In an explosive interview to New Internationalist, the Kurdish female leader Bese Hozat opens up about peace, the party’s view on the region and the independence referendum in South Kurdistan, and accuses Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the West to have incubated Isis. By Karlos Zurutuza.

Emboldened by a recent study, The Guardian repeats the myth that becoming vegan is the ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth. Chris Saltmarsh and Harpreet Kaur Paul disagree.

The backlash against social media titans is in full swing. But are moves to bring them to heel, including new privacy laws, appropriate? Mike Morel investigates.

Can peacebuilders end the war with Boko Haram in Nigeria? Hazel Healy travels there to find out.

Trust in tatters. Business model busted. And journalism under attack from all sides. So why does Vanessa Baird think that the news media has a bright future?

Vanessa Baird sets out to see how dictatorship is being rebranded in Latin America’s most populous nation.

The Right has captured education all over the world. Hazel Healy makes the case for how to do things differently.

After 54 years of struggle under Indonesian rule, is freedom finally in sight for West Papua? Danny Chivers investigates.

Does it matter that Google, Facebook and Amazon are so successful? Vanessa Baird examines what their domination means for all of us.

SIM cards loaded with cash handed out across the country have been credited with staving off a Somali famine after warnings of an impending crisis in February. Roshni Majumdar reports.

Eritrean refugees who try to escape into neighbouring Sudan are caught up in a deadly stand-off between East Africa’s big powers – as European Union (EU) money aimed at keeping them there continues to roll in all the while writes Sally Hayden.

Update from India by Tom Lawson.

A Fantastic Woman, written and directed by Sebastián Lelio; Custody (Jusqu’à la garde), written and directed by Xavier Legrand.

A Massacre in Mexico by Anabel Hernández; Talking to North Korea by Glyn Ford; Russia Without Putin by Tony Wood; Crimson by Niviaq Korneliussen, translated by Anna Halagar.

Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo; Voice of Resistance by Rim Banna.

Not a sign of progress but a cause for alarm. Amy Booth reports from Cochabamba’s overlong dry season.

A profile of Afghan campaigner for women’s education and rights Jamila Afghani, who started by persuading the imams. Beena Nadeem talks to the unassuming trailblazer

Ego? Tick. Money? Tick. Power-hungry? Tick. A disaster for the world? Tick.

The impacts of racism can be seen in almost all aspects of everyday life. Black and indigenous people are more likely to be jailed or unemployed – that’s if they make it past childhood.

Inclusive rhetoric by Fiji’s PM is belied by police repression, reports Wame Valentine. And the economy’s in trouble. We profile Fiji today.

Oğuz Demir from Turkey with ‘Repression/Resistance’.