Real winners of Sri Lanka’s election: A people emboldened to force change | Politics

Real winners of Sri Lanka’s election: A people emboldened to force change | Politics

Colombo, Sri Lanka — Transport a Sri Lankan citizen from the early 1990s to the past week of the island’s politics, and you may just break their brain. Back then, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Marxist outfit that the country’s new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, now leads, was reviled…

What’s behind recent false claims about immigrants and crime in the US? | US Election 2024

What’s behind recent false claims about immigrants and crime in the US? | US Election 2024

Sign on to social media these days and you’ll soon find posts warning about the threat of immigrants to your family’s – and your pets’ – safety. Immigrants are eating the dogs, cats and geese in Springfield, Ohio, some posts have claimed. (They’re wrong.) They’re also taking over apartment complexes…

‘We lost a great supporter’: Palestinians in Gaza mourn Hassan Nasrallah | Israel-Lebanon attacks

‘We lost a great supporter’: Palestinians in Gaza mourn Hassan Nasrallah | Israel-Lebanon attacks

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – In a tattered makeshift tent in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Basma al-Helou and her husband were preparing their morning tea. “We wouldn’t wish this life [in tents] on anyone, let alone our brothers in Lebanon,” the 74-year-old said, her voice filled with sorrow….

‘He was like a father to us’: Hezbollah supporters mourn Hassan Nasrallah | Israel-Lebanon attacks News

‘He was like a father to us’: Hezbollah supporters mourn Hassan Nasrallah | Israel-Lebanon attacks News

Beirut, Lebanon – On Friday evening, Mariam* was in her apartment with her teenage daughter and mother when her building began rumbling and shaking. Agonising screams and the buzzing of Israeli warplanes soon followed. Israel had just launched a major air attack that killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well…

‘It’s needless death’: Ugandan activists decry restrictive abortion laws | Women’s Rights News

‘It’s needless death’: Ugandan activists decry restrictive abortion laws | Women’s Rights News

Kampala, Uganda – At exactly 3:21pm on August 25, Moses Odongo received a call informing him that his 14-year-old cousin Christine had died attempting to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Odongo, who is 40, had just returned home and was sitting down for a drink and a bite to eat. His…

Sombre mood after a Kolkata rape and murder dampens Durga Puja celebrations | Crime

Sombre mood after a Kolkata rape and murder dampens Durga Puja celebrations | Crime

Kolkata, India: Tapas Pal has been making clay idols of various gods and goddesses for the past two decades at Kumartuli, a traditional potters’ hub in Kolkata in eastern India’s state of West Bengal. The 42-year-old, who makes six-metre (20ft) high idols from unfired clay, told Al Jazeera that he…

Lebanese civilians fleeing Israeli attacks face hardship and exploitation | Israel-Lebanon attacks News

Lebanese civilians fleeing Israeli attacks face hardship and exploitation | Israel-Lebanon attacks News

Beirut, Lebanon – Umm Hassan* says she was ready to die in her home when Israel began carpet bombing south Lebanon earlier this week. Shrouded in her black abaya, she explains that the “resistance” – a reference to the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah – ordered her to leave the governorate…

As Israel attacks, displaced Lebanese people come together in Hamra | Israel-Lebanon attacks

As Israel attacks, displaced Lebanese people come together in Hamra | Israel-Lebanon attacks

Beirut, Lebanon – Beirut is filling up, possibly way past its capacity, as thousands of people stream into its neighbourhoods, seeking refuge from Israel’s unpredictable air raids. When it seemed to have been concentrating on bombing the south, Israel soon bombed the north. Then it hit Christian-majority neighbourhoods, upending the…

Nigerian school funded with plastic waste proceeds on the brink of collapse | Education

Nigerian school funded with plastic waste proceeds on the brink of collapse | Education

Lagos, Nigeria – Mujanatu Musa’s one-roomed apartment – built mainly of rusty iron sheets – cuts a sorry sight in Ajegunle, a sprawling slum in Nigeria’s economic hub of Lagos. Flanked by old, decrepit buildings, the makeshift structure shelters the 40-year-old mother and her three children, Abdulrahman, 12, and 9-year-old…