Thousands of children have been used as soldiers in at least 18 countries around the world in the past two years. For the children who survive, the trauma of war can have long-lasting impacts. On this edition of Global Journalist, we’re going to hear about how two aid groups are trying to address this issue in South Sudan and Uganda. We'll also hear from two ex-child soldiers about how the trauma of fighting in wars shaped their lives.

Earlier this year, Vice President Mike Pence renewed a call by the Trump Administration for the U.S. military to create a “Space Force.” The White House’s effort comes in response to advances by China, Russia and other countries in space. It also raises the question as to whether or not the move might accelerate the militarization of space. On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at how militaries have and could operate outside our atmosphere - and what that may mean for the future of

The struggling nation of Yemen is on the brink of what could become the worst famine the world has seen in decades. The country’s economy has collapsed amid a three-year-old war between a Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels. About 8.4 million are what the UN calls “severely food insecure” and at risk of starvation. To make matters worse, it’s increasingly clear that the humanitarian disaster in Yemen isn’t an unintended side effect of the war - but a deliberate effort to starve the population.

In late October, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad issued a directive to state officials: raise the minimum age for marriage to eighteen years old. The move came after a huge public outcry earlier this year after a 41-year-old Malay man married an 11-year-old Thai girl named Ayu. The man, Che Abdul Karim Che Abdul Hamid, was a successful rubber trader. Ayu, who became his third wife, was the daughter of an employee who worked for a family business. The case has highlighted the issue of

Climate change has brought more intense storms and worsening “king tides” that flood through homes and gardens in the low-lying Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Even more critically, the encroaching seas are threatening the country’s dwindling supplies of freshwater. Island nations like Kiribati have been among those most damaged already by climate change - and their situation is likely to grow worse. Nearly all of these emissions, of course, are generated in large countries thousands of miles

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at eugenics laws and forcible sterilization in both Japan and the U.S. – two countries with a surprisingly recent legacy of sterilizing people against their will. In Japan, a postwar eugenics law in force until 1996 cleared the way for the government to sterilize 25,000 people deemed unfit to reproduce. In the U.S., 32 states passed laws allowing authorities to sterilize people without their consent - and as many as 60,000 people were forcibly

Christine Blasey Ford was 100 percent certain Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. Kavanaugh was 100 percent certain he didn’t. But one figure that jumped out during Kavanaugh's recent U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings was this: 23 percent. That’s the percentage of women in the U.S. Senate, the body that voted to narrowly confirm him. Indeed the U.S. ranks 103 rd in the world in the share of women in national legislatures – behind countries like Saudi Arabia,

Just over a year ago Myanmar security forces were wrapping up a massive offensive against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. In a matter of weeks, more than 720,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh in what the head of Myanmar’s military called a “clearance operation” in the country’s Rakhine State. A recent U.N. report has shed new light on what happened in Myanmar, and accused the military of murder, mass rape and torture. It also called for several of Myanmar's top

Agreements with countries like Turkey, Sudan and Libya have helped the European Union dramatically cut the flow of migrants to the continent. But some of these partnerships have generated controversy amid concerns that the Libyan and Sudanese forces helping Europe keep migrants away are involved in the illegal detention, torture and trafficking of asylum-seekers. On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the costs and benefits of the EU's immigration policy and its efforts to stop would-be

Poland was once a model democracy in eastern Europe. Yet since 2015 when the populist Law and Justice party (PiS) won both the presidency and lower house of parliament, there have been big changes. Law and Justice has sought to force out judges deemed unsympathetic, shunned refugees and chilled the independent press – while tapping into resentment of the country's political elite and the European Union. The moves have strained ties with the EU, which has begun a process that could lead to