World Bank sounds alarm on “historical reversal” of development for poorest nations
Washington DC, US Reuters Half of the world’s 75 poorest countries are experiencing a widening income gap with the wealthiest economies for the first time this century in a historical reversal of development, the World Bank said in a report on Monday. The differential between per capita income growth in the poorest countries and the […]
More than 63,000 people dead or missing while migrating over last decade, IOM says
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters At least 63,285 people have perished or disappeared on migration routes around the world between 2014 and 2023, with most deaths caused by drowning, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday. A report published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on its Missing Migrants Project showed that the majority of deaths […]
Essay: Why would Islamic State attack Russia and what does this mean for the terrorism threat globally?
GREG BARTON, professor of global Islamic politics at the Alfred Deakin Institute in Australia, looks at the context for the mass shooting at a Moscow concert on Friday night…
Gloomy youth pull US and western Europe down global happiness ranking
London, UK Reuters Rising unhappiness among younger people has caused the United States and some large western European countries to fall down a global wellbeing index, while Nordic nations retain their grip on the top spots. The annual World Happiness Report, launched in 2012 to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, is based on […]
US to lift Afghan visa limit under Biden, Congress deal
Washington DC, US Reuters US President Joe Biden’s administration has reached a compromise deal with Republicans in House of Representatives to lift the number of resettlement visas for Afghans who worked for the United States, US lawmakers said on Tuesday. The congressionally-authorised limit of 38,500 Special Immigration Visas (SIVs), which offer a path to US […]
US, UN express concern about India’s religion-based citizenship law
Washington DC, US Reuters The US Government and the United Nations have expressed concerns about a contentious religion-based citizenship law in India, with the UN calling the legislation “fundamentally discriminatory in nature”. Rights advocates have criticised the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act, which the Indian Government moved to implement on Monday. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty […]
Myanmar is now world’s largest source of opium, UN says
Bangkok, Thailand Reuters Myanmar has become the world’s largest source of opium, thanks to domestic instability and a decline in cultivation in Afghanistan, the United Nations said in a report on Tuesday. The 95 per cent decline in opium cultivation in Afghanistan after a drug ban by the Taliban in 2022 has seen global supply […]
Snapshot: Kabul, Afghanistan
See MOHAMMAD HUSAINI’s image…
Water management: Afghans fight drought with small dams as Taliban shut out of COP28
Afghanistan is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, but has been excluded from the COP28 global climate summit. ROHULLAH TALAASH and EMMA BATHA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report…
Forced to start again: Forced out of Pakistan, Afghan waste pickers count their losses
Pakistan’s push to deport undocumented migrants has turned life upside down for thousands of Afghan garbage collectors. ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…