FEED / https://www.fairplanet.orghttps://www.fairplanet.orgSun, 16 Aug 2026 11:30:02 GMTFrom retrieving ghost nets to restoring living coral reefs – a collaborative model for marine restorationhttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/from-retrieving-ghost-nets-to-restoring-living-coral-reefs-a-collaborative-model-for-marine-rest/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/from-retrieving-ghost-nets-to-restoring-living-coral-reefs-a-collaborative-model-for-marine-rest/Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:00:18 GMT‘We are the active eyes, we constantly see the changes, both positive and negative,’ Tony Scontrino told FairPlanet with the calm of someone who has decades of diving experience. His diving centre Saracen sits wedged between a fishmonger and a poultry shop on a narrow street in Isola delle Femmine, a small town on Sicily’s northwestern coast, just minutes from the sea. 

In the same interview, Scontrino described witnessing a great deal underwater: gorgonian forests thinning during marine heatwaves, seabeds shifting in colour and composition, invasive species filling the gaps. But one threat remains invisible to most: below the surface of the Mediterranean, kilometres of abandoned fishing nets are still hunting on their own –  trapping, killing, degrading habitats already under ...

]]> Why 'The Polygamist' Became Africa’s Biggest Conversationhttps://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/why-the-polygamist-became-africas-biggest-conversation/https://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/why-the-polygamist-became-africas-biggest-conversation/Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:00:41 GMTJonasi Gomora is currently one of Africa’s most debated and hated men. A wealthy, self-made businessman, he rose from the township of Soweto to a life of luxury in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has built a thriving business empire and what appears to be a perfect family with his wife, Joyce, and their two children. Beneath this polished image, however, Jonasi secretly juggles multiple wives and mistresses, leading a complex life that ultimately leads to his death.

The Gomoras are at the centre of Netflix’s new TV series, ‘The Polygamist’, released in June to overwhelming success of more than 27 million views globally. ‘I’ll own being the most hated man on Netflix until they give me another show,’ joked South African actor S’dumo Mtshali, who portrays Jonasi Gomora, in an

]]> How Africa's internal migrants remain invisible to health systemshttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/how-africas-internal-migrants-remain-invisible-to-health-systems/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/how-africas-internal-migrants-remain-invisible-to-health-systems/Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:00:39 GMTWhen Grace Nakato* (name changed) crossed from Uganda into Kenya two years ago, she was following a job lead in Nairobi’s wholesale district. She arrived with her young son, who had been treated for asthma at a clinic in Kampala. The clinic had his records, but she did not think to ask for a copy.


(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Across Africa, migrants who move within and between borders are routinely excluded from healthcare. When they arrive somewhere new, their medical records do not follow — leaving health workers unable to continue treatment already in progress. Grace Nakato, a Ugandan mother in Nairobi, could not access her son’s asthma treatment plan after crossing the border. Eric Tuisenge, a Burundian living in Kenya’s Rift Valley, ...

]]> As countries lift ‘gay blood bans,’ India doubles downhttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/as-countries-lift-gay-blood-bans-india-doubles-down/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/as-countries-lift-gay-blood-bans-india-doubles-down/Sun, 9 Aug 2026 19:46:07 GMT In India's mango ‘capital’, climate change is disrupting the prized fruit's supply and tastehttps://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/in-indias-mango-capital-climate-change-is-disrupting-the-prized-fruits-supply-and-taste/https://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/in-indias-mango-capital-climate-change-is-disrupting-the-prized-fruits-supply-and-taste/Fri, 7 Aug 2026 09:00:44 GMTIn the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the impact of climate change is evident. In a particularly tragic incident in May 2026, powerful unseasonal storms, rain and lightning killed at least 111 people. The heavy rains, accompanied by strong winds and thunderstorms, uprooted trees, damaged transmission wires and houses across 26 districts in the state. State authorities said that casualties resulted from falling trees, flying objects and wall or roof collapse. 

The growing unpredictability in weather patterns and the increase in both frequency and severity of extreme weather events have a huge impact on human livelihoods – including those of mango farmers.

