Singapore to limit police access to COVID-19 contact-tracing data

Explicit limitations of use of contact-tracing data are needed, but governments can still change their minds, activists warn

Biden to issue executive orders on asylum, legal immigration, separated families

Biden aims to reunite families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border and will call for review of a Trump-era rule making it harder for poorer migrants to stay in the United States

First woman head of UK Muslim council targets stereotypes and COVID

Zara Mohammed, new head of the Muslim Council of Britain, wants to tackle Islamophobia and stereotypes around Muslim women

'I was crying': Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirl phones home after seven years

Halima and her sister were among more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants

Forget no one: U.S. cities use real-time data to end homelessness

The Built for Zero program says a pause on the annual federal homeless count could help local officials tackle the problem

Torture, forced labour rife in N. Korea, UN says as U.S. mulls sanctions

A U.N. report citing interviews with former detainees said there were "consistent and credible accounts" of beatings, starvation and forced labour in North Korea's prisons

India plans database to help informal workers access state aid

Some 90% of India's 450 million workers work informally and struggled to get pandemic aid

Rural South African nurses fear being forgotten in vaccine roll-out

After PPE shortages during the pandemic, nurses in far-flung areas fear they could be left behind in the country's vaccine roll-out

Biden's pro-LGBT+ order sets stage for trans rights showdown

U.S. President Joe Biden’s pro-LGBT+ legislative agenda could inflame a culture war with more conservative states over transgender rights

Want a stronger world after COVID-19? Choose more women leaders

Kamala Harris's appointment as U.S. vice president could encourage other countries, says U.N. Women's Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

From gene sequencing to chocolate, Brazil's Amazon looks for a new development model

President Jair Bolsonaro's push to develop the Amazon through expanded mining and farming has led to surging deforestation. Is there an alternative?

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OPINION: Agency is key to reducing slavery – and boosting post-COVID growth

Giving people more control over their labour and the money it generates can both reduce slavery and spur significant economic growth