WALTHAM, Massachusetts — Modern-day slaves are working on some of the commercial fishing boats in New Zealand’s waters. And the fish they catch are being sold to a number of seafood exporters which reach retailers and restaurants worldwide, including in the United States.

These are the findings of research published by Bloomberg Businessweek that recently took New Zealand by storm. The investigation revealed shocking news that threatened the “100 percent pure” tagline that promotes New Zealand’s much-lauded environmental efforts to keep waters healthy and fish stocks sustainable.

During the six-month, three-continent investigation, dozens of fishermen told American journalist E. Benjamin Skinner haunting stories about abusive treatment. On at least 10 vessels fishing in New Zealand’s waters, Indonesian recruits reported that they had not been paid for their work, that they lived in squalid conditions, and encountered intimidation, violence or sexual abuse.

Their recruiters had rushed them to sign contracts holding them to $3,500 bonds — an amount in some cases exceeding their net worth — if they ended their two-year contract on the vessel early for any reason not approved by the vessel operators.

NEW YORK — The 19th annual World Water Day recently featured an abundance of events all over the world. This international day, to raise awareness about the importance of preserving freshwater resources, has gained wider attention in recent years as access to safe water has become a major modern development priority.

But the focus has not been as intense for the less sexy side of the water story: sanitation, toilets and hygiene. Together, they have the potential to save many more lives at a lower cost than just providing access to clean water.

The international community should grasp the opportunity to combat the preventable diseases of poverty — specifically diarrheal diseases and infections — through improving access to sanitation and hygiene. This is a holistic approach that embraces health-care systems as opposed to solely water-based strategies.

More than 780 million people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water. This number is dwarfed by the approximately 2.5 billion people — 37 percent of the developing world’s population — for whom no suitable sanitation facilities are available, according the United Nations Children's Fund.

WASHINGTON — It is often assumed the US Department of State is a Luddite holdout. Books, like the recently published, “State of Disrepair,” bemoan its old-fashioned ways. But in the field of technological innovation, or ediplomacy, that analysis misses the mark.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The horror tales are legion.

Masked security forces abducted an orthopedic surgeon from his operating room and tortured him while in detention in Bahrain.

Loyalist Gaddafi soldiers held an anesthesiologist in a shipping container for 16 days in Libya, where he witnessed soldiers execute five of his fellow captives as others died from suffocation.

An Egyptian military sniper shot and killed a young medic in Cairo as he tried to reach wounded demonstrators.