Business

payment screen with options for credit, debit and Pix

Brazil’s innovative Pix banking system is replacing cash and credit cards

Arts, Culture & Media

PIX is a three-year-old system developed by the Brazilian Central Bank that has revolutionized how Brazilians pay for things. It’s like sending an instant wire transfer through the banking app on your phone with the click of a button, and no fees. Michael Fox reports from Florianópolis, Brazil, on how the banking app has changed Brazilian society in just three years.

‘I have to work to help my family’: Child laborers in Raqqa face dangerous conditions

Syria dispatches
shepherd with photo

Oil refineries in northeastern Syria are sickening people and polluting the environment

Syria dispatches
Polyethylene bags are used to protect bananas from pests and blight on a plantation in Costa Rica.

The shadow of the United Fruit Company still reaches across the globe today

Students cheer on speakers during a gathering to mark the first anniversary of student groups stormed the parliament in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, March 18, 2015.

10 years ago, the Sunflower Movement pushed Taiwan away from China

Protest
A buffalo grazes on the drenched land in the Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia.

‘It’s a lose-lose situation’: Carbon ‘offset’ project in Cambodia accused of human rights violations

Human rights

Companies around the world try to make up for their carbon emission by purchasing “offsets,” financing projects intended to preserve forests or otherwise compensate for their emissions. In Cambodia, Human Rights Watch recently issued a report about violations against Indigenous people in a carbon offset program in the Cardamom mountains. 

US dollars are now commonly used by businesses in Venezuela. The informal adoption of the dollar has helped to decrease inflation and product shortages.

Venezuela’s public sector workers take on multiple side jobs just to get by

Economics

To supplement their meager wages, many government workers in Venezuela are turning to side hustles that include driving taxis, baking cakes, selling clothes or taking care of pets. And that’s having an impact on the quality of public services.

Air quality levels have been bad in Accra since December as harmattan season kicks in across Ghana. The data coming in shows the situation is not improving.

Hazy skies over Accra: Harsh harmattan season in Ghana leads to health hazards, poor air quality

Climate Change

Severe, dry winds during the harmattan season are not new in Ghana. But experts with the country’s environmental agency say climate change is intensifying these weather conditions, leading to increased respiratory problems and poor air quality in Accra, the country’s capital. 

The defense chiefs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries excluding Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Niger, gather for their extraordinary meeting in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, to discuss the situation in Nig

3 coup-hit West African nations exit ECOWAS citing sanctions, no support against terrorism 

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have all experienced military coups in the past few years. They say the regional trade organization is not helping them fight terrorism but rather imposing severe sanctions on them. Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman reports from Ghana on the implications of their withdrawals.

street view

Cubans worry about inflation explosion after government austerity measures

Cuban government officials announced a new package of austerity measures, which includes massive hikes for transportation fares, as well as fuel, electricity and natural gas, and further restrictions on businesses. The new plan will go into effect on Feb. 1.