International students across the U.S. are losing their visas without warning. For many, the only explanation is a dream turned nightmare—and a government no longer pretending to welcome us.
Asia
Find articles here relating to different issues, cultures and people on the continent of Asia, home to 48 countries, or about people of Asian descent around the world.
We Will Reach Over 1 Million Women in Prison Worldwide if Action Is Not Taken
With far-right agendas gaining traction, anti-rights movements growing and attacks on women’s rights intensifying, the escalating use of the law as a weapon against women—such as through the criminalization of abortion—serves as a stark call for collective action.
A Post-Dobbs Alternative for Reproductive Autonomy? Menstrual Regulation.
Menstrual regulation, or bringing back a missed or late period, is a common cultural practice across the globe, including the United States. It typically involves “period pills” to induce a period, such as mifepristone and misoprostol, and can be practiced legally in countries where abortion is illegal, like Bangladesh and Cuba. Offering a method to manage menstrual cycles openly grants reproductive autonomy, without shame or taboo. Critically, menstrual regulation is not viewed as an abortion, even though mifepristone and misoprostol are involved.
‘Everything Fell Apart in Seconds’: Women and Girls Need Urgent Support After Disastrous Earthquake in Myanmar
“I’ve lived here all my life, but I have never experienced anything as devastating as this earthquake,” said 55-year-old Than in Mandalay, her voice trembling. “Everything fell apart in seconds.”
On March 28, 2025, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, devastating communities across the regions of Mandalay, Sagaing and beyond. Homes crumbled, bridges collapsed and essential services were brought to a halt. The disaster left thousands dead and injured, and countless others—especially women and girls—battling to survive.
Ms. Global: Spanish Police Target Trafficking Ring, A Historic Ruling in the African Court of Human And People’s Rights, and More
The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.
This week: news from Japan, Tanzania, Guatemala, and more.
USAID’s History Shows Decades of Good Work on Behalf of America’s Global Interests
The Trump administration’s sudden dismantling of nearly all foreign aid, including the work carried out by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has upended the government agency’s longtime strategic role in implementing American foreign policy.
USAID is a government agency that, for more than 63 years, has led the United States’ foreign aid work on disaster recovery, poverty reduction and democratic reforms in many developing and middle-income countries. USAID’s budget has always been small—but USAID’s projects have had an outsized effect on the world.
Women’s History Month: Five Groundbreaking Researchers Who Mapped the Ocean Floor, Tested Atomic Theories, Vanquished Malaria and More
Behind some of the most fascinating scientific discoveries and innovations are women whose names might not be familiar but whose stories are worth knowing:
—Marie Tharp revolutionized oceanography by mapping the seafloor, uncovering a rift valley that helped prove plate tectonic theory.
—Margaret Morse Nice transformed ornithology with her empathetic study of song sparrows, pioneering methods still used today.
—Tu Youyou led groundbreaking research in Maoist China, extracting artemisinin from traditional medicine, which became a lifesaving malaria treatment.
—Emmy Noether, a mathematical genius praised by Einstein, overcame systemic barriers to make foundational contributions to theoretical physics.
—Chien-Shiung Wu, an atomic physicist, played a critical role in the Manhattan Project and experimentally disproved a long-standing nuclear theory … though her male colleagues received the Nobel Prize for the discovery.
And the Oscar for Best Documentary Should Go to … ‘Black Box Diaries’
Black Box Diaries is a powerful, Oscar-nominated documentary that follows journalist and survivor Shiori Ito’s fight for justice after being raped by a powerful media figure in Japan. Using cinéma vérité techniques, surreptitious audio recordings and intimate self-documentation, Ito exposes the systemic failures that silenced her while capturing the emotional toll of her struggle.
The film highlights the global reach of the #MeToo movement and the stark realities of patriarchal impunity, culminating in a historic victory: the 2023 inclusion of consent in Japan’s rape law.
Weaponizing Aid: How U.S. Policies Undermine Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Crises
U.S. policies like the global gag rule (GGR) have long restricted access to reproductive healthcare worldwide, but their impact on refugee women and girls in humanitarian crises is often overlooked. By cutting funding to NGOs that provide or even discuss abortion care, the GGR limits essential services such as contraception, post-abortion care, and maternal health support for millions of displaced women. In conflict zones and refugee camps, where healthcare is already scarce, these restrictions leave women without options, increasing the risks of unsafe abortions, maternal mortality and gender-based violence.
As the U.S. continues to wield foreign aid as a political tool, the lives of the world’s most vulnerable women hang in the balance.
Wombs for Hire: Inside Europe’s Underground Surrogacy Networks
The legal landscape of surrogacy remains a complex patchwork across nations, with some countries embracing it while others maintain strict prohibitions. This inconsistency in regulations has created gray areas.
Scientific research highlights the possibility of abuse arising from gaps in legal frameworks and disputes, whether surrogacy is legal or not. It points to unethical practices such as trafficking of women, coercion of both surrogates and prospective parents by agencies, lack of respect for bodily autonomy or informed consent, ‘sham’ procedures and multiple embryo exchanges.
Amid this contentious landscape, the European Parliament Council took decisive action on Jan. 23, 2024, reaching a provisional agreement to classify exploitative surrogacy practices as human trafficking. The measure was formally adopted on May 27, 2024. The new framework imposes strict penalties on those who exploit women through forced surrogacy or deceptive practices, while establishing comprehensive support systems for victims. E.U. member states must implement these protections into their national legislation within two years.