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‘Warned but not protected’: Four in ten adults in England ignore heat alerts
As amber heat-health alerts spread across England this summer, a new study has found that the warnings are being received – but not changing behaviour.
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‘Ebola is winning’: Epidemic now killing one person every 30 minutes
The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – the fastest-growing on record and on track to become the deadliest – is killing one person every 30 minutes.
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900 obstacles and counting: West Bank families trapped as aid access shrinks
Humanitarians continue to provide life-saving assistance to people across the Occupied Palestinian Territory despite facing obstacles such as checkpoints, instability and access restrictions, the United Nations said on Friday.
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An attack on healthcare every six hours, and no one held to account
Across the world, healthcare has suffered more than 10,000 attacks in the past eight years, including during the brutal conflict in Ukraine and efforts to contain the current Ebola outbreak spreading rapidly in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
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Meth trafficking across Middle East becoming more advanced, UNODC warns
Authorities in Iran intercepted 3,663 kilogrammes of methamphetamines headed for Europe and the Persian Gulf in the first quarter of 2026, according to the UN’s drugs and crime fighting agency (UNODC).
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Sudan: The harrowing reality of giving birth in a war zone
Sudanese women about to give birth are losing their babies and sometimes their own lives because of a lack of specialist healthcare support, amid the ongoing war, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
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Colombia quake: In Cali’s ruins, an ‘overwhelming sense of humanity’
In one of the cities hardest hit by the earthquake that struck Colombia, hundreds of people are still waiting for news of missing relatives, friends and neighbours.
Will the world’s drying lands get relief from COP17 in Mongolia?
Starting on Monday, about 10,000 government negotiators, scientists, journalists and campaigners will gather at a purpose-built venue in a national park in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar to discuss how to stop land turning into desert as the world warms. Drought is currently sweeping much of the Northern hemisphere, leaving normally green urban parks looking like dry […]
Pushing the climate crisis: How advertising fuels high-carbon lifestyles
Dr Victoria Harvey is a researcher and senior carbon consultant who focuses on the UK advertising industry. Helen Phillips’ book, ‘Hum’, is set in a dystopian near future, in a city suffering the effects of climate breakdown and with dire air quality. Robots (the Hums) press advertising messages during conversations, meetings and even as they […]
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When the earth moves: six major earthquakes of 2026
Colombia, Venezuela, Mindanao: Thousands have died in powerful earthquakes this year. Six such events show that the magnitude of the quake is not the only factor determining the scale of the disaster.