Global Health

A mob set this train car afire as they protested railway jobs that set increasingly demanding requirements, shutting out many applicants. What the media called a "job riot" took place in Gaya in the northeast Indian state of Bihar on Jan. 26.

This burning train is a symbol of the anger of India's out-of-work youth

12:19pm March 16, 2022

by Raksha Kumar

The country is in the midst of a job crisis. The rate of unemployment is about 13% among educated youth. Those who work in the informal sector vie for jobs with no security. Why are things so bad?

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Hassan Sham (pictured above) is one of 26 displaced persons camps in northern Iraq. Most of the residents are the wives and children of ISIS fighters — who say they are considered outcasts because of the stigma and are no longer welcome in their hometow

Health & Safety

A life in limbo for the wives and children of ISIS fighters

1:45pm March 15, 2022

by Jason Beaubien

Most of the residents of the Hassan Sham camp in northern Iraq feel like outcasts, with nowhere else to go. And conditions are getting worse as funding for food, education and health care dries up.

Residents queue to undergo tests for the coronavirus in China's northeastern Jilin province on Saturday.

A surge in COVID-19 spurs new lockdowns in China's cities

11:54am March 15, 2022

In the latest wave, the highly transmissible omicron variant has moved more quickly than contact tracing allows.

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A world map showing the percentage of people in each country that are fully vaccinated against covid-19.

Health & Safety

The goal: Vaccinate 70% of the world against COVID. Scientists are proposing a reboot

9:07pm March 14, 2022

by Nurith Aizenman

As the world enters the pandemic's 3rd year, some ask whether the 70% vaccination goal set by WHO and the Biden administration could in fact be detrimental. Also: See our map of global progress.

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Workers line up for COVID test outside an office building on Monday in Beijing.

China battles multiple COVID-19 outbreaks, driven by stealth omicron

4:41am March 14, 2022

by The Associated Press

While the numbers are small relative to numbers reported in Europe or in the U.S., they are the highest since the first big outbreak of COVID-19 in the central city of Wuhan in early 2020.

Health & Safety

The humble bravery of a young neurologist from Kyiv

8:38am March 13, 2022

by Ari Daniel

Aleksandra Shchebet fled Kyiv when the bombing began, found refuge in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk — and decided to stay and help her country in any way she could.

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It may be time to refocus the goal of vaccinating 70% of every country, advocates say

4:40pm March 11, 2022

by Nurith Aizenman

Two years after the World Health Organization declared the COVID outbreak a pandemic, the vaccination rate in poor countries remains well below global targets. But do those targets still make sense?

Coronavirus FAQ: What does endemic mean — and are we there yet?

4:35pm March 11, 2022

by Sheila Mulrooney Eldred

Two years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Now there's talk that we may be approaching a new stage for SARS-CoV-2. Let's unpack the word "endemic."

Radha Devi buys vegetables on her way back from the private educational institute where she has worked as an aide since November 2021. Devi, her husband and their three children all came down with COVID-19 in April of that year. She and the kids recovered

Health & Safety

PHOTOS: The precarious lives of India's COVID widows

2:46pm March 11, 2022

by Text and photos by Ruhani Kaur

No matter how the pandemic proceeds, women who lost a husband — and sole family breadwinner — will lead irrevocably altered lives in the patriarchal society that is India.

People line up for coronavirus tests outside a hospital in Shanghai on Friday.

China locks down a city of 9 million amid a new spike in COVID-19 cases

5:45am March 11, 2022

by The Associated Press

The latest lockdowns extend China's draconian approach to the pandemic it has enforced for most of the past two years