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A blog devoted to on-the-ground reporting around the world.

March 28, 2013 08:01

Congo's subsistence miners dig for their livelihoods

'Artisanal' mining is now the country's leading profession — attracting adults and children alike. Chinese investment is driving its growth.
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A man digs in muddy water for copper ore as part of an artisanal mining operation in Kolwezi, Congo. (Jacob Kushner/GlobalPost)

Editor's Note: This story is part of GlobalPost Special Reports' continuing coverage of labor rights around the world.

KOLWEZI, Congo — One day while he was watching TV, farmer Emmanuel Tshiteta saw a news segment about people digging. 

With shovels and picks, they forged deep holes, then packed the rocks they uncovered into plastic mesh bags. They carried the bags to a river to wash away the dirt, revealing handfuls of aqua-colored ore. The next day, they sold it for quick cash.

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March 27, 2013 06:21

Income inequality: In Congo, a tale of two cities

In Africa's fastest-growing city, a new haven for Congo's wealthy burdens some of its poor.

 

Editor's Note: This story is part of a GlobalPost Special Report on income inequality around the world, "The Great Divide."

KINSHASA, Congo — On one side of the water, hand-carved wooden canoes navigate the marshy canals of a crowded fishing village. Unpainted cement houses line muddy dirt streets where women sit at stands, selling the day's catch.

On the other side, where the fishermen used to cast their nets, a posh private city is being raised from the bottom of the Congo River. Pumping millions of cubic meters of sand, the British hedge fund Hawkwood Properties is developing 1600 acres of water to become a tranquil residential haven complete with swimming pools, schools, grocery stores and a sports complex.

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March 23, 2013 16:43

Sectarian violence sweeps through central Myanmar

Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left more than 50 dead and thousands homeless.
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Policemen stand guard outside a partially-burnt mosque in riot-hit Meiktila, central Myanmar on March 22, 2013. Charred bodies lay unclaimed on the streets of a riot-hit town in central Myanmar, witnesses said, as global pressure mounted for an end to the Buddhist-Muslim unrest. Parts of Meiktila have been reduced to ashes in the most serious communal violence to hit the former junta-ruled nation since last year, leaving the authorities struggling to bring the situation under control (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)

YANGON, Myanmar – The latest round of sectarian violence in Myanmar seemed to be quieting over the weekend after the government declared a state of emergency and sent army troops to the area, leaving thousands homeless and more than 50 people confirmed dead.

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March 14, 2013 16:40

How the media failed to predict the next pope

Why did so many media outlets fail to include Cardinal Bergoglio in the scores of profiles, predictions and analysis that surrounded the conclave?
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Jorge Mario Bergoglio attends his first private Mass as Pope Francis in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore on March 14, 2013 in Rome, Italy. (L'Osservatore Romano/Getty Images)

BOSTON — Like most newsrooms, GlobalPost covered yesterday’s announcement of a new pope as the story broke, frantically receiving calls and posts from our correspondent in Rome, updating our live blog and readying profiles of the supposed frontrunners. But when the new leader of the Catholic Church stepped onto that balcony, we were surprised at the pick.

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March 13, 2013 06:21

South African miners turn on union leadership in labor fight

From last year's deadly strike at Marikana to recent aftershocks, rank-and-file workers blame high-rolling union bosses for selling them out.
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A mineworker stands on his doorstep on October 30, 2012 at Nkaneng informal settlement near the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, northwest of Johannesburg. The squalid living conditions for miners were among the reasons for the bloody strike at Marikana, 70 miles northwest of Johannesburg. Mehlwana's hut is the largest of a dozen structures erected around a mucky courtyard. There are two communal toilets and a water tap for the more than 30 inhabitants. (Jean Liou/AFP/Getty Images)

Correspondent’s Note: As a reporter covering the ongoing South African mining crisis, it would be easy to approach the story with the view that it is caused by greedy employers exploiting poor workers.

