As of November 24th, Scotland became the first nation to provide free and universal access to sanitary products to all women, becoming a pioneer in tackling period poverty. The Scottish Parliament voted unanimously to pass the Period Products (Free Provision) Bill, which will require local authorities to provide free access
The European Commission has announced its decision to launch infringement procedures against Cyprus and Malta on October 20th, over the two countries’ immigrant investor programs. More widely referred to as “golden passport” schemes, these programs are seen as a gateway for corruption, money laundering, crime and tax evasion, and threaten
The Egyptian government continues to systematically target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Human Rights Watch (HRW) listed arbitrary arrests, inhumane detainments, torture, sexual violence, and various forms of abuse, including anal examinations and “virginity tests” in an extensive report this week. Although Egyptian law does not explicitly criminalize
Protests broke out in Inner Mongolia after China imposed a new education policy replacing the ethnic Mongolian language with Mandarin in the academic curriculum, in what appears to be an attempt at national homogenization and assimilation. Chinese authorities have responded to these protests with the shutting down and censoring of
Belarusian authorities have been censoring online content and disrupting internet access in response to the ongoing mass protests. As the third week of post-election protests are coming to an end, protesters continue to demand fair presidential elections and justice for the demonstrators who have faced police brutality during the peaceful
Illegal gold mining has increased severely in Brazil’s biggest remote indigenous reserve over the last five years. The Yanomami reserve is on the northern reaches of the Brazilian Amazon, near the Venezuelan border. A Reuters satellite image review of the protected Yanomami reservation shows a 20-fold expansion in illegal mining
A joint report by the Gerda Herkel Foundation and the Syrian Society for the Protection of Antiquities has revealed severe damage to Syria’s heritage sites and antiquities. The report, compiled by the Syrian archaeologist and academic Cheikhmous Ali, monitored 55 Syrian institutions since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War
14-year-old Romina Ashrafi was allegedly murdered by her father, Reza Ashrafi, in a so-called “honour killing” on 21 May, 2020. The murder took place in the Ashrafi household in Talesh, a town northwest of Iran’s capital Tehran. Romina had ran away from home with her 34-year-old boyfriend Bahamn Khavari, after
Following in the footsteps of China, Israel, Armenia, and Russia; Qatar has now resorted to a coronavirus tracking app to contain the virus though it is at the cost of its residents’ privacy rights. “All citizens and residents are obliged to install the Ehteraz app on smartphones when leaving the
The short-term emergency measures governments have been taking since the COVID-19 outbreak will not only shape our current and near future, but define and shape the politics, economics, culture, and policies of the years to come, historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari argued in an article he wrote for Financial
Front line workers in the United States deemed essential for their jobs in grocery stores, retailing, warehouses and manufacturing have been striking, organizing protests, calling out sick, and walking off the job in response to unsafe working conditions and inadequate protections since the Coronavirus breakout. These series of protests culminated
The term “wet markets” has been brought into public interest since a wet wildlife market in Wuhan, China was identified as the potential source of the COVID-19 outbreak in early December. The UN Biodiversity Chief, many U.S. Officials, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases called for their
