The end of ‘pacification’: What next for Rio de Janeiro’s favelas?
On 26 April, Rio de Janeiro’s Federal Intervention Committee decided to close half of the state’s 38 Police Pacification Units (UPPs). Rio's UPPs were a key element of ‘pacification’, a public security policy targeting favelas...
Peace in El Pacifico? Colombia’s Chocó region has its own agenda
On 17 June, Colombia votes in the second round of its presidential election: the first since an historic peace agreement was signed in 2016 and the country emerged from almost half a century of...
Botswana’s fictitious economic miracle
Botswana's GDP per capita growth - from $58 in 1960 to $6,924 in 2016 - has been hailed as an economic miracle. The country has certainly achieved some huge successes in recent years, most notably with its...
Bolivia seeks investment as lithium price sky-rockets
Over the past decade Bolivia’s dazzling Salar de Uyuni has become one of South America’s most unmissable sights. Millions of tourists have made the journey to see the azure sky of the Andes flawlessly...
Bangladesh civil service quota causes student protests
Thousands of protesters have taken to Shahbagh Chattar in Dhaka, Bangladesh since April 7. Student protesters in the Chattar (square), right at the heart of the city, have demanded the reformation of the quota...
The darker side to India’s Holi celebrations
India's Holi festival is known as the "festival of colours", and is associated with fun, laughter, song, and dance, as Hindus celebrate in honour of the god Krishna. The usual depiction of celebrations is...
The aftermath of Honduras’ coup is fuelling a migrant crisis
The approach of the mid-term elections in the US has seen a sharp uptick in anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from the White House.
On 16 October, Donald Trump sounded his discontent that a large group of...
Could March’s election see Italy leave the euro?
A 19 year old Italian would have been the same age as the euro when Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s president dissolved parliament to call an election on the 28 December. As the upcoming general election...
Bangladesh road safety protests bring Dhaka to standstill
On 29 July, 2018 two school students were run over by a bus. When asked about the accident at a press conference later that day, the Shipping Minister and Executive President of Bangladesh Road Transport...
Loneliness in Japan during the heat wave
An unprecedented heat wave has swept across Japan this summer. Record-breaking temperatures have seen Tokyo rise above 40 degrees, and by Tuesday evening more than 22,000 people had been taken to hospital, suffering from...
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The Plastic War
From the UN in 2017 to the EU in 2018, we have become accustomed to organisations and countries declaring ‘war on plastic...
Populism to Pensions: Love or Hate for Putin’s New Policy?
It has been close to a year since the 2018 March presidential elections in Russia, which saw Vladimir Putin enter his fourth...
2019: Year of the Vegan?
The word ‘vegan’ was coined in 1944, after members of the Leicester Vegetarian Society became frustrated with the group’s refusal to consider...
