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Delivering a baby was already risky, but an unprecedented surge in gang violence has forced clinics and hospitals to closeThe worst fears of midwives at Heartline Haiti were realised last week. As they prepared the maternity clinic for patients that evening, armed men laid siege to their neighbourhood in eastern Port-au-Prince, spraying bullets at police and rival gangs, setting cars on fire and ransacking...

Rights groups condemn arrest of Macmillan Mhone, who was charged with ‘publication of news likely to cause fear and alarm’Human rights watchdogs have condemned the arrest of a journalist in Malawi in connection with an article accusing a wealthy businessman of corruption.Police in Blantyre detained Macmillan Mhone on Monday over a story that was published online last August on the Malawi 24 news site....

Semi-autonomous state of Puntland refuses to recognise changes to the fragile country’s constitution and has withdrawn from the federal systemAn overhaul of Somalia’s constitution, scrapping its power-sharing system and handing the president increased control, is threatening to destabilise the fragile country, as its wealthiest and most stable state refuses to recognise the changes.The amendments risk worsening violence, the information minister from the semi-autonomous state...

Researchers find that in low and middle-income countries owning spectacles can help people over 35 can increase their incomeOwning a pair of reading glasses might help people increase their earnings by a third, according to new research.The study, conducted in Bangladesh, is the first to examine the impact of having a decent pair of spectacles, and researchers found monthly median earnings among one group...

Despite major progress in Brazil and Colombia, deforestation led by farming still cleared an area nearly equal to Switzerland The destruction of the world’s most pristine rainforests continued at a relentless rate in 2023, despite dramatic falls in forest loss in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon, new figures show.An area nearly the size of Switzerland was cleared from previously undisturbed rainforests last year, totalling...

German’s appointment to head Convention on Biological Diversity follows global failure to meet any targets on protecting ecosystemsThe next UN biodiversity chief will be Astrid Schomaker, an EU civil servant who will be entrusted with helping the world confront the ongoing catastrophic loss of nature.Schomaker has been a career official with the EU commission for 30 years. A surprise appointment, she will be tasked...

Detention of influencer Oscar Alejandro Pérez at Caracas airport en route to southern national park raises free speech concerns A popular Venezuelan YouTuber has been arrested in Caracas on terrorism charges as President Nicolás Maduro’s government steps up its crackdown on free speech ahead of upcoming elections.Oscar Alejandro Pérez was detained in the capital’s main airport on Sunday by police on accusations of terrorism,...

Exclusive: Satellite analysis revealed to the Guardian shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory’s trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts says Israel’s onslaught on Gaza’s ecosystems has made the area unlivableIn a dilapidated warehouse in Rafah, Soha Abu Diab is living with her three young daughters and more than 20 other family members. They have no running water, no...

Afghan regime’s return to public stoning and flogging is because there is ‘no one to hold them accountable’ for abuses, say activistsThe Taliban’s announcement that it is resuming publicly stoning women to death has been enabled by the international community’s silence, human rights groups have said.Safia Arefi, a lawyer and head of the Afghan human rights organisation Women’s Window of Hope, said the announcement...

Investigation reveals reports of miscarriages, infections and birth defects among women and girls in mining communitiesWomen and girls living in cobalt-mining communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are reporting a “staggering” rise in serious reproductive health issues, including miscarriages and birth defects, according to a new report.An investigation published by the UK-based human rights group Rights & Accountability in Development (Raid) and...

Eleven found guilty of crimes against humanity after trial that heard testimony on torture, rape and forced disappearances A court in Argentina has convicted 11 former military, police and government officials of crimes against humanity committed during the country’s last dictatorship in a sprawling trial that heard, for the first time, about atrocities suffered by trans women.The three-year case focused on the forced disappearances,...

National Audit Office says merging DfID with Foreign Office has led to loss of dedicated senior rolesBritain’s capability and expertise on foreign aid has been diminished since international development was merged into the Foreign Office, the UK’s public spending watchdog has found.The National Audit Office, which reports to parliament on public spending, said the transfer of the department to the Foreign Office, overseen by...

