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Of the outstanding journalism that I am proud to say our team here at global development produce every week, the past ten days have seen three standout pieces that fulfilled our remit of going deep behind the international headlines to give a voice to those people whose lives are affected by global events.

Mark Townsend’s forensic piece on the terrible two October days of the El Fasher massacre was a masterclass in how to piece together a story through witness accounts and from international sources in authority.

As his piece makes clear, UK and US governments were told that, after beseiging Darfur’s capital for 500 days, the Sudanese RSF militia fully intended a bloodbath of its citizens when they finally overran the city.

The UN has said El Fasher has all the “hallmarks of a genocide”.

Despite the humanitarian situation in Sudan, another war has overtaken it in the minds of most people as the US began its assault on Iran. Tess McClure and Shah Meer Baloch’s interviews with four of the families of children killed in the US missile attack on the Iranian primary school in Minab was absolutely heart-wrenching.

An estimated 160 children and teachers died in the strike, and the accounts from the day of the bewildered parents brought the unimaginable horror home.

Another journalistic achievement this week was getting out the story that Dr Mahrang Baloch wanted to tell. A human rights activist and leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), she is being held in a 20 sq metre cell in a Pakistan jail, but we were able to reach her and have the words she spoke carefully transcribed. The go-between responsible has to have their name withheld for fear of reprisals.

All these stories we told were terrible ones, and nothing can change what happened. But documenting them feels pretty important right now, when so much is overlooked amid the regressive regime of the US president and the tremendous suffering of millions living through conflict.

Tracy McVeigh, editor, Global development

The world in brief

Africa | Activists and lawyers are calling for urgent action to combat a surge in digital violence across the continent, particularly affecting women, girls and boys. A huge rise in internet users under the age of 30 has fuelled an increase in online violence with devastating real-life effects.

Tanzania | A woman with severe intellectual disabilities has had her sentence overturned after more than a decade in prison on death row. Lemi Limbu, remains in prison and will now face retrial for the murder of her daughter, with activists saying she should not be in prison at all

Myanmar | For three years, a group of nurses have been studying at a secret school in the jungle, dodging airstrikes and spy drones. Last week, the first students graduated, ready to treat displaced people and pro-democracy fighters unable to risk government-run hospitals

Spotlight

Over two days in October 2025, up to 10,000 people are believed to have been massacred in the Sudanese city of El Fasher; a further 40,000 civilians are still unaccounted for. We tell the story of the heroism and horror of those two days – and of the international political failure that allowed it to happen.

Top picks

• ‘The whole country is doing it’: how illegal kidney traders target Pakistan’s desperate brick kiln workers

• ‘Prosthetics aren’t made for people like us’: the brothers creating innovative artificial limbs for Africans

• ‘Her head was broken’: parents at Iranian school bombed by US describe their worst day

Rights and freedom

• ‘It does feel like an intimidation campaign’: why is US tech giant Palantir suing a small Swiss magazine?

• ‘There’s no ceasefire’: Gaza paramedic and father of two killed as civilian death toll since October passes 650

Opinion and analysis

• In Gaza, the joy of Eid has gone. Visiting relatives at the end of Ramadan is a procession through loss | Ahmed Kamal Junina

• Spending more on defence and less on aid does not mean walking away from our values and responsibilities | Yvette Cooper

Southern frontlines

• How weaving, glamping and kayak tours are helping to tackle deforestation in Argentina’s Gran Chaco

• ‘Agriculture of life’: the Rio families growing bananas to protect the world’s largest urban forest

Read this

Publishing icon Margaret Busby has compiled a book of her own writing. Part of the Story provides a rich insight into the people, places and politics that have shaped her life, from her childhood in Ghana to the Black writers, intellectuals, artists and activists she has worked with and championed for over half a century as Britain’s youngest – and first Black woman – publisher.