Dilok Klaisataporn/Shutterstock The tense triangular relationship between the US, China and Taiwan has emerged once again amid escalating military tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The status of the small, densely populated island off the southeast coast of the Chinese mainland is hotly contested and there are almost daily news reportsContinue Reading
Nations around the world made a vital climate crisis declaration to save forests within the next decade. Can they actually do it?Continue Reading
Labour leader Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of his shadow cabinet has ended up proving far-reaching in scope. This changing of the guard is clearly the sequel to a piecemeal reshuffle in May that was botched because of a struggle between Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner. We are about halfway throughContinue Reading
At 320 years old, Bevis Marks in London is the oldest continually functioning synagogue in Europe. So it is perhaps unsurprising that recent plans to erect two (very tall) skyscrapers overshadowing the building have led to angry opposition. One 48-story tower, planned to be built in nearby Bury Street, wasContinue Reading
Updated: 12.50pm A case of the Covid-19 Omicron variant has been detected in Ireland. The news was confirmed at a National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) briefing on Wednesday after a batch of eight cases were subjected to genetic sequencing to determine their strain. It is understood the case wasContinue Reading
In late August 2021, the US completed its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year occupation. The Taliban retook the country with shocking speed. The Islamic fundamentalist political group was founded in 1994 and controlled most of Afghanistan until the US-led campaign ousted it in 2001. Now it facesContinue Reading
The author has an evening cuppa while searching for a lost convoy of medical supplies – in remote Zibok district (1996). © Sippi Azarbaijani Moghaddam, Author provided It was April 1995, and I was preparing to travel to Afghanistan for my first volunteer post with a UK charity. I hadContinue Reading
The Ministry of Justice is banking on England and Wales’ prison numbers rising by 23.7% by March 2026, predicting that the prison population will climb from 79,580 to 98,500. Matched by an intention to build space for 20,000 extra prison places, this would take numbers to an all-time high forContinue Reading
Fifty-five years after gaining independence from Britain in 1966, Barbados has become a republic – and other Commonwealth countries, where support for the monarchy is becoming more volatile than ever, could well follow in its wake. The change to a republic has been a long time coming for the 300,000Continue Reading
Train journeys have been embraced as climate-friendly travel. Michael715/Shutterstock Air travel is often presented as desirable, despite its high environmental cost. In Sweden, however, a movement advocating avoiding flying has gained influence since 2016, and has started to change the way travel is portrayed in the Swedish media. Going onContinue Reading
