Water isn’t just crucial for life, it’s fundamental to increasing opportunities for women and girls in rural areas across the globe. A new Stanford study reveals how bringing piped water closer to remote households in Zambia dramatically improves the lives of women and girls, while also improving economic opportunities, food security and well-being for entire...
World
Climate Change Is Hurting Children’s Diets, Global Study Finds
A first-of-its-kind, international study of 107,000 children finds that higher temperatures are an equal or even greater contributor to child malnutrition and low quality diets than the traditional culprits of poverty, inadequate sanitation, and poor education. The 19-nation study is the largest investigation of the relationship between our changing climate and children’s diet diversity to...
Child Marriage Is Legal and Persists Across Canada
Canada is at the forefront of global efforts to end child marriage abroad. Yet this practice remains legal and persists across the country. In Canada, more than 3,600 marriage certificates were issued to children, usually girls, under the age of 18 between 2000 and 2018, according to a new study from researchers at McGill University....
Jack Ma: China’s Spat with Billionaire Is Part of Bigger Push to Control Big Tech – Silicon Valley Could Be Next
Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma has allegedly fallen out with the Beijing government. Several recent articles reported that Ma offended the Chinese authorities by delivering a speech in Shanghai in October criticising financial regulation, and that he and his colleagues were called in for questioning. The planned IPO of his financial services powerhouse, Ant Group,...
Archaeology: Sharing Leftover Meat May Have Contributed to Early Dog Domestication
Humans feeding leftover lean meat to wolves during harsh winters may have had a role in the early domestication of dogs, towards the end of the last ice age (14,000 to 29,000 years ago), according to a study published in Scientific Reports. Maria Lahtinen and colleagues used simple energy content calculations to estimate how much energy...
How the Spread of the Internet Is Changing Migration
The spread of the Internet is shaping migration in profound ways. A McGill-led study of over 150 countries links Internet penetration with migration intentions and behaviours, suggesting that digital connectivity plays a key role in migration decisions and actively supports the migration process. Countries with higher proportions of Internet users tend to have more people...
How Much Greenhouse Gas Emission Comes from Tropical Deforestation and Peatland Loss?
Land use and land-use change are thought to be responsible for about 23% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. But nailing down this number with certainty has been hampered by a lack of data in many key regions of the tropics where forests are being replaced by agriculture and where other activities are degrading forests. A...
Revealed: How Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel Has Created a Global Network to Rule the Fentanyl Trade
A collaboration with 24 international media outlets across 18 countries, and coordinated by Forbidden Stories, the Cartel Project investigates the global networks of Mexican drug cartels and their political connections around the world. Drugs bust in India sheds light on how adaptable cartels have come to dominate the lucrative trade in the powerful synthetic opioid....
‘It’s a Free-For-All’: How Hi-Tech Spyware Ends Up in the Hands of Mexico’s Cartels
Mexico has become a major importer of spying kit but officials are accused of colluding with criminal groups – and innocent individuals are often targeted. – Cecile Schilis-Gallego and Nina Lakhani A collaboration with 24 international media outlets across 18 countries, and coordinated by Forbidden Stories, the Cartel Project investigates the global networks of Mexican...
‘They’re Culpable’: the Countries Supplying the Guns That Kill Mexico’s Journalists
Many of the weapons used in the murders of 119 journalists were imported – and Mexico’s laws and culture make tracing them impossible.– Phineas Rueckert from Forbidden Stories and Nina Lakhani A collaboration with 24 international media outlets across 18 countries, and coordinated by Forbidden Stories, the Cartel Project investigates the global networks of Mexican...