In Malihabad, India’s so-called mango capital, mango farmer Haji Kalimullah Khan is increasingly concerned about the ...

]]> Inside Zimbabwe's $60bn 'Cyber City': Luxury, Power and the Politics of Landhttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/inside-zimbabwes-60bn-cyber-city-luxury-power-and-the-politics-of-land/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/inside-zimbabwes-60bn-cyber-city-luxury-power-and-the-politics-of-land/Tue, 4 Aug 2026 09:00:05 GMTIn 2022, Zimbabwe announced plans to build a ‘cyber city’ near the capital, Harare. Branded ‘Zim Cyber City’, the project sits in the rural area of Mount Hampden on a site of 185,000 square metres, according to officials. The project promises luxury villas, free-trade zones, and Dubai-style shopping malls. Led by UAE-based Mulk International, it is designed around cryptocurrency services and high-rises.



(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Since 2022, Zimbabwe has been planning Zim Cyber City near Harare — a $60 billion hi-tech development promising luxury villas, free-trade zones, and cryptocurrency services, led by UAE-based Mulk International. Critics dismiss it as an elite vanity project in a country without reliable tap water, while ...

]]> Rapping Against the Heat: How India's Marginalised Artists Are Sounding the Climate Alarmhttps://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/rapping-against-the-heat-how-indias-marginalised-artists-are-sounding-the-climate-alarm/https://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/rapping-against-the-heat-how-indias-marginalised-artists-are-sounding-the-climate-alarm/Fri, 31 Jul 2026 08:00:45 GMTThe kilns are lit before dawn. By mid-morning in the brick belt districts of central India, temperatures have climbed past 45 degrees Celsius, and the workers — backs bent, faces scarved against the dust — have already been at it for hours. For Madhura Ghane or Mahi G , a rapper from Maharashtra’s Mahadev Koli tribal community, these images are not metaphor. They are memory.

‘Back scorched in the kilns, blood boils under the sun,’ she raps in her 2025 track Heatwave Rising, released in collaboration with Greenpeace India. ‘The one whose sweat builds your home is himself left homeless.’

Released as India was emerging from yet another punishing summer, the track is part of a growing body of climate-conscious rap being made by artists from India’s most heat-exposed communities — ...

]]> She played dead before the Taliban to survive; years later, she stood on top of the worldhttps://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/she-played-dead-before-the-taliban-to-survive-years-later-she-stood-on-top-of-the-world/https://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/she-played-dead-before-the-taliban-to-survive-years-later-she-stood-on-top-of-the-world/Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:00:13 GMTAs bullets tore through a minibus on the road to Kabul in 2014, an 18-year-old Afghan girl lay motionless among the dead and wounded, smearing menstrual blood across her face in a desperate bid to survive a Taliban attack. 

Eleven years later, that same woman stood atop Mount Everest, having overcome war, discrimination, personal loss and extraordinary odds to reach the highest point on Earth.

Zakia Ahmad, better known as River Ahmad, is a 33-year-old Afghan mountaineer from the persecuted Shiite Hazara community. She was among the mountaineers who scaled the world’s tallest mountain in Nepal in May.

‘As a young girl, I walked four hours each way through mountains just to reach school. Those long walks taught me endurance, discipline, and the quiet strength of persistence,’ she ...

]]> THROUGH SUPPORT GROUPS, THIS NGO HELPS NIGERIAN MOTHERS PREVENT MALNUTRITIONhttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/fighting-malnutrition-in-conflict-areas/through-support-groups-this-ngo-helps-nigerian-mothers-prevent-malnutrition/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/fighting-malnutrition-in-conflict-areas/through-support-groups-this-ngo-helps-nigerian-mothers-prevent-malnutrition/Fri, 24 Jul 2026 08:00:47 GMT The Gold Leak: Inside Cameroon’s Fractured Mining Crackdownhttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-gold-leak-inside-cameroons-fractured-mining-crackdown/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-gold-leak-inside-cameroons-fractured-mining-crackdown/Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:09 GMTIn Kambélé, an artisanal mining hub in Cameroon’s East region, 18-year-old Jérémie Nathan sits on a mound of excavated earth holding a hand-shovel. Until last month, he cleared gravel lines for Zhenguo Sarl, a foreign-owned semi-mechanised mining company operating in the area. Today, the excavators are chained and silent. A central government decree has ordered more than 200 of these companies across the East and Adamawa regions to halt operations immediately, deploying military personnel to seal their heavy machinery.


