Tim McDonnell

Garment workers in Indonesia are eligible for generous severance if they're laid off — although that law could be changing.

The $4 Million Severance Payout That Almost Didn't Happen

Tim McDonnell

Workers in Indonesia are beneficiaries of incredibly generous severance laws. But when one factory closed, it looked as if the workers wouldn't get what they expected.

An employee walks past a power plant's electricity pylons in Lagos, Nigeria. Power shortages are particularly a problem for Nigeria's booming tech industry, which accounts for nearly 14% of the country's GDP.

NPR Headlines

The Powerlessness Of Nigeria's Tech Startups

Tim McDonnell

The big problem for these booming businesses isn't staff shortages, government regulations or software glitches. It's all about the electrical grid.

Ugali, a staple starch in many parts of Africa, is filling but lacking in micronutrients.

NPR Headlines

Could 'Hidden Hunger' Be Conquered With A Particle The Size Of A Grain Of Salt?

Tim McDonnell

To pack a healthier punch into staple foods like flour, researchers borrowed technology from the pharmaceutical industry.

Displaced Kurdish and Arab women, who fled from violence after a Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria, sit with their children at a public school used as shelter where they now live in Hasakah, Syria.

International headlines

UNICEF's Top Syria Official: 'We Have Witnessed Huge Amounts Of Distress' Among Kids

Tim McDonnell

Turkey's invasion of Syria this month has displaced 80,000 children who are "really in deep distress," UNICEF's Fran Equiza tells NPR. "The price children pay is absolutely disproportionate."

A blood transfusion bag hangs in an operating room in a hospital in the Republic of Congo. Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have a huge gap between blood supply and demand, new research found.

International headlines

Hospitals Around The World Have A Dire Shortage Of Blood

Tim McDonnell

The first global analysis of blood supply and demand finds that many developing countries are relying on risky emergency donations.

International headlines

Childhood Obesity Is Rising 'Shockingly Fast' — Even In Poor Countries

Tim McDonnell

A comprehensive new report from UNICEF calls attention to the surge in obesity in developing countries — even as they're dealing with children who are undernourished.

Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, where a hospital was shuttered because of the fighting.

NPR Headlines

Turkey's Invasion Of Syria Worsens A Humanitarian Crisis

Tim McDonnell

A front-line hospital was abandoned Friday as up to 100,000 people fled Turkey's ground and air offensive.