‘They carry dreams’: Brown boxes of love, sent from the Gulf to India | Migration

‘They carry dreams’: Brown boxes of love, sent from the Gulf to India | Migration

Thiruvananthapuram, India - As soon as you enter, walk to the right, then a little forward. In the first or second aisle, you’ll see them immediately, prominently placed on the shelves: Tiger Balm and, next to it, Axe Oil — both from Singapore. And then, in the third or fourth aisle, Imperial…

The only Palestinian factory making keffiyehs is going strong | Israel War on Gaza

The only Palestinian factory making keffiyehs is going strong | Israel War on Gaza

Hebron, occupied West Bank – Izzat Yasser Hirbawi, a balding 55-year-old man, stands smiling at the entrance to the Hirbawi Factory in Hebron, the only place in Palestine, its website proudly proclaims, that produces Palestinian keffiyehs. Three Hirbawi brothers, Izzat, Abdullah and Jouda, who now own and operate the factory,…

Facing high rates of sexual violence, Colombia turns to salsa as therapy | Sexual Assault

Facing high rates of sexual violence, Colombia turns to salsa as therapy | Sexual Assault

Cali, Colombia – As the only sister to nine brothers, Carmen Diaz enjoyed a boisterous childhood in the port city of Buenaventura, Colombia. Together with her siblings, she would wreak havoc around the house or go out in the streets and kick a ragged ball around for hours. “I adored…

Stateless babies: In northeast India, refugee mothers pray for nationhood | Refugees News

Stateless babies: In northeast India, refugee mothers pray for nationhood | Refugees News

Mizoram, India – “Why are you screaming? You are a refugee,” a nurse told 26-year-old Jamie* as she struggled with an exceptionally painful childbirth at a hospital in India’s northeastern state of Mizoram. A few hours later, amid her agony, Jamie’s baby Sophia was born – joining a growing group…

Ambiguous Ethiopia port deal fuels uncertainty over Somaliland statehood | Features

Ambiguous Ethiopia port deal fuels uncertainty over Somaliland statehood | Features

On Monday, an agreement signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Muse Bihi Abdi of the breakaway republic of Somaliland preceded a shocking announcement that has already set the tone for interstate relations in the Horn of Africa this year. The memorandum of…

Gaza women and the isdal robes that shield them as war strips their privacy | Israel War on Gaza

Gaza women and the isdal robes that shield them as war strips their privacy | Israel War on Gaza

Al-Fukhari, Gaza Strip – It’s a garment that the world may have grown accustomed to seeing Palestinian women in Gaza wearing as they flee for their lives, hold their murdered children or loved ones close for one final goodbye, or run frantically through hospital corridors hoping to find their loved…

Why temples are a top campaign stop in Taiwan’s election | Elections News

Why temples are a top campaign stop in Taiwan’s election | Elections News

New Taipei City, Taiwan – At Lixing Fude temple, one of the largest in the densely-packed district of Zhonghe in New Taipei City, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai Ching-te and DPP legislative candidate Wu Zheng lit incense and prayed for health, safety and peace for Taiwan. Left…

China targets friendly media, diplomats to ‘tell story of Xinjiang’ | Uighur News

China targets friendly media, diplomats to ‘tell story of Xinjiang’ | Uighur News

Albanian-Canadian historian and journalist Olsi Jazexhi believed in early 2019 that reports about human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) of Western China were lies. Accounts from people who had fled the area as well as reports from human rights organisations were painting a picture of human…

Survivors of Israel’s siege of Beirut see history repeating itself in Gaza | Israel War on Gaza News

Survivors of Israel’s siege of Beirut see history repeating itself in Gaza | Israel War on Gaza News

West Beirut, Lebanon – As poets and writers flit in and out of Sleiman Bakhti’s bookshop and publishing house in Beirut’s Hamra neighbourhood, he greets each one as an old friend, often handing them the latest book release. He has been a “Hamrawi” for decades – living through Hamra’s peaks…

Sudan’s feared paramilitary leader signals ambition to rule the country | News

Sudan’s feared paramilitary leader signals ambition to rule the country | News

When Sudan’s civil war erupted in April between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group’s leader, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, went into hiding. Many speculated he had been seriously wounded or was even dead until he appeared in a photo-op with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on…