(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Cameroon has frozen more than 200 semi-mechanised mining operations in its East and Adamawa regions after data revealed that tonnes of gold were being smuggled out annually — between 2021 and ...

]]> India's Cockroach Revolution: How a Supreme Court Insult Sparked a Youth-Led Political Movementhttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/indias-cockroach-revolution-how-a-supreme-court-insult-sparked-a-youth-led-political-movement/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/indias-cockroach-revolution-how-a-supreme-court-insult-sparked-a-youth-led-political-movement/Sat, 18 Jul 2026 10:00:16 GMTTwenty-year-old Saloni Taneja had barely slept. For days, she and hundreds of other students had been eating, sleeping and protesting under the open sky at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi’s designated protest site, as June temperatures hovered near 40°C. Around her, demonstrators clutched roses and books and sang about revolution, equality and justice — non-violent gestures of dissent requested by organisers should police attempt to disperse the gathering. On Sunday, that threat became real: police moved in and detained climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on hunger strike at the site for 20 days in solidarity with the students, and took him to an undisclosed location. The protesters did not move. In response, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke announced he would begin an indefinite ...

]]> The NGO Fighting Malnutrition in Africa's Conflict Zones, One Supplement at a Timehttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/fighting-malnutrition-in-conflict-areas/the-ngo-fighting-malnutrition-in-africas-conflict-zones-one-supplement-at-a-time/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/fighting-malnutrition-in-conflict-areas/the-ngo-fighting-malnutrition-in-africas-conflict-zones-one-supplement-at-a-time/Fri, 17 Jul 2026 03:37:11 GMT Fighting Malnutrition in Conflict Areashttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/fighting-malnutrition-in-conflict-areas/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/fighting-malnutrition-in-conflict-areas/Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:00:31 GMTMalnutrition remains one of the world’s most preventable crises. Globally, it is a contributing factor in 45 per cent of childhood deaths — a toll driven not only by poverty and climate shocks, but by conflict.

In Africa, for example, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies estimates that 167 million people faced acute food insecurity in 2025, around 78 per cent of them in countries experiencing active conflict. The pattern is stark: where fighting persists, hunger deepens.

Humanitarian organisations working in these environments are developing practical responses. One of them is the Mary Dinah Foundation (MDF), that works to prevent acute malnutrition in conflict-affected communities. The foundation partners with local health facilities and distributes ready-to-use therapeutic and ...

]]> US refugee resettlement remains frozen, but not for white South Africanshttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/us-refugee-resettlement-remains-frozen-but-not-for-white-south-africans/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/us-refugee-resettlement-remains-frozen-but-not-for-white-south-africans/Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:45:53 GMTAfter successful interviews with the United States (US) Homeland Security in August 2024, Takang Enoh, a Cameroonian refugee in Nigeria, was approved for resettlement, alongside his wife and daughter, within the next four to five months.


(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

The article examines how the United States’ refugee resettlement system remains largely frozen for people fleeing wars and persecution worldwide, while making an exception for white Afrikaners from South Africa. It explores the Trump administration’s decision to fast-track their applications, despite disputed claims of widespread racial persecution, and contrasts this with the continued suspension of refugee admissions for groups from countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan and the ...

