As Covid hit, thousands of Filipinos were left trapped in the capital without work. Many ended up on the street and are still waiting to rebuild their livesLike so many others before her, Michelle Sicat, a 28-year-old single mother from the province of…
England’s last ‘red list’ restrictions confound South Americans
Lingering quarantine rules anger would-be travellers from seven targeted countriesEngland’s decision to maintain strict Covid travel rules for seven South American and Caribbean countries has prompted further fury and confusion in the nations which rem…
WHO endorses use of world’s first malaria vaccine in Africa
World Health Organization’s director general hails ‘historic day’ in fight against parasitic diseaseThe World Health Organization has recommended the widespread rollout of the first malaria vaccine, in a move experts hope could save tens of thousands o…
‘We want dignity’: the vanishing craft of Kashmir’s papier-mache artists
Award-winning artist Maqbool Jan is one of a handful still practising the ancient artform, but without government help he fears it could be lostKashmir’s ancient papier-mache artworks are famous throughout the world. The art form is a staple of the lux…
UK officials return to Afghanistan to meet Taliban for first time since takeover
Diplomats visit Kabul to raise issue of ‘safe passage’ for Britons leaving Afghanistan and rights of womenBritish officials have gone to Afghanistan for the first time since the country fell to the Taliban, meeting the group’s senior leaders in Kabul t…
‘Renting the Taj Mahal’: the fight to save Darjeeling’s toy train
India’s tiny train has puffed up the Himalayas since 1881 but now the world heritage site is under threat“Darjeeling ko sano rail, hirna lai abo tyari cha / Guard le shuna bhai siti bajayo” (Darjeeling’s dainty train is all set to chug off / Oh, listen…
‘I don’t know where to go’: uncertain fate of the women in Kabul’s shelters
Women in refuges have been sent home to their abusers or to prison since the Taliban takeover. Those in the few shelters still open fear what lies aheadZari was seven years old when her parents died, forcing her to move in with her uncle. But when he d…
New Zealand supreme court blocks seabed mining consent
Campaigners hail ruling preventing TTR dredging 50m tonnes of iron-sands from South Taranaki seabed, though mining firm says it will try againMore in this series• Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea• ‘False choice’…
WHO ‘should pay reparations to victims of sexual abuse by staff’
Inquiry finds 21 men accused of sex abuse, including rape, worked for World Health Organization during Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 2018 Ebola crisisSurvivors of sexual abuse by World Health Organization aid workers during the Democratic Republic…
‘I’ll never go back’: Uganda’s schools at risk as teachers find new work during Covid
Many private schools may not reopen after staff laid off during lockdown say they will not return to the professionThe last message Mary Namitala received from the private school in which she taught was in March last year, the day all schools in Uganda…