Coronavirus impacts: Bangladeshi overseas workers seek local jobs as loans mount

MOHAMMAD RAKIBUL HASAN and NAIMUL KARIM, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on the hardships many, including returned migrant workers, are facing in Bangladesh…
Climate change set to drive more deadly heat in South Asia

Dhaka, Bangladesh Thomson Reuters Foundation Deadly heatwaves in South Asia are likely to become more common in the future, with the region’s exposure to lethal heat stress potentially nearly tripling if global warming isn’t curbed, researchers said. But the threat could be halved if the world meets a goal set under the Paris Agreement on […]
Climate change could create 63 million migrants in South Asia by 2050

Barcelona, Spain Thomson Reuters Foundation The growing impacts of climate change have already pushed more than 18 million people to migrate within South Asian countries, but that could more than triple in three decades if global warming continues on its current path, researchers warned on Friday. Nearly 63 million people could be forced from their […]
Coronavirus slows safety reforms in Bangladesh’s ship-breaking industry

Dhaka, Bangladesh Thomson Reuters Foundation The coronavirus pandemic has slowed efforts to make safer the often hazardous job of dismantling old ships in Bangladesh, officials said, following the latest worker fatality. COVID-19 temporarily shuttered ship-breaking yards in Bangladesh, one of the world’s main destinations for end-of-life vessels, delaying safety reforms ahead of a 2023 deadline. […]
Migrant workers: South Asians seek justice as wage theft worsens under coronavirus

ANURADHA NAGARAJ, NAIMUL KARIM and BAN BARKAWI, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted migrant workers amid an ongoing struggle over their rights…
Essay: Days with both extreme heat and extreme air pollution are becoming more common – which can’t be a good thing for global health

In an article first published on The Conversation, YANGYANG XU and XIAOHUI XU, of Texas A&M University, say the frequency of days of extreme heat and pollution – and the number of people affected by them – could “massively increase” in the next 30 years…
Indian trafficking cases fall sharply fuelling concern over “undetected victims”

Mumbai, India Thomson Reuters Foundation Cases of human trafficking in India have fallen sharply according to new government data, but campaigners warned on Tuesday that the figures may not reflect the full magnitude of the crime. South Asia, with India at its centre, is one of the fastest-growing regions for human trafficking in the world. […]
INDIA: OPPOSITION TO MODI ISN’T JUST ABOUT ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE, CHRISTIANS SAY

AYSHA KHAN, of Religion News Service, reports on how rising nationalism in India has left the country’s 28 million Christians uncertain about their future in the nation…
South Asian herders fight for right to roam as pressure to settle grows

Udaipur, India Thomson Reuters Foundation South Asian pastoralists facing shrinking rangelands and a rise in conflicts over the right to roam must be allowed greater involvement in managing lands to help secure their survival, land experts said on Thursday. Herders around the world are coming under pressure from governments to settle down and stop their […]
Postcards: In Kenya, women trafficked from South Asia to dance in Bollywood-style bars

NITA BHALLA, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from Kenya…