]]> The civilian cost of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism war in Afghanistanhttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-civilian-cost-of-pakistans-counter-terrorism-war-in-afghanistan/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-civilian-cost-of-pakistans-counter-terrorism-war-in-afghanistan/Fri, 10 Jul 2026 11:52:12 GMTIn late February, Pakistan launched ‘open war’ on Afghanistan with Operation Ghazal lil-Haq (Wrath for the Truth), marking the most violent period of fighting between the two countries since the Taliban takeover in 2021. For Pakistan, it was a war of retaliation against the Tehreek-e-Taliban, or TTP, a militia sympathetic to the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of offering safe harbour to the TTP ‘Tashkeel,’ or administrative structures and combat units, and was fed up with inaction. 



(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations along the Afghanistan border have increasingly placed civilians in the crossfire, with airstrikes and military actions killing women and children, destroying homes ...

]]> Venezuela's Deadliest Earthquake in a Century Exposes Failures in Emergency Responsehttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/venezuelas-deadliest-earthquake-in-a-century-exposes-failures-in-emergency-response/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/venezuelas-deadliest-earthquake-in-a-century-exposes-failures-in-emergency-response/Mon, 6 Jul 2026 16:12:28 GMT‘This is the worst disaster we’ve ever experienced,’ said Ana Carballo, calm and holding her dog while in an improvised tent in Parque del Este. Venezuelans were confronting what may be the worst natural catastrophe in the last century, casting a deep shadow of grief and fear across the country and its diaspora. ‘We survived something so big and devastating, we can only pray and feel blessed’, Carballo said. 


(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

On 24 June 2026, two earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela within seconds of each other, killing at least 1,400 people, injuring more than 3,000, and leaving an estimated 61,000 missing. The devastation was worst in the coastal state of La Guaira, where entire neighbourhoods collapsed. The ...

]]> Pre-monsoon floods wipe out Boro rice harvests in Bangladesh’s haor wetlandshttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/pre-monsoon-floods-wipe-out-boro-rice-harvests-in-bangladeshs-haor-wetlands/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/pre-monsoon-floods-wipe-out-boro-rice-harvests-in-bangladeshs-haor-wetlands/Fri, 3 Jul 2026 09:38:54 GMTOn a raised rural road cutting through Bangladesh’s haor wetlands, 70-year-old farmer Firoz Khandaker sat surrounded by his family, spreading out freshly harvested but water-soaked rice to dry in the sun. Around him, water stretched endlessly across submerged fields, an image that captured the scale of this year’s agricultural disaster in the country’s north-eastern floodplain.


(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Pre-monsoon flash floods have devastated Bangladesh’s haor wetlands, destroying thousands of hectares of boro rice just as farmers were preparing to harvest their most important annual crop. Triggered by intense rainfall and upstream water flows, the floods have wiped out livelihoods, deepened food insecurity, and threatened national ...

]]> Queer Collectives are shaking up Indian campuseshttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/queer-collectives-are-shaking-up-indian-campuses/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/queer-collectives-are-shaking-up-indian-campuses/Wed, 1 Jul 2026 22:04:31 GMT Regressive Transgender Bill takes India back by Decadeshttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/regressive-transgender-bill-takes-india-back-by-decades/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/regressive-transgender-bill-takes-india-back-by-decades/Wed, 1 Jul 2026 21:57:07 GMT The women behind Kashmir's menstrual health revolutionhttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/the-women-behind-kashmirs-menstrual-health-revolution/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/the-women-behind-kashmirs-menstrual-health-revolution/Wed, 1 Jul 2026 21:47:20 GMT Gender Politics in the Indian Subcontinenthttps://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/gender-politics-in-the-indian-subcontinent/Wed, 1 Jul 2026 21:30:02 GMTIndia is a country of legal contradictions on gender and sexuality. The Supreme Court decriminalised same-sex relations in 2018, striking down a colonial-era law that had criminalised millions. Yet the same court declined to legalise same-sex marriage in 2023, leaving LGBTQ+ couples without inheritance rights, adoption rights or the legal recognition that heterosexual partners take for granted. A Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act exists on paper, but rights groups argue it has set back the community it was designed to protect.

Some of the contradictions are structural. Gay and bisexual men remain barred from donating blood in India under policies that have persisted for decades — even as the country faces critical shortages and even as medical bodies in other countries ...

]]> The Women They Called Witches in Malawihttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-women-they-called-witches-in-malawi/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-women-they-called-witches-in-malawi/Wed, 1 Jul 2026 11:09:51 GMTAt 83 years old, Nasitima Chikadwala still remembers the fear that consumed her every day. Inside a small grass-thatched hut in rural Lilongwe, she endured years of humiliation and violence after relatives accused her of practising witchcraft because she could not bear children. The abuse intensified after her husband died in a road accident, leaving her isolated and vulnerable. She was beaten by her own relatives, who accused her of being a witch and bringing bad luck to the family.



(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

In Malawi, elderly women — often widows or those seen as different — are frequently accused of witchcraft, leading to social exclusion, abuse, and killings. Nasitima Chikadwala, 83, endured years of beatings from relatives ...

]]> Venezuela's Political Prisoners Left in the Dark After Devastating Earthquakeshttps://www.fairplanet.org/story/venezuelas-political-prisoners-left-in-the-dark-after-devastating-earthquakes/https://www.fairplanet.org/story/venezuelas-political-prisoners-left-in-the-dark-after-devastating-earthquakes/Mon, 29 Jun 2026 20:44:18 GMTLess than 48 hours after two earthquakes struck Venezuela on 24 June 2026, the human toll was still being counted. The first tremor hit at 6:04 pm, registered a magnitude of 7.2; the second struck 39 seconds later, at 6:05 pm, registered a magnitude of 7.5. More than a minute and a half of shaking destroyed hundreds of buildings and homes across the country. Venezuela has declared a state of national emergency.



(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck Venezuela on 24 June 2026, leaving over 580 political prisoners incommunicado for more than 14 hours while families waited outside prisons for news. Relatives, including those camped at Rodeo I since January, relied on overheard sounds and rare brief phone calls to ...

]]> Can Gaza’s 26 June Demonstrations Mark the Beginning of a New Civic Movement?https://www.fairplanet.org/op-ed/can-gazas-26-june-demonstrations-mark-the-beginning-of-a-new-civic-movement/https://www.fairplanet.org/op-ed/can-gazas-26-june-demonstrations-mark-the-beginning-of-a-new-civic-movement/Fri, 26 Jun 2026 09:46:05 GMTAs 26 June approaches, growing numbers of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are discussing what many hope will become one of the most significant public demonstrations against Hamas in years. organised under the slogan ‘We Want to Live,’ the initiative reflects mounting frustration over years of political repression, economic collapse, and the devastating human consequences of the ongoing war.

The campaign is organised by a network of Gaza activists living abroad in co-operation with Palestinians inside the Strip. Over recent weeks, organisers have relied on social media, personal networks, and grassroots communication to encourage peaceful public participation. Their objective extends beyond a single day of protest: they hope 26 June will mark the beginning of a sustained civic ...

]]> The bedbugs Europe sent: How imported used clothes are infesting Zimbabwe's poorest communitieshttps://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/the-bedbugs-europe-sent-how-imported-used-clothes-are-infesting-zimbabwes-poorest-communities/https://www.fairplanet.org/magazine/the-bedbugs-europe-sent-how-imported-used-clothes-are-infesting-zimbabwes-poorest-communities/Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:51:56 GMTFor Gogo Emma Siwela, 70, a grandmother in Matapi Flats — one of Mbare’s most notorious neighbourhoods — the bedbug infestation caused by imported garments poses daily danger for the young grandchildren in her care. When the insects overwhelm her, she boils water in a desperate attempt to flush them out. ‘That makes our blankets wet at night and poses burning risks to my grandkids,’ she told FairPlanet in a face to face interview, gesturing at damp blankets from her latest attempts to scald the bugs away. ‘These bedbugs are terror.’



(image)
Would you like us to summarize articles for you?

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Mbare, Zimbabwe’s largest shanty town, faces a worsening bedbug crisis driven by cheap imported second-hand clothing from Europe.Mbare, Zimbabwe’s largest shanty town, faces a ...

]]>