Bags packed with newly-bought loose-fitting abaya robes, comfortable shoes and non-fragrant toiletries, Sajidah Anwar was ready to perform Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, the fifth pillar of Islam and a religious requirement for all Muslims who can afford to make the journey. The other pillars include belief in God (Allah) and Muhammad as a prophet, … Read more
Ilorin, Nigeria – Abigail Olaiya’s meal schedule has been unpredictable for as long as she can remember. Sometimes she snacks twice a day and at other times, she eats nothing all day because she cannot afford it. It is a situation the 70-year-old has become used to at Oke Igbala (Yoruba for “hill of salvation”), … Read more
Harare, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe is set to introduce gold coins that will enable investors to store value within the country as inflation spirals out of control and the local currency continues to rapidly devalue against major currencies. The move comes after inflation for June jumped to 191.6% from 132% in May. In a statement on … Read more
New Orleans, United States – Jen* had been sitting outside the New Orleans Women’s Health Care Center for an hour. It was 34°C (93°F) on a Monday afternoon in mid-June, and as Jen, who is in her 40s, waited on a shaded bench for someone to answer the door, she scrolled through her phone, trying … Read more
Listen to this story: Naima*, 50, first came to Istanbul with her two sons in November 2019, to join her husband, who was weakening with cancer. He died 10 days after the family arrived. Before the civil war in Syria, Naima had worked as a hairdresser and an Arabic teacher in Idlib. She does not … Read more
“The building started moving, slowly, from side to side … then faster. I woke up and I called my father, and family in Kabul,” says Shokrullah, who was at his home in Gardez in Paktia province, 61km (38 miles) from the epicenter of a devastating 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan early on Wednesday … Read more
Ramallah, Occupied West Bank – On June 24, 2021 more than a dozen Palestinian Authority (PA) security personnel, severely beat political activist Nizar Banat in an overnight raid on his uncle’s home in Hebron, in the southern Israeli-occupied West Bank. He was dead within an hour, an autopsy showed. Banat, who was 43 when he … Read more
Amid the brutal conflict in Yemen that has killed more than 370,000 people, Yemenis have turned to their long-running love for football to help them cope with the devastation, violence and humanitarian crisis ravaging their country. Through unofficial football tournaments held across different villages and cities, Yemeni boys and men have been coming together to … Read more
“I spent half the year eating green zaatar!” I heard that throughout my childhood, every time my dad was complaining about his boarding school days at Mar Yacoub in North Lebanon. He despised the school for many reasons, but the terrible food was a major one. As a child, he would go off into the … Read more
The Chinese navy, under instruction from President Xi Jinping, has a modernization and expansion program that is nothing short of spectacular. Friday’s launch of its third and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, for sea trials underscores just how far it has come, and how fast. The first two carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, were … Read more