Mirva Lempiainen 
While people buy flowers to celebrate special occasions or to merely liven up their home, most buyers do not think twice about the origins of the flowers or why they are so affordable. Almost all the roses now sold in Europe come from Eastern Africa and most of them are produced — little surprise — … Read more
As increasing numbers of women embark on careers as diplomats, the United Nations headquarters in New York is slowly but surely undergoing a big change in demographics: the female-to-male ratio of diplomats is becoming — dare it be possible — more balanced. Of the UN’s 193 member countries, about 30 women currently represent their nations … Read more
A lifeless baby lies on the ground. Half of a woman’s face has been blown off. A mother screams in a hospital after losing her son because of inadequate medication. A text fills the big white screen: global military spending amounts to $1.7 trillion a year. Less than a fifth of that would pay … Read more
LA DALIA, Nicaragua — Things are getting steamy between two cartoon characters kissing each other on the big white screen. The boy wants to have sex without a condom; the girl is worried he will walk out on her if she says no. Finally, she gives in but soon after finds herself pregnant. Raging with … Read more
As far as cool job titles go, you would be hard-pressed to beat that of Heli Pahlman, who is from Parainen, an archipelago town in southwest Finland. Her title has the words “outer space” in it. Pahlman, 28, works as an associate program officer at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna. … Read more
A dozen years have passed since the United Nations Security Council made history by adopting a resolution that addressed women’s rights during conflicts and required their participation in preventing wars and in peace talks. Until Resolution 1325was approved, post-conflict reconstruction had been mostly the realm of those possessing the Y chromosome in the eyes … Read more
HELSINKI – As the United States prepares for its much-awaited presidential election on Nov. 6, another hotly contested vote is readying at the United Nations Security Council on Oct. 18. Numerous countries are vying for the five open nonpermanent seats, among them Australia, Finland and Luxembourg, who are competing for the two seats being vacated … Read more
BOUYOUYE, Senegal – I’m submerged waist-deep in brown water, trying my best to catch up with two fast-moving Senegalese women ahead of me. Jeannette Diatta, 40, thin-framed, and her curvier friend, Therese Diatta, 27, are wielding machetes like butter knives. Both women have protected their heads from the sun with colorful scarves. Bang! Yet another … Read more
BAFATÁ, Guinea-Bissau — On a quiet sandy street in this small town, amid old houses with their paint peeling off, stands one unfittingly polished white and pink building. It’s the newly renovated childhood home of freedom fighter Amílcar Cabral, the Che Guevara of Guinea-Bissau. The house where Cabral lived from his birth, in 1924, to … Read more
