Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg completed her trans-Atlantic crossing in order to attend a United Nations summit on climate change in New York on August 28 [Reuters/Andrew Kelly] It was, in a subtle way, a defining moment. After a 15-day trek across the Atlantic Ocean, Thunberg looked exhausted. Still, the 16-year-old climate change activist knew she had to talk about the meaning and purpose

When somebody dies lonely and alone, Miyu Kojima steps in to clean their home and organise the mementos of their life. Miyu Kojima says a prayer before entering the home of the deceased, whose body may often have been lying there undiscovered for months [Shiori Ito/Al Jazeera] In a garage on a busy road in Itabashi ward in northern Tokyo, Miyu Kojima has finished her day’s work. It’s a cold night

As North Korea agrees to denuclearisation, Koreans living in Japan hope for a more peaceful future. Ryoung Song at his Korean school. Song often faces discrimination for being a Korean migrant. His father hides his heritage and encourages his son to do the same. [Al Jazeera] In a quiet corner of suburban Tokyo, the sound of punches pummels through a prestigious school gymnasium. Gloves adorn the w

Seoul/Jeju, South Korea – Ko Minja has yet to meet one of the 550-plus Yemeni asylum seekers who arrived on South Korea’s Jeju island earlier this year, or visit any of the areas they are living. Still, the 59-year-old restaurant owner has no second thoughts about not wanting them on the island. “The Yemenis are scary. They will rape our women, take our jobs and take over the country. I’m scared o

Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran are currently directly or indirectly engaged in a number of Middle East conflicts, as well as opposing sides of the global oil trade. MILITARY SPENDING In the past five years, most Middle Eastern countries have been directly or indirectly involved in armed conflicts. About 32 percent of documented weapon imports worldwide are to this region. Saudi Arabia has a

Beirut, Lebanon – To say May Shigenobu had an unusual upbringing would be something of an understatement. As a child, May had several aliases and was always on the move to protect her from kidnapping or assassination. If her true identity was close to being revealed, she would be given a new passport, a new nationality, a new name and a new backstory. “I always had to hide my true background, main

“I had a little bird, its name was Enza. I opened the window and in-flu-enza.” Almost like the creepy theme tune to a horror film, the rhyme above became a common refrain for young girls as they played and jumped rope in 1918 – when the Spanish flu began its deadly global rampage. The 1918 – 1919 Spanish flu – so called because the virus was first widely reported in the Spanish press – killed at l

Tensions have risen dramatically in the Korean Peninsula after North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile last month. Since the 1960s, North Korea has been trying to develop nuclear capabilities, much to the dismay of South Korea, a close ally of the United States. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un has steadily increased the number of ballistic missile tests since he came to power aft

A growing number of Malaysian female cosplayers are merging their fandom with their religion in creative new ways. In April, the Malaysian capital hosted the country's first event dedicated to hijab cosplay. [Preeti Jha/Al Jazeera] Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – From Monday to Friday, Hafizah Rashid works as a medical laboratory technician in the Malaysian capital. But on the weekends she is a superhero

Moscow, Russia – Stress is a fact of life for many of us. Some medicate or meditate to ease the anxiety. In Russia, however, some let off steam in a different way. “Rage rooms” allow people feeling angry to smash away their troubles. “You do it for the sake of not thinking about anything. It’s actually to get rid of those things that made you feel tense,” said Kryll, who arrived at a Moscow “rage

On sixth war anniversary, Syria headed towards ‘perverted version’ of what has been happening in Iraq or Afghanistan. According to UNICEF, 2016 was the worst year yet for Syrian children [Reuters] Six years to the day since protesters poured into the streets of Daraa, Damascus and Aleppo in a “day of rage” against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s uprising turned global war is far fro

Adolf Hitler was a junkie and the Nazis’ narcotics intake gives new meaning to the term ‘war on drugs’. But they weren’t the only ones. Recent publications have revealed that narcotics are as much a part of conflict as bullets; often defining wars rather than sitting anecdotally on the sidelines of them. In his book Blitzed, German author Norman Ohler describes how the Third Reich was permeated wi

Kenyan children learn ballet at Kibera slumClassical music, colourful clothes and teachers’ voices mix to turn the grey cold room into a real ballet studio. Nairobi, Kenya – With more than 2.5 million people in some 200 settlements, the slum dwellers in Nairobi represent more than half of the city’s population and occupy merely 6 percent of the land, according to a report [PDF] released in 2014 by

Syria civil war: New beginnings in KobaneThousands of people who fled from Kobane into neighbouring Turkey have since returned home. Kobane, a city in northern Syria with a Kurdish majority, was devastated during heavy fighting between Kurdish fighters and ISIL, combined with coalition air strikes. [Mauricio Morales/Al Jazeera] For Syrian Kurds, the battle for Kobane has been a pivotal part of the