Worldwide
North Korea: food shortages
23 Feb 2023
North Korea is teetering on the brink of famine. Their official newspaper urges economic self-reliance, arguing that relying on external aid to cope with the food situation would be like taking ‘poisoned candy’. A US thinktank…
Brazil: deadly storms
23 Feb 2023
People having a pre-Lent holiday at San Sebastiao beach had two feet of torrential rain. Sao Paulo state’s floods also claimed lives on carnival weekend. TV and social media showed entire areas under water, hillside houses…
Saddleback Church in dispute over female pastor
23 Feb 2023
America’s largest Protestant denomination is grappling with gender issues and politics. The recent Southern Baptist Convention expelled its largest and most prominent church, Saddleback Church in California, because it installed a woman pastor. Saddleback still operates…
Spurred on by the 2020 EndSars anti-police brutality protests that morphed into calls for good governance, millions of young people in Nigeria have registered as first-time voters for the elections on 25 February. The man many…
Turkey: 113 arrest warrants
16 Feb 2023
Turkey has issued 113 arrest warrants in connection with the construction of buildings that collapsed in recent earthquakes. Twelve people are in custody, with more arrests expected, but the action is seen by many as an…
Namibia: baby abandonment
16 Feb 2023
In 2019, Namibia passed legislation saying that women who, out of desperation, took the drastic step of abandoning their child, would no longer be prosecuted. Abandoned babies were dying. Safe places where an infant could be…