Sixteen-year-old Aisha slips into the white family planning tent at the Bakassi camp for displaced people in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, and whispers in case she is overheard. The teenager, among the hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who have sought sanctuary from Boko Haram Islamists in the region’s biggest city, began taking a contraceptive pill three … Read more
US-backed fighters fought fierce battles Thursday as they tried to push further into the Islamic State group’s Syrian bastion Raqa, two days after finally entering the northern city. The Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters began the battle for the city earlier this week after seven months of fighting to surround the … Read more
Yemen is descending into total collapse, its people facing war, famine and a deadly outbreak of cholera, as the world watches, the UN aid chief said on Tuesday. Speaking to the UN Security Council, Stephen O’Brien said “the time is now” to end the world’s largest food emergency and put Yemen back on the path … Read more
At least 37 people, including dozens of civilians, have been killed in an attack by ISIL fighters targeting a crossing along Syria’s north-eastern border with Iraq, according to a monitoring group. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five suicide bombers detonated explosives before dawn on Tuesday in Rajm al-Salibi, a village in Hasaka … Read more
Haunted by indelibly painful memories, deprived of schooling and strangers to their own families — for former child soldiers returning to normal life is often as tough as being in combat. They face daily battles that can last years as they piece their lives together. “I had nightmares long after being freed. I had flashbacks … Read more
The head of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and former British foreign secretary David Miliband on Thursday said the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Syria was still “appalling” despite a fragile ceasefire. “The fact that the war has gone to reduced intensity has led to much reduced popular media attention on what remains an appalling crisis … Read more
A coffee shop that recently opened in California is serving customers more than just steamy cups of latte or espresso, offering an additional true life lesson about an issue roiling the country — refugees. Founded by Rachel Taber and Doug Hewitt, 1951 Coffee Shop is entirely staffed by refugees from various countries — including Syria, … Read more