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March 7, 2013 09:54

Rome: The media and the conclave  

As cardinals move at their own pace, access for reporters is reduced and speculation abound.
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French cardinal Philippe Barbarin (C) is escorted by security as journalists surround him when leaving on his bicycle after a pre-conclave meeting on March 6, 2013 at the Vatican. The Vatican on Wednesday said no date had been set for a conclave to elect a new pope and that not all the 115 'cardinal electors' expected to take part in the vote had arrived yet. (Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images)

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI’s farewell deprived the media of one of those rare events that rivet coverage across the globe: the solemn majesty of a papal funeral. Presidents and prime ministers seated in pews set a stately tone for the conclave to follow, as the cardinals retreat under tight security to elect the new pope, signaled by the white smoke sent up after burning their ballots.

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Alessandro SpecialeMarch 6, 2013 17:01

In a papal transition, business booms at church-owned restaurants and hotels

How the Catholic Church is providing both the main event and many of the accommodations in Rome.
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A waiter carries a plate in front of a restaurant in downtown Rome in November 2011. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)

ROME – The classical music playing in the background of the French restaurant in central Rome, a few steps from the Senate, suddenly stops. The hushed noise of cutlery and whispered conversations comes to a halt as a voice from the loudspeakers recites a brief prayer.

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March 5, 2013 17:24
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Burma Telling Its Own Story: A reporting fellowship for young journalists

Open Hands Initiative, The GroundTruth Project and GlobalPost "Special Reports" announce a reporting fellowship for 20 top, young journalists.
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A Myanmar man reads a local journal in Yangon on August 20, 2012. Myanmar said it had abolished media censorship on August 20 in the latest in a series of rapid democratic reforms, delighting journalists who lived for decades under the shadow of the censors' marker pen. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)

As Myanmar implements democratic reforms and begins to encourage a free press, the country finds itself in a moment of historic change.

As part of the still unfolding story of Myanmar, Open Hands Initiative and The GroundTruth Project are pleased to announce a reporting fellowship in Burma.

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Mike EckelMarch 5, 2013 11:54

Drilling in the Arctic: is it inevitable?

It seems the discussion has shifted from a question of whether or not to drill, to how to prepare for the drilling when it happens.
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Greenpeace activists demonstrate on March 16, 2012 in the port of Helsinki as other activists occupy a Shell-contracted icebreaker preparing to sail for the Arctic. Fennica and Nordica, two Finnish icebreakers whose main task is to secure shipping in the Baltic Sea, have been leased out to Shell for the summer seasons of 2012, 2013 and 2014 to help Shell drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska. (Markku Ulander /AFP/Getty Images)

MEDFORD, Mass. — Jarring is one way to describe the image that spilled across newspapers, websites and TVs over the New Year. The towering drill rig Kulluk bobbed like a bath toy off Alaska’s Kodiak Island, battered by some of the most punishing weather conditions on the planet.

Last week, the rig’s owner, Royal Dutch Shell, cited the mishap as one of the reasons for suspending its billion-dollar plans to drill in the Arctic Sea off Alaska. Environmentalists cheered. Oil industry specialists groaned.

The rig and the Arctic: a collision of human ingenuity and brutal nature in the quest for the fuel of the 21st century global economy. Is it worth it?

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February 27, 2013 07:32
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India: Is education policy increasing inequality?

In 2009, India guaranteed its citizens the right to education. But critics say the policy is marred by a dangerous move toward privatization.

Correspondent's Note: Inequality in education struck me as the most important story in India for GlobalPost’s Special Report on income inequality, “The Great Divide,” because it results in a vicious cycle: For the most part, the poor do not have access to a good education, which forces them to fall further. At the same time, the increasing privatization of schools has made Indian education as segregated as the American South ever was — and all signs point to it getting worse. India's school system has already been privatized. And only those who can pay hefty fees get an education.

That struck me as an existential crisis for India, because Indian society is already unequal in so many ways. India’s poorest people don't have access to basic needs like food and clean water, and huge numbers die from starvation, malnutrition, and treatable diseases. The Muslim minority ranks shockingly low by almost any measure of prosperity, thanks to historical discrimination. And while some members of the lowest castes have benefited from quotas in jobs and education, most have not.

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