Current Affairs

Not many people in the Middle East have the freedom to enjoy art and marvel at their cultural history. This fear has been cultivated by certain doctrines which state that the admiration of artistic work is heretical. There is a link in some Middle Eastern cultures between statues and the worship of idols; the appreciation of statues is therefore often construed as blasphemous in some religious sects. The rampant looting of centuries-old artefacts and the ongoing destruction of thousands of years of antiquities have brought about a sense of deep loss and bewilderment for many people, in the Middle East, and abroad.

As with all Palestinians in what is often described as the world’s largest open-air prison, life for the women of the Gaza Strip is choked with adversity.

In many developing countries, children grow up in potentially life-threatening environmental conditions – in squalor, surrounded by rampant pollution such as trash, toxic water and polluted air. These pictures – from “Happyland” in Manila, where families salvage waste for a living – present a clear picture of the health hazards posed by these conditions.

Rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions – primarily carbon dioxide, followed by methane – generated by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, traps heat in the earth’s atmosphere. As a result, the global temperature increases. Since living creatures can only survive and thrive in certain temperature ranges, global warming presents an existential crisis.

China is increasingly becoming one of the world's biggest economic players, and in order for the country to sustain its rapid development well into the 21st century, it has set its eyes on making bigger and better connections to the rest of the world. To do this, China's President Xi Jinping in 2015 announced the implementation of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative

Gold mining has sparked a clash between illegal diggers, artisanal mining associations and large multinationals

They wear pink saris, wield sticks and don’t hesitate to use violence in their fight for women’s rights. These are the ladies of the Gulabi Gang, an association created by Sampat Pal Devi to eradicate gender violence in India

This year the Vienna-based International Peace Foundation (IPF), along with the Korean National Peace Committee, took a significant step toward raising awareness for peace. A series of educational events were held, which included the participation of three Nobel prize laureates for the first time in North Korea. The laureates were there to share their expertise in the fields of economics, medicine and chemistry with university students in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).