Despite Google Earth, people still buy globes. What’s the appeal?
London — Find a globe in your local library or classroom and try this: Close the eyes, spin it and drop a finger randomly on its curved, glossy surface. You’re likely to pinpoint a spot in the water, which covers…
Getting children back to school in deadly gang-ravaged Haiti
Students in the capital Port-au-Prince have missed hundreds of hours of class time over the past year and now, now, more than one million Haitians are facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity, according to a new UN-backed report. As deadly…
Ecuador-Mexico: ‘Cardinal principle’ of diplomatic inviolability must be upheld says UN chief
In a statement released on Saturday night, António Guterres said he was alarmed by the raid on the embassy in the capital Quito which led to the arrest of Jorge Glas. The Secretary-General “reaffirms the cardinal principle of the inviolability…
Hope grows for UN mission to ‘flood’ Gaza with food, despite fears of imminent Rafah invasion
That’s according to the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jamie McGoldrick, speaking in-depth to UN News exactly six months since hostilities began with the Hamas-led terror attack. He underlined that the entire UN aid effort is about saving…
In much of Africa, abortion is legal but not advertised
ACCRA, Ghana — When Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana, became pregnant last year, she sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. Health workers assured her abortions were lawful…
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…