now comes a revelation of a new weapon of war: how Israel has been systematically weaponizing water against Palestinians in Gaza, according to a new report from the global human rights organization, Oxfam.