海角大神

In a cruel twist, residents of Kherson who survived nine months of Russian occupation until liberation by Ukrainian troops are now subject to such hardship that many feel obliged to evacuate.

Humanitarian and economic crises require political cooperation 鈥� the one thing that鈥檚 often least in supply when challenges are pervasive. Many hope Venezuela is forging a path forward.

Learning pods provided an alternative to in-person schooling for families who could afford it during the pandemic. Some public schools are taking the idea and using it as a tool to support a wider group of students.

There are only so many roofs on which to locate solar panels, but moving them to waterways comes with other benefits. And in India, from spinning wheels to sewing machines, solar power is increasing efficiency and raising women鈥檚 pay.

By styling her latest album around the Christmas shows from her childhood, musician聽Loreena McKennitt explores the importance of ritual in holding communities together.

Try as it has to burnish its reputation as a guardian of human rights and clean government, FIFA World Cup host Qatar has once again come under a negative spotlight. Belgian authorities this week arrested six people, including a vice president of the European Parliament, in connection with an apparent cash-for-influence plot allegedly involving the Arab Gulf state.

Scandals have a way of emphasizing what is going wrong. But they also beg asking what is going right.

For the European Union, which is defending its moral and liberal values amid Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine and the rise of autocratic tendencies within its own member states, the arrests have stirred urgent new calls to reform the organization's rules on ethics and lobbying.聽鈥淭his is about the credibility of Europe, so this has to trigger consequences in various areas,鈥� German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock observed.

In Qatar, persistent and credible concerns about official bribery and abuse of migrant workers overshadow evidence that one of the world鈥檚 most closed societies is gradually bending toward international standards of accountability.

One measure of that is an increasingly open diversity of civic activity. Qatari youth, the United Nations notes, have formed a vibrant grassroots movement to promote policy responses to climate change. In the arts, Qatari filmmakers are becoming more willing to tackle sensitive cultural issues like marriage and women鈥檚 rights.聽

This opening of public expression partly reflects exposure to liberal ideas through the local campuses of Western universities. College newspapers, for example, have tackled thorny issues like treatment of migrant workers with more freedom than the country鈥檚 professional media, which operate under tight censorship rules.

鈥淭he developments currently happening in the areas of filmmaking and higher education are promoting civic engagement and have the potential to actualize more significant changes down the line,鈥� noted Hind Al Ansari, a doctoral student at Cambridge University, in a post on the Wilson Center website. 鈥淎s more people become involved, over time, others will feel inspired to take part in the project of building vibrant, civically-engaged societies.鈥澛�

That bottom-up social change is growing increasingly hard for the government of Qatar to ignore. As Ghada Waly, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, noted last week at the 2022 Anti-Corruption Excellence Awards in Doha, Qatar鈥檚 capital, 鈥淚n order to truly counter corruption and the myriad forms it can take, we must inspire and engage the whole of society to tackle corruption.鈥�

The effect of dishonesty is ultimately to magnify its remedy. No one has been charged with a crime yet, and the Qatari government rejects allegations of misconduct. But each in its own way, Europe and Qatar are being nudged toward greater integrity.