Business, Economics and Jobs

Large group of Indian farmers sitting on a green ground outside

‘We are helpless’: Protesting farmers in India pose challenges — and demands — to Modi

With polls opening this month in India, farmers are angry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2021, Modi made a rare concession by repealing farm laws after they were met with massive months-long protests in Delhi. Now, farmers are returning to the streets. Sushmita Pathak reports from Delhi that the main demand now is guaranteed crop prices.

Man cuts quartz in factory.

Lungs of stone: How Silica has sickened a generation of quartz cutters

Health & Medicine
Screenshot from Rapémathematiques

What rhymes with isosceles triangle? This French math teacher has the answer.

Education
shepherd with photo

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

Conflict & Justice
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

March 18 marks the 10-year anniversary of a movement that changed Taiwanese politics for a generation. The Sunflower Movement saw hundreds of students occupy Taiwan’s Legislature — demanding that lawmakers reconsider a trade deal they were about to ratify with China.

Ein 'Arik is a small village just west of Ramallah in the West Bank.

‘No one is helping us’: Palestinians in West Bank barred from Israel face unemployment, financial insecurity

Israel-Hamas war

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank have been barred from working in Israel. Tens of thousands in the West Bank who were doing building or agricultural jobs are out of work, and it’s drastically impacting their daily lives and the lives of many shopkeepers as people tighten their belts.

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.