What role has hip-hop played in activism? From the 1980s, hip-hop has essentially enabled marginalised voices to break through to the mainstream. The song Girl (Cocaine) That’s Your Life, released by Too Short in 1985, explores the gritty reality of a woman entrenched in street culture, examining her daily struggles, difficult decisions, and the inevitable repercussions of her chosen lifestyle. Since age thirteen what have I seenA lotto...

Foreign rescue teams and supplies have arrived in Myanmar to help the impoverished country cope with a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that killed more than 1,600 people and left thousands wounded. The deadly quake, followed by a second magnitude 6.4 tremor, hit midday on Friday with an epicentre near Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, bringing down dozens of buildings and damaging infrastructure, such as the airport. Myanmar’s neighbours –...

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had little to celebrate as they marked Eid al-Fitr with rapidly dwindling food supplies and no end in sight to the Israeli bombardment. Many held prayers outside demolished mosques on the day marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, as at least 20 Palestinians were killed on Sunday, most of them women and children. The Muslim festival is supposed to be...