Caste curse: How untouchable Dalits need Hindus mercy before they can access humanitarian relief
When devastating floods hit India’s western state of Kerala in 2018, Seena’s family had nowhere to go. After water submerged their home, Seena, her parents and her brother walked three kilometres to the nearest relief centre at a temple, only to be told they weren’t allowed to enter. In 2019,...
Blue economy: African countries with dense coastal populations projected to lose up to $87 billion
African countries where large proportions of the population live on the coast – such as Senegal (41 per cent), Benin (35 per cent) and Liberia (29 per cent) – face the highest risk oof being submerged by sea level rise. Without adaptation, damages from sea level rise and extreme sea...
Study: Mombasa, Dar es Salaam among Africa’s booming coastal cities to be underwater as sea levels rise
Rising ocean levels threaten dozens of Africa’s rapidly expanding coastal metropolises, resulting in shrinking land area, coastal flooding, more powerful storm surges and the need for better mitigation. African coastlines have experienced a steady rise in sea levels for four decades. At the current pace, sea levels are projected to...
UNEP landmark decision to create legally binding treaty will cut plastic pollution once ratified
Plastic is one of the fastest growing materials and production is on course to double to more than one billion tonnes a year by 2050. With that, will come more pollution. This week, delegates from more than 150 countries are expected to meet in Uruguay to begin negotiations for a...
With highest number of remandees awaiting trial, Nigeria’s criminal justice system is in itself ‘criminal’
Nigeria’s prison population is more than 76,000, housed in 240 correctional centres. About 70 per cent of these inmates are still awaiting trial. They have been arrested and charged, but not yet convicted or cleared. This is the highest percentage of awaiting-trial prisoners in Africa. World Prison Brief’s latest report...
Arsenal and After-My Story: Ex-Gunners’ midfielder’s memoir details how racism stalks Blacks in English sports
Paul Davis, an Arsenal midfielder who played almost 450 times for the club and swept the board with domestic honours, was one of English football’s black trailblasers. Having emerged from the club’s apprenticeship scheme at the start of the 1980s, Davis came of age during the height of English football’s...
Anti-Taliban revolt: Afghanistan’s shadowy new conflict sets off new displacement, new civilian abuses
Six months ago, Sadullah’s life changed forever. His family, including his eight children, had made do with life under the Taliban. That was until the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), an armed opposition movement, tried to wrest control from Taliban fighters in Panjshir, and their once-peaceful province became the...
Processed food stigma: Surveys suggest Chinese and Indians are more likely to eat lab-grown meat than Americans
To have a chance of meeting our global climate targets, ending deforestation and protecting the world’s wildlife, we need to eat much less meat. Both plant foods and meat substitutes have a much lower carbon footprint, use much less land and cause less water pollution than meat. The environmental toll...
Use of antibiotics to prevent new sexually transmitted infections in US hits brickwall as gonorrhoea spikes
A health department in the United States has become one of the first to recommend that people who are at high risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) take a preventive dose of antibiotics after unprotected sex. Clinical trials have shown the strategy can reduce infections such as chlamydia,...
New medical evidence shows having a purpose in life helps people live longer regardless of race or gender
A growing body of evidence suggests that living with purpose helps human beings live longer. Recently, researchers wondered whether this effect would apply equally across genders, ethnicities and races. This was the focus of a new study led by Dr Koichiro Shiba, assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Public...
