“To go back is not easy, to go to Europe is not easy, to stay here is not easy,” says ‘Biggy’, a 31-year-old Nigerian migrant who has been in Morocco for four years. Neatly dreadlocked and nearly two metres tall, he carries the scars of the beatings he’s received from Moroccan and Spanish border guards. He has tried and failed umpteen times to scale the fence or cross by rowboat into Spain.
Ukraine's frontline cuts across the country like a jagged scar. Despite a February ceasefire, the fighting hasn't stopped. In March and April, Kristina Jovanovski had rare access to rebel-held areas to investigate the humanitarian disaster that has unfolded on Europe's doorstep. Here is her exclusive report on why aid isn't getting through.
When they fled the town of Tawergha during Libya's revolution, they thought it would be just for a few weeks until the violence died down. Four years later, families remain stuck in limbo, surviving in a under-served makeshift camp, not knowing when or if they may ever be able to return home.
On 5 May, 194 migrants and asylum seekers survived a shipwreck off the coast of Sicily and were brought to the port of Catania by the cargo ship that rescued them. IRIN spoke to some of the survivors.
UNOSAT, the UN's satellite imagery specialists, have released some before and after satellite imagery on the Nepal earthquake. Here we see the mushrooming of temporary tents (location unspecified) after the quake, highlighting the shelter needs of survivors. More Nepal coverage here: http://newirin.irinnews.org/nepal-earthquake
Analysis conducted by UNITAR/UNOSAT.
Copyright: CNES 2015, Distribution Airbus Defence and Space
UN satellite team UNOSAT has released before and after pictures showing the obliteration of a neighbourhood of the city of Hama. Their report says: "These images depict the results of the demolitions occurring in the Masaa Al Arbaeen district of Hama between 27 September and 23 October 2012. Residents living in this area were perceived as sympathizing with the opposition. As of 26 November 2012 the whole of the district is demolished, affecting a total of 3,256 buildings that were reduced to rubble."
There are swarms of them in most Nigerian cities. Yellow, noisy and slightly dangerous, auto rickshaws provide cheap public transport - and a livelihood for tens of thousands of their drivers.
The motorized three-wheeler taxis are known as “Keke-NAPEP” – a combination of the Yoruba word for bicycle and the acronym for a 2001 National Poverty Eradication Programme, in a neat onomatopoeic package.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been among the highest risk-taking NGOs since it was founded in 1971, with its staff routinely putting their lives on the line in the midst of hostilities. In 1995, MSF ran the only hospital in Srebrenica, only being forced to withdraw once the Bosnian Serb Army entered the enclave.Yet sometimes they have to withdraw - either to protect their independence or security.
