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Lifeguards on the beach at the Boatyard Beach Club in Bridgetown, Barbados, ensure safety on the turquoise blue sea, on January 7, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Caribbean islands come together, “Gen Z” protests hit Morocco, Afghanistan cut off from the world
Four Caribbean countries go border-free
The Caribbean island nations of Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have launched an EU-style free movement deal, letting citizens live and work across borders without permits. The move aims to curb the Caribbean’s longstanding brain drain of skilled workers who leave for North America and Europe. Critics worry it may mean tougher job competition in some of the countries, but supporters say that if the rollout goes smoothly more Caribbean countries could join, a big step toward binding the region’s economies and cultures more tightly together.
Yet another “Gen Z” protest…
First it was Indonesia, then Nepal, then came Timor-Leste, then it was Peru, and then Madagascar. Now, “Gen Z” protesters are going after the government in Morocco. Hundreds took to the streets of the normally stable North African nation of 37-million people to call for better social services and an end to corruption. They also denounced the amount of money the government has spent on building new soccer stadiums – Morocco is set to co-host the World Cup in 2030. Although GenZ 212, the group that organized the protests, urged demonstrators to stay peaceful, some torched cars and buildings and clashed with police.
Afghanistan goes dark
Afghanistan is entering its third day of a nationwide communications blackout after the Taliban government reportedly slashed more than 99% of the country’s internet and phone services on Monday, halting air travel, business, banking, and much of daily life. Officials cited morality concerns, but rights groups say the move is aimed at isolating Afghans and tightening control. The blackout is particularly difficult for Afghan women: internet access had allowed them to maintain access to the outside world after the Taliban curtailed their freedoms and career opportunities following their 2021 takeover.
US President Donald Trump, King Charles III, First Lady Melania Trump and Queen Camilla during the ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, on day one of the president's second state visit to the UK, on September 17, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Trump’s UK state visit begins, Brazil court fines Bolsonaro for racist comment, Ecuadorians protest new gold mine, & More
150: Pageantry will dominate the first day of US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom on Wednesday, culminating with an exclusive 150-person white-tie state banquet, featuring a toast to the president by King Charles III. The harder-edged politics will come on Thursday, when Trump meets with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
1 million: Days after being sentenced to 27 years in prison for fomenting a coup, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is in trouble with the law again. A federal court ordered him to pay a fine of 1 million reais ($188,865) for a racist comment he made to a Black supporter in 2021, telling him that his hair was a “cockroach breeding ground.”
$400 million: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is investing $400 million in satellite internet in a bid to improve the country’s drastically low connectivity rate. Only one in three Congolese is connected to the mobile internet. The company completing the project is co-owned by the Turkmenistan government.
90,000: An estimated 90,000 protestors took to the streets of Cuenca in central Ecuador to protest the construction of the Loma Larga gold mine there. Local residents are concerned the Canadian-run project will contaminate a critical water reserve.
47: Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream giant that he founded 47 years ago in protest against its parent company Unilever for limiting his firm’s social activism. Greenfield is an outspoken progressive, and previously tussled with Unilever when Ben & Jerry’s refused to sell ice cream to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
How can we bridge the "digital Grand Canyon"?
The UN likes to say that having half the world's population offline is like a "digital Grand Canyon" of exclusion. So, how can we bridge it? The International Communications Union's Doreen Bogdan-Martin says that the only way is to get all concerned parties — the UN, governments, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society — to work together. "No one can do this alone. We need all hands on deck."
Bogdan-Martin weighed in during a Global Stage livestream conversation hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft during the 76th UN General Assembly.
Learn more: Should internet be free for everyone? A Global Stage debate
We'll never fix America's internet without measuring access properly, says FCC chair
Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chair of the US Federal Communications Commission, says mapping the real state of America's broadband access is flawed because a single subscriber in a rural area doesn't mean everyone is online. "You don't have to be a data maven to understand that that likely overstates service," she notes, and underscores the need to develop more accurate systems. "We're never going to manage the problems we don't measure."
Rosenworcel weighed in during a Global Stage livestream conversation hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft during the 76th UN General Assembly.
Learn more: Should internet be free for everyone? A Global Stage debate