Reports of exorbitant cost of basic vegetables, as well as oil and flour, come amid warnings that Gaza is on the verge of faminePeople living in Gaza are facing exorbitant food prices as more than 1 million residents of the Palestinian territory face famine.Since Israel’s invasion in October, it has become common for Gaza’s displaced population to share pictures of their shopping baskets and...

Committee will examine for at least three months a bill proposing repeal of ban on female genital mutilation A decision on whether to overturn a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in the Gambia has been postponed for three months after MPs called for more consultation.FGM was outlawed in the country eight years ago and is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment. Continue...

More than a million people are at risk, according to report, as Oxfam says Israeli authorities are blocking relief deliveriesFamine is imminent in northern Gaza with people suffering “catastrophic levels of hunger”, a coalition of aid groups has warned.The situation was called “man-made starvation”, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a group that includes the World Food Programme and the World Health...

Paris Club of creditor nations agree cancellation as Mogadishu moves towards financial normalisation amid ongoing conflictThe Paris Club, a collection of some of the world’s wealthiest creditor nations, has announced the cancellation of 99% of Somalia’s debt, in a major boost as the country continues its fragile economic recovery from an ongoing three-decade conflict.In a statement released by the Paris Club, which is run...

Group on outskirts of Geneina share stories from November when RSF and allied militias unleashed wave of sexual violenceTwice a week, a group of women gather together in a nondescript house in Ardamata, on the outskirts of Geneina in Sudan’s West Darfur state, to tell their stories to each other, cry, and drink coffee.The women, who work or used to work in education, are...

Fact-finding mission concludes regime murdered, imprisoned, tortured and raped those who protested the death of Mahsa AminiThe Iranian regime’s human rights violations during its brutal suppression of protests in 2022 amount to crimes against humanity, a UN fact-finding mission (FFM) has said.Established by the UN human rights council in November 2022 – two months after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests swept the country in...

Progress to prevent female genital mutilation needs to be ‘27 times faster’, says UNThe number of girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) has increased by 15% in the past eight years according to new data.Figures released by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, show that more than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, compared with 200 million...

People in West Darfur’s capital still step over residue from the bodies of some of the 10,000 dead, and thousands have fledGeneina, the capital of West Darfur state in Sudan, can feel like two cities in one. There are mass graves, abandoned armoured vehicles and homeless children, but also newly opened restaurants, bustling markets and factory-fresh Toyotas, nicknamed Kenjcanjia – meaning stolen in the...

Antoine Galindo is accused of conspiring with rebels, but press freedom groups say no evidence has been found and call for his immediate releaseEthiopian authorities have detained a visiting French journalist for being part of a “conspiracy to create chaos” in the east African country.Antoine Galindo, a reporter for the Paris-based Africa Intelligence (AI) news website, was arrested by plainclothes security officers at the...

Fears Maduro government is trying to shut down scrutiny after lawyer is arrested and UN human rights office shut downHuman rights groups are calling for the Venezuelan government to halt a crackdown on civil society after it jailed a prominent lawyer and then banished a UN human rights office from Caracas for criticising her arrest.The arrest of the 57-year-old lawyer and military expert Rocío...

The suspension of a Congolese player for a gun gesture referring to conflict in DRC raises questions over government’s refugee policyWhen a Congolese footballer made a brief gesture after scoring in an east African league match last weekend, it felt like little more than a talking point among the spectators.Yet the gesture by midfielder Héritier Luvumbu at the game in Kigali has prompted a...

Shipments of food and medical supplies from Asia are having to take longer, more expensive routes to avoid seaborne assaultsAttacks by Houthi forces against ships in the Red Sea are holding up shipments of vital aid to Sudan and driving up costs for cash-strapped humanitarian agencies in the east African country, where conflict has put millions at risk of famine.The attacks mean ships carrying...