Melting glaciers, drying sea highlight Central Asia’s water woes
WASHINGTON — Climate change and water scarcity are harsh realities facing Central Asia. Glaciers in the east, in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, are rapidly melting, while in the west, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea has turned into…
Cambodians face mounting pain from microfinance debt
KEAN SVAY, KANDAL PROVINCE, Cambodia — Five years ago, Lun Sam Ath took out a $12,000 loan to build a new wooden house and repay a previous loan that she had used to buy a motorbike. The 45-year-old mother of…
Surrogacy debate comes to a head in Rome
ROME — An international campaign to ban surrogacy received a strong endorsement Friday from the Vatican, with a top official calling for a broad-based alliance to stop the “commercialization of life.” A Vatican-affiliated university hosted a two-day conference promoting an…
Unexpected strawberry crop spins Burkina’s ‘red gold’
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — In the suburbs of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, lucrative strawberry farming is supplanting traditional crops like cabbage and lettuce and has become a top export to neighboring countries. Prized as “red gold” in the Sahel, strawberry…
Exclusive: Russian company supplies military with microchips despite denials
PENTAGON — Russian microchip company AO PKK Milandr continued to provide microchips to the Russian armed forces at least several months after Russia invaded Ukraine, despite public denials by company director Alexey Novoselov of any connection with Russia’s military. A…
Activist Greta Thunberg detained at climate demonstration in The Hague
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Climate activist Greta Thunberg was among dozens of people detained Saturday by police in The Hague as they removed protesters who were partially blocking a road in the Dutch city. Thunberg was seen flashing a victory…
US, China discuss economic issues on Yellen’s China tour
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — The United States and China have agreed to hold talks and create two economic groups focused on a wide range of issues — including addressing American complaints about China’s economic model, growth in domestic and global economies…
First Person: The genocide survivor protected by a mass murderer
In the early 1990s, Mr. Murangwa was a star player for Rayon Sports in the capital Kigali. As a Tutsi, his life was in extreme danger when the 100-day genocide, which led to over 800,000 people, overwhelmingly Tutsi, being killed. …
Planning the post-war reconstruction and recovery of Gaza
In a statement issued on Saturday marking six months of conflict, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths noted that each day the war claims more civilian victims, after the horror of 7 October and the death and devastation rained down…
Gaza: ‘Systematic dismantling of healthcare must end’ says WHO
That’s the assessment following a WHO-led multi-agency mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza on 5 April which examined the extent of destruction following a weeks-long Israeli offensive aimed at rooting out militant forces who were allegedly operating inside. The…