Infrastructure

This Paris suburb gets a facelift amid controversy ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games

Summer Olympics 2024

Paris won the bid to host this summer’s Olympics, in part, on a promise to rejuvenate one of the country’s most notorious suburbs: Seine-Saint-Denis. But not all residents are sure the transformation will work.

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
collapsed building

Parents seek justice for children crushed in collapsed hotel during Turkish earthquake

shepherd with sheep amid rubble

A year on, a Kurdish village near Turkey’s earthquake epicenter says it’s been overlooked

seniors on the street

New York City’s older Chinese American population faces increasing housing challenges, poverty

ruins

‘We saw an immediate drop’: Jordan’s tourism industry is suffering amid the Israel-Hamas war

Israel-Hamas war

Jordan’s economy relies heavily on tourism but since Hamas’ attack on Israel in October and the ongoing war in Gaza, tourism in the country has slowed down. This is also the case in other countries in the region, including Israel itself, Lebanon and Egypt.

People marching in street with a Panamanian flag

Copper mine protests roil in Panama

Development

The government approved a new contract with the mine late last week. Since then, protests have rippled across Panama, and people are afraid they could bring the country to a standstill.

sign

Delhi is rolling out the welcome mat as leaders arrive for the G20 summit in India

But critics say that India has turned the G20 into a marketing campaign for itself — and for Prime Minister Narendra Modi — ahead of general elections next year. The summit will also be a test for India as it seeks to establish itself as a rising power and as a voice for the global south.

sidewalk

Colombian activists try to shame city government into fixing broken sidewalks — by painting them pink

In Colombia’s capital city Bogotá, pedestrians need to watch out for loose slabs of pavement they can trip over, or wobbly tiles that get their feet wet or splash dirty water on their pants. But some activists have started trying to shame the city into making repairs more quickly by covering the broken spots with pink paint and black Xs. 

woman by basement

Flooding from Ukraine’s ‘Hero River’ may be a silver lining of war

Ukraine

​​​​​​​ In order to prevent Russian troops from advancing toward Kyiv, Ukrainian forces destroyed a dam on the Irpin River early on in the war. The flooding, as it turned out, created new wetland areas. Some conservationists hope to see the wetlands stay. Even residents whose cellars remain flooded are glad the water came and the Russian troops did not.