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Reverse Aging, Mole In Iran, Precious Ukraine: The Year's Most Popular Worldcrunch Stories

Reverse Aging, Mole In Iran, Precious Ukraine: The Year's Most Popular Worldcrunch Stories
Worldcrunch

Here are the 10 most-read articles of the past year:

Escape From Foxconn: Inside The COVID Lockdown Chaos Blocking China's iPhone Production

THE INITIUM

Around China, Zero-COVID policy has shut down entire towns and workplaces. But in the high-tech Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, famous for cranking out iPhones, employees were forced to work even if they tested positive. Exclusive testimony from some of those who fled Foxconn premises last week.

Wartime News And French Sunshine: A Cry In The Dark For My Precious Ukraine

WORLDCRUNCH

Our Ukrainian journalist has another job to help pay the bills: at a luxury hotel in the South of France. It brings the stark contrast of her life right now, and the risks facing her native country, into desperately sharp relief.

Benjamin Button For Real? Scientists Are Close To Cracking The Code To Reverse Aging

LES ECHOS

The discovery that earned Japan's Shinya Yamanaka the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine has paved the way for new research proving that aging is a reversible process. Currently just being tested on lab mice, will the cellular reprogramming soon offer eternal youth?

Syria, The Laboratory For Putin's Brutality In Ukraine

LA RAZON

Putin is increasing his attacks on Ukrainian civilians and may be preparing to use chemical weapons. But these horrific tactics are not new — they were perfected by the Russian army during a brutal war in Syria.

I Don't Want Children Because I Don't Want Children

LA STAMPA

Italy's low fertility rate and lack of support for young people have become a hot topic. But economic and social conditions are not what's stopping all Italian women from having children. Some simply want to do other things with their lives. Does that make them selfish, asks Italian writer Simonetta Sciandivasci.

Hu Jintao Ejected, My Grandpa's Advice — A Personal Reflection On Xi Jinping

WORLDCRUNCH

The 20th congress of the Chinese Communist Party ended as we knew it would: with Xi Jinping's well-choreographed anointment for a third term and the naming of a politburo completely loyal to him. Scary stuff for China's future, our journalist writes ...

Meet Karina Pintarelli: The First Recognized Trans Survivor Of Argentina’s Dictatorship

AGENCIA PRESENTES

Now 64, transgender poet and activist Karina Pintarelli suffered police torture under the military dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s. After a long legal fight, she became the first trans victim of the regime to be granted monetary reparations by the Argentine Justice Ministry for persecution inflicted because of her gender identity.

Iran Protests, Dissent In The Ranks: Interview With A Mole Inside The Revolutionary Guard

KAYHAN-LONDON

A member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards tells Kayhan-London that while they must stay hidden, "many" policemen, soldiers and officials sympathize with the mass protests against the Islamist regime. He also shares information about Iran's role in the Ukraine war.

​Crypto And Cannabis, Best Buds At Last

AMERICA ECONOMIA

As cannabis is legalized in more places, investors are taking note. One Luxembourg-based, Uruguayan-led fund has found an innovative way to bypass banking obstacles and raise capital.

​The Queen’s Death Is The Perfect Time To Talk About What's Wrong With The Monarchy

WORLDCRUNCH

Not everyone in Britain is mourning the death of the Queen. There is increasing concern about how the monarch's death is being used to repress freedom of expression and protest.

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Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

The HIV-Positive Ugandans Putting Anti-AIDS Campaign At Risk

“Elite controllers” are those who have HIV but show no symptoms. They’re proving a roadblock to the country’s otherwise promising anti-infection campaign.

The HIV-Positive Ugandans Putting Anti-AIDS Campaign At Risk

A woman in Kampala, Uganda, holds her HIV treatment drugs. The government estimates that about 200,000 Ugandans living with HIV are not taking antiretroviral medication.

Nakisanze Segawa

LWENGO, UGANDA — Ahmed was certain the test result was wrong. It was 2003, and he and his five months-pregnant wife were at a health facility where she was getting a checkup. As staff did for all expectant parents, a worker prodded them to get tested for HIV. Ahmed’s wife tested negative. He did not. “I thought it was impossible, that my results must have been mistakenly switched with another person’s,” he says. That week, he took two more tests. Both confirmed he was infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

Health workers and Ahmed’s four wives begged him to start antiretroviral therapy, a cocktail of medications that prevents the virus from multiplying and reduces a person’s likelihood of spreading HIV and developing AIDS. At the time, Ahmed was in his early 40s; to his family, forgoing treatment seemed like courting a premature death. But he didn’t feel sick — no fever, chills or other symptoms — so he refused. Accepting treatment would have meant accepting a diagnosis he didn’t entirely believe, and the stigma that came with it.

Ahmed lives in Lwengo, a town about 165 kilometers (102 miles) southwest of Kampala, the capital. Amid a sweep of banana, cassava and coffee fields, small, white-roofed houses, and tarmacked roads, HIV is something to hide lest neighbors shun or mock a person as a “walking dead.” (That’s why Ahmed asked to be identified only by his first name.)

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Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

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