A quarter century after the Palermo Convention, mafias have reinvented themselves online—faster, encrypted, and algorithmic. The U.N.’s new cybercrime treaty may be the world’s best chance to close the widening gap between crime and justice. The mafia no longer hides in the alleys of Palermo—it scrolls, posts, and recruits through TikTok, Telegram, and encrypted channels…
The next U.N. chief will need to develop greater and closer ties with the private sector and build new, more effective partnerships to help manage the resource dilemma. A growing number of violent conflicts. A never-ending liquidity crisis. A bloated organization rife with antisemitism and facing loud calls for it to be completely overhauled….
The world’s biggest manufacturer promises to end cigarettes. Public-health experts aren’t persuaded. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, but I’ve spent years trying to make the two people I love most, my mother and brother, quit smoking. I’ve failed. I’ve failed with logic, case studies, statistics, all tools a journalist knows how…
Decades of asylum abuses, shifting harm-reduction efforts and competing federal priorities have left Brazil with a patchwork system struggling to meet the needs of people who use drugs. I came to Brazil, and to a health clinic in this northern coastal city, to research how this vast and diverse country cares for people who use…
How early can you see disease? Earlier than you think. Imagine being able to step ahead of your own health—to see what’s happening deep inside your body before problems take root, before symptoms begin, and long before disease has a chance to steal momentum from your life. For decades, that kind of foresight belonged more…
The scars of the Dam run deep through the Xingu, where rivers have dried, communities have fractured, and Indigenous leaders warn that the Amazon’s future is slipping away. On a muggy August night, it rained on the Xingu River, in the heart of the Amazon. As the water poured down on the forest, the…
The alarm bells of an impending AI bubble rang loudly at the recent Cerebral Valley conference, unsettling tech enthusiasts, investors, and even founders. Yet miles away at United Nations Headquarters, a different urgency filled the corridors. Officials were reviewing applications for the newly established Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, 40 experts tasked not…
African street mechanics and junk scavengers push the global north towards climate solutions Freetown—Like a pop star eager to match the success of his last big hit, Emmanuel Alie Mansaray stalks the streets of this steaming, teeming African capital searching. He’s searching for inspiration: the spark that will allow him again to capture lightning…
From climate targets to social gains, renewable energy is seen as key to unlocking SDGs. Global progress on the U.N.’s 2030 goals has stalled. According to the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024, just 17% of the targets are on track. Closing a $4 trillion financing gap is now seen as vital—not only to keep…
UNODC’s 2024 report shows that trafficking victims rose sharply after the pandemic, with children and forced labor at the center of the surge. Human trafficking is deepening in the shadows of today’s crises — expanding amid conflict, climate pressures, and the vulnerabilities left behind by COVID-19. A United Nations report warns that traffickers…
Journalists record the world’s tragedies, but who records their pain? Disasters produce journalists who quickly reach the affected areas. First responders and journalists enter dangerous situations to document destruction while they take images of losses and provide emotional testimony about war and crisis-related catastrophes. Their mission requires non-interference, yet they experience the heavy emotional…
Why America fails at math and how we can change it Math is more than a subject; it is a civil right. When even the Supreme Court falters on cases rooted in mathematics, it reveals how fragile democracy can be. The documentary Counted Out brings this to life through a mother confronting her math…
Inside U.N. chief António Guterres’ bold gamble to streamline mandates, tame finances, and keep diplomacy alive. Reform has already begun to feel passé as the months of this year have rolled by. Projecting into the future makes policy and peace processes harder to chart, especially in an era of division and polarization. This year,…
With global defense budgets soaring to heights unseen since the Cold War, NATO and regional powers are racing to fuse intelligence, technology, and early-warning systems into the core of modern deterrence. Twelve days of brutal warfare in the Middle East may have subsided, but the region remains a tinderbox of uncertainty. A cease-fire — fragile…
Reviving its historic link with Morocco’s Chefchaouen, a small town in southern Spain, proves that cross-border cooperation can dismantle prejudice and offer a working model for the Alliance of Civilizations’ vision of intercultural understanding. As governments tighten borders and harden rhetoric, some communities are proving that diplomacy can start at street level. In southern Spain,…
Green teas are monks subscribed to a plain, austere life. Black teas are a brocade armchair by the fire, doubling as your therapist. But the Paochong is an oolong tea — a dancer, a show pony — the beauty pageant of teas. On the morning of Friday, July 11, in between two live segments of…
