Category: International
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How Inequality Became the Big Issue Troubling the World’s Top Economists
After a riveting keynote speech from Neil McInroy at this year’s Global Street Paper Summit, it is clear that social inequality is becoming a greater focus for economists. In a recent feature for The Conversation, Steve Schifferes, professor of financial journalism at the University of London, takes a deeper look at why social issues are…
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How unaccompanied youths become exploited workers in the U.S.
Border between San Diego and Tijuana. – Wikimedia Commons The Trump administration has released a series of executive orders targeting immigration at the U.S. southern border. Central American families and children traveling alone represent nearly half of all unauthorized migrants apprehended by Customs and Border Protection. The criminalization of immigrants at the U.S. southern border…
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Justice Department Orders Phasing Out of Private Prisons
In late August, the Justice Department issued a directive to phase out the use of private companies to operate federal prisons. As each private prison contract comes up for renewal, the Bureau of Prisons “should either decline to renew that contract or substantially reduce its scope in a manner consistent with law and the overall…
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In Iraq, thousands flee Fallujah and raise questions for Mosul
Over 60,000 civilians have fled the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah in the last week and are arriving in refugee camps to no tents, little water, and more death. Government officials and aid organizations are saying the lack of resources is due to the unprecedented numbers of people fleeing the fight against the Islamic State…
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Bardarash Peshmerga: The Best Defense Against ISIS Is Broke
(Peshmerga General Ali Rashed/photo credit Taylor Smith) Last December, Peshmerga General Ali Rashed’s unit was ambushed by ISIS insurgents as they stood guard at the gateway between ISIS territory and the safety of Iraqi Kurdistan on the outskirts of Bardarash. Rashed lost 40 men in the battle, but they were able to keep ISIS…
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Work of Art: Syrians Paint a Former Saddam Hussein Prison Camp
Up in the northwest corner of Iraq lies one piece of history layered in even more history: a former Saddam Hussein era prison camp covered in street art by it’s Syrian refugee inhabitants. Every Friday, Syrian youth participate in the Castle Art Project, taking paintbrushes to the dreary walls of their temporary home and drawing…
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“We need to fight for a world without poverty”: Pope Francis grants rare interview to street papers
By Stijn Fens and Jan-Willem Wits // Courtesy of INSP News Service www.INSP.ngo/Straatnieuws Photo credit: Frank Dries, Straatnieuws Pope Francis rarely grants interviews, but the opportunity to address international street papers was enough to persuade him that INSP was worth a spot in his busy diary. So, on Oct. 27, formerly homeless street-paper seller Marc…
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Sliver of Hope: Marathon Brings People Together in Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan: There’s no denying that moving abroad expands your horizons and changes your perceptions of different cultures. But the best lessons occur when you attempt to bring your own cultural habits to a different cultural environment: like running a marathon in an Islamic country as a woman. A Boston resident for four years, I…
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Impending Doom: The Collapse of the Mosul Dam
The Mosul Dam is in danger of collapse due to increased rainstorms. The resulting flood would be devastating. As Iraq’s largest dam, it would send a 15-foot wall of water down the river to Baghdad, and Mosul would be engulfed in a flood. The immediate impact would result in approximately 500,000 people’s deaths and the…
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Unleashing the Dogs of War
On November 13, Paris reeled from a series of well-coordinated bombing attacks that rippled through the leisure spaces of the capital city, causing death, panic, fear and injury. We soon learned that 130 people were killed and over 300 were injured injured. The attackers, we are told, are soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq…