Reports from our correspondents around the world

For years, the debate over school choice in Kentucky state has simmered beneath the surface. That tension came to a head again this month, as a familiar conflict between the governor’s office and the state legislature unfolded in real time, placing voters and federal incentives at the center of the dispute.  On March 13, Kentucky [...]

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U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Katherine Sibilla, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A recent discussion among legal and human rights experts has exposed the alarming scale of obstetric violence in Africa, a crisis that contributes to the continent’s disproportionately high maternal mortality rates. The findings, shared during a virtual panel, underscore the urgent need for systemic reforms in maternal healthcare. This dispatch was co-authored by Divyabharthi Baradhan [...]

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January 2026 marks the end of British Columbia’s three-year pilot program to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs, a move intended to address the west coast Canadian province’s worsening toxic drug crisis. The policy was meant to remove the stigma attached to drug-related crimes and encourage people who use drugs (PWUD) to seek assistance [...]

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United States Senate, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The legislative path forward for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) has hit a roadblock in the US Senate. On February 26, Senate Majority Leader John Thune declared that a talking filibuster—a rare, prolonged debate tactic where senators speak continuously to block a vote—was not possible, effectively halting the bill’s progress in the [...]

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Solomon203, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In February, Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor released long-awaited guidelines to help businesses prevent forced labor—a response to US trade enforcement actions and mounting international criticism of labor abuses against the country’s 870,000 migrant workers. While the guidelines offer tools for self-assessment, critics argue they fail to address systemic issues, such as debt bondage and the [...]

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Since January, Pakistan’s Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has remained the focal point of an ongoing humanitarian and political crisis. Rumors of a counterterrorism operation against the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) escalated into one of the country’s most severe winter emergencies, with tens of thousands of civilians still displaced as of late February. [...]

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U.S. Department of State from United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The landscape of American late-night television is undergoing significant change amid tensions between TV networks, program producers and federal regulators, fueling debate over the future of political satire on broadcast television. In recent months, several high-profile shifts have occurred across the industry, including ABC’s temporary removal of Jimmy Kimmel from TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live! [...]

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Wing, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On February 12, the High Court of Kenya struck down Section 95(1)(b) of the Penal Code as unconstitutional. The Section made it a crime to “create a disturbance in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace,” meaning a person could be arrested for causing public commotion, shouting loudly, or behaving in a way police believed [...]

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On February 11, the US House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) (H.R. 7296) in a 218-213 vote, marking the latest federal effort to impose stricter voter registration requirements. Sponsored by Representative Chip Roy, the SAVE Act would require prospective voters to show both proof of US citizenship and an [...]

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Mandatory Credit: Photo by SARAH YENESEL/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock (16049970a) New York, New York, USA, 08 December 2025.

Editor’s note: This story is part of ongoing coverage of the lead up to Mangione’s trial. Read Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Days 5-7, Day 8, and Day 9 of state suppression hearings on the case. Last month, a 90-minute suppression hearing was held in Luigi Mangione’s federal case to determine if [...]

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