International report

A project by India’s National Highways Authority to build a massive road across an urban forest in Gurgaon, a suburb next to the national capital, has residents up in arms. They say it will disrupt the area’s rich biodiversity.

The Aravali biodiversity park is a forest, stretching over 380 acres, showcasing abundant flora. It is also a pristine habitat for hundreds of species of birds and animals like civet cats and jackals.

When the highway authority and the Gurgaon Metropolitan Development Authority proposed to build a 2 kilometer highway through the park recently, it led to protests and anger.

Nearly 700 Palestinians in East Jerusalem may soon face house eviction procedures. This after the Israeli High Court rejected their appeal which argued against the method of transfer of ownership of a plot of land to the right-wing settlers group Ateret Cohanim.

Critics say Ateret Cohanim explicitly works to change the demographics of East Jerusalem in favor of a Jewish majority.

The plot of land in question was the site of a Jewish neighbourhood up until 1938, but its inhabitants were removed during the height of a Palestinian revolt against British mandate policies.

Under Israeli law only Jews can reclaim properties lost in the 1948 conflict, but the same law does not apply to Palestinians.

Correspondent Ibrahim Husseini reports from Silwan:

It’s been 70 years since the United Nations launched its first peacekeeping mission in 1948.

Back then, peacekeeping missions only accepted men.

And that hasn’t changed much -- today, only only around five percent of peacekeepers are women.

But the UN is now trying to change that.

Benedict Moran has this report from Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Some of the most important artifacts were taken away from what is now modern-day Nigeria during the colonial era.

But they may soon be on their way back.

The Benin Bronzes, consisting of hundreds of pieces of works dating back several centuries, were plundered from the palace of the Oba of Benin, in South West Nigeria, by British forces in 1897 during a punitive expedition.

The works are spread around museums in Europe and the United States.

For several decades the Nigerian government and the Oba of Benin's Palace have been requesting the return of the artifacts.

Now a deal is being worked out with some European museums for their return.

Sam Olukoya reports from Benin city in Nigeria.

In the United States, there are more firearms than people.

And the right to own guns remains popular, especially in rural states like Alaska.

But the country's premier gun rights group the National Rifle Association,  has aligned itself closely with President Donald Trump leaving left-leaning gun owners looking for alternatives.

Correspondent Jacob Resneck profiles a new group: the Socialist Rifle Association.

On November 21st, 2018, exactly a year to the day has gone by since a coup led to the resignation of former leader Robert Mugabe, in Zimbabwe.

His resignation, this day last year....  was received with wild celebrations.... and many Zimbabweans entertained hopes, change was on its way.

A year later Zimbabweans feel cheated and nothing has changed and are debating if the country could be suffering as the coup was executed in November, a sacred month.

John Cassim reports from Harare, Zimbabwe

Since 2015, three million Venezuelans have fled economic and political crisis in their homeland.

That's according to an announcement made in early November by the United Nations.

Over a million Venezuelans have sought refuge in neighbouring Colombia and are trying to peice together their lives.

Correspondent Emily Wright has this report from Bogotà.

Nicaragua's opposition has been asking for President Daniel Ortega to step down for more than six months now. But the repression against it has been brutal.

Opponents to the regime have been arrested, jailed, injured and even killed, Amnesty International has reported.

One sector has stood by them all along: the Church. Its has had a key role in preventing more captures and deaths. Alix Hardy met with its members in Managua, Nicaragua in this third report in four-part series.

In Nicaragua human rights organisations have grown increasingly concerned about the government’s crackdown on protesters. More than 320 people have been killed in more than six months of unrest.

Daniel Ortega’s government has also been seeking to arrest anyone who played a role in the uprising against him.

Over 500 opponents are currently in jail and many political dissidents have had to go into hiding to avoid being arrested and tried.

Alix Hardy reports in this final report in a four-part series.

Nicaragua has been in crisis for more than six months now. A large part of the population wants the president gone. Some 320 people have been killed in the unrest and more than 40,000 have fled the country.

So far President Daniel Ortega and his wife have remained deaf to the demand for early elections.

Once admired revolutionaries with the Sandanista movement during the 1980s, they are now appear more and more isolated in their quest to stay in power.

Alix Hardy has this second report in a series of four from Managua.