Finance

‘Dönerflation’: Outcry in Germany over rising cost of döner kebab

The price of döner kebabs has increased rapidly in the past few years since the pandemic. It’s a favorite food introduced by Turkish guest workers in the 1970s. The Left Party has proposed to cap the price at $5.30 before the kebabs become a luxury item. 

Polyethylene bags are used to protect bananas from pests and blight on a plantation in Costa Rica.

The shadow of the United Fruit Company still reaches across the globe today

A buffalo grazes on the drenched land in the Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia.

‘It’s a lose-lose situation’: Carbon ‘offset’ project in Cambodia accused of human rights violations

Human rights
US dollars are now commonly used by businesses in Venezuela. The informal adoption of the dollar has helped to decrease inflation and product shortages.

Venezuela’s public sector workers take on multiple side jobs just to get by

Economics
street view

Cubans worry about inflation explosion after government austerity measures

Workers in western Uzbekistan haul large bundles of cotton to a nearby truck.

‘Justice doesn’t exist here’: Uzbek farmers and cotton workers say abuse, exploitation continues despite reforms

For decades, the cotton industry in Uzbekistan was plagued with labor abuses, including the rampant use of child labor. Practices have improved dramatically in recent years, but some advocates are concerned that the exploitation of adults is still happening.

Ghana officially commenced oil production in commercial quantities in 2010.

COP28: African nations resist fossil fuel phaseout, citing economic realities

Climate Change

At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, leaders from the US and EU have backed a phasedown of fossil fuels, with some qualifications.  But many African countries say they deserve to exploit their natural resources and develop just like richer countries. 

ruins

‘We saw an immediate drop’: Jordan’s tourism industry is suffering amid the Israel-Hamas war

Israel-Hamas war

Jordan’s economy relies heavily on tourism but since Hamas’ attack on Israel in October and the ongoing war in Gaza, tourism in the country has slowed down. This is also the case in other countries in the region, including Israel itself, Lebanon and Egypt.

Portrait photo of a woman

Microfinance was meant to help the world’s poor, but in Cambodia, it’s plunging people deeper into debt

Microfinance was hailed as a way to change the lives of hundreds of millions of people without access to credit. It worked so well that Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus was awarded a Nobel Prize. But then, banks jumped in to get in on the profits. To manage high debt levels, Cambodians are migrating for work, eating less and even pulling their children out of school.

Aerial view of the village of Mutucal, Mãe Grande Curuçá Extractive Reserve.

Rural communities in the Amazon face a complex world of carbon credits

The Big Fix

Brazil has embraced carbon credits as a way to protect the Amazon and mitigate climate change. But many community activists in the Amazon say carbon offset projects can be problematic.