Global Issues

KABUL, March 12 (IPS) - In the bone-chilling Afghanistan winter, a woman was dragged into a public square early this year and publicly lashed for a crime she may or not have committed. According to the ruling handed by the Taliban Supreme Court, the woman and the male culprit who was jointly accused of extra-marital affair received 30 lashes each and a one-year suspended prison sentence. The sentence was carried out in the presence of several local officials and residents in a province whose name is left out to protect the victim. Read the full story, “Public Flogging in Afghanistan Strips Women of Dignity”, on globalissues.org →

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan & SHRINGAR, India, March 12 (IPS) - Global wildlife is facing a deepening crisis as the latest United Nations assessment warns that nearly half of the world’s migratory species are in decline due to human activity, habitat destruction, and climate change. Read the full story, “One in Four Migratory Species Under Threat, But Conservation Efforts Can Reap Rewards”, on globalissues.org →

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 12 (IPS) - The US/Israeli war on Iran might be like messing with a hornets’ nest, spreading fear and chaos all around. The Israeli government claimed that the war was a “preventive” measure to address an immediate threat of Iran constructing a nuclear bomb. However, this war has obviously been meticulously planned over a long period of time and it now seemed to be the right time to put this plan into action. Read the full story, “The Implausible Regime Change in Iran and How the War Affects the World”, on globalissues.org →

ST. PAUL, Minnesota, USA, March 12 (IPS) - As birthrates continue to decline in many industrialized countries, anxious governments are running out of schemes to keep women procreating. Read the full story, “The Most Appropriate Response to Falling Birthrates? Embrace Them”, on globalissues.org →

The crisis in the Middle East continues to reverberate across the region and beyond. Oil prices have climbed to around $100 a barrel as attacks on shipping and energy infrastructure disrupt key supply routes. Strikes and counterstrikes between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran continue, while ships have reportedly been hit in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, raising fears of wider shocks to global markets. Meanwhile, UN agencies are expanding humanitarian relief efforts as displacement rises and civilian needs grow across the region. Stay with us for live updates from across the UN system. App users can follow coverage here.Read the full story, “MIDDLE EAST LIVE 12 March: Shipping attacks, rising oil prices and widening humanitarian crisis”, on globalissues.org →

CIVICUS discusses the situation in Venezuela following US intervention and the ousting of President Nicolás Maduro with Verónica Zubillaga, a Venezuelan sociologist who specialises in urban violence, state repression and community responses to armed violence. Read the full story, “VENEZUELA: ‘An Economically Stable Authoritarian Model Could Become Entrenched’”, on globalissues.org →

DODOMA, Tanzania , March 11 (IPS) - A cloud of steam rises from a giant aluminium pot as Maria Joseph, a middle-aged cook in a toque blanche and faded apron, plants her feet firmly on the tiled kitchen floor. With both hands clasped around a wooden paddle, she plunges deep into the mound of rice, threatening to burn at the bottom. Read the full story, “Tanzanian School Launches Energy Club to Promote Clean Cooking”, on globalissues.org →

NEW YORK, March 11 (IPS) - I have often been asked a simple but important question: How can we make it sustainable if we are not being compensated for it? Read the full story, “The Cost of Being Seen: Exposure versus Exploitation”, on globalissues.org →

BANGKOK, Thailand, March 11 (IPS) - On 11 March 2011, the powerful 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, triggering a 40-meter Tsunami. Many coastal towns along Japan’s Pacific coast were devastated. Approximately 20,000 people lost their lives and around 470,000 were evacuated from their homes. Read the full story, “15 Years After the Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami”, on globalissues.org →

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 11 (IPS) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Munich speech last month seemed to seduce the European elite behind President Trump, against the ‘Rest’, especially the resource-rich Global South. Read the full story, “Rubio Seduces Europe with Imperial Nostalgia”, on globalissues.org →