15 h. ago Soaring demand at food banks across Africa thanks to massive aid cuts

Food banks in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa say they are under increasing pressure, writes Nick Ferris – with aid cuts by Donald Trump’s US and other nations compounding the impact of the climate crisis and a spike in the cost of living

Politics

23 h. ago EU leaders say Ukraine should have freedom to decide its future ahead of Trump

Statement on Ukrainian sovereignty endorsed by all European Union leaders except for Hungary’s Viktor OrbánRead all our coverage of the Ukraine warAll but one of the European heads of state and government have said that Ukrainians must have the freedom to decide their future, ahead of a high-stakes summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.“Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,” the leaders said, adding that “we share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.” Continue reading...

Politics

24 h. ago ‘Do not buy these flats’: residents warn about unbearable heat inside London new

Experts say many new homes being built in the UK not designed to withstand extreme summer temperaturesLow-income and minority ethnic people in England most at risk from dangerously hot homesWhy UK housing is dangerously unprepared for impact of climate crisisFrom shutters to reflective paint: how to prevent UK homes overheatingThe sweltering conditions inside Leaside Lock, a new-build development in east London, are hardly a secret. Last June, a warning written in big, capital letters was stuck to the window of one flat. “DO NOT BUY THESE FLATS. TOO HOT,” it read.It was hard to miss for those walking past the looming high-rises and, after being snapped and posted on social media, the placard has garnered more than 500,000 views. More than a year on, during a summer when the UK recorded its second warmest June and fifth hottest July since 1884, residents say heat is still an issue. Continue reading...

Events

28 h. ago Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say

Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warmsThe climate crisis is driving a sharp rise in dengue fever cases across the Pacific islands, experts say, as infections hit their highest level in a decade and several countries declare emergencies.Pacific Island countries and territories have reported 16,502 confirmed cases and 17 deaths since the start of 2025, according to the Pacific Syndromic Surveillance System (PSSS), which collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other agencies. Infections across the region are at the highest level since 2016, the WHO said. Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are among the worst affected. Continue reading...

Events

36 h. ago ‘Death spiral’: Mekong River megafish have shrunk by half, study reveals

Fish once as large as grizzly bears have become far smaller in recent years due to overfishing, dams and climate crisisThe size of megafish in the Mekong River has shrunk alarmingly in recent years owing to overfishing, a study has found. The length of the largest and most endangered freshwater giants, some as big as grizzly bears, decreased by 40% in seven years.Some fish, like the Mekong giant catfish, have been studied for over a longer period and show a decline in weight of 55% in the past 25 years, dropping from an average of 180kg (397lb) to 80kg. Continue reading...

Events

40 h. ago Jeremy Clarkson shares 'catastrophic' farm news but fans point out same problem

Jeremy Clarkson has told fans of his Amazon Prime show, Clarkson's Farm, that another underwhelming harvest is in store for Diddly Squat farm due to the ongoing climate crisis

Politics

49 h. ago ‘We are on the frontline’: the ambitious plan to save an Alpine village from a climate catastrophe

A huge lake formed by a melting glacier above Pralognan-la-Vanoise could inundate the village – but a project is under way to stop itThe villagers of Pralognan-la-Vanoise in the French Alps know well the perils posed by the mountains that encircle them.Avalanches, rockfalls, mudslides, sudden crevices and torrents of water are within the living memory of most villagers, and every day the climate emergency throws up new dangers. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Mare’s Nest review – an opaque, challenging reflection on the end of the world

Locarno film festivalBen Rivers’s cine-poem, based on Don DeLillo’s climate crisis play The Word for Snow, follows a child’s strange encounters as she wanders in a postapocalyptic world devoid of adultsEnglish experimentalist Ben Rivers offers up another challenging, intriguing cine-poem, this time on the nature of existence and the end of the world. It is opaque but with flashes of strange brilliance, an adaptation of The Word for Snow, a one-act stage play by Don DeLillo from 2007 that reflected on the climate crisis.A child called Moon (Moon Guo Barker) wanders around a strange world, entirely peopled by other children, except for one eerie monochrome sequence in which Moon sees adult figures in some kind of underground tunnel, frozen in attitudes of dismay similar to the citizenry of Pompeii. In the course of her travels, bookended by clambering out of a crashed car and finally driving happily off, Moon has dreamlike encounters with these children who speak with the tongues of a...

Politics

4 d. ago This country won the battle against its maternal deaths crisis. Trump’s aid cuts could ruin all that

Twenty years ago, a shake-up of Ethiopia’s abortion law led the maternal mortality rate to dramatically fall. Doctors tell Rachel Schraer that progress could be about to go into reverse because of US funding cuts.

Events

4 d. ago College endowment tax is leading to hiring freezes and could mean cuts in financial aid

An increase in the tax on university endowments is creating financial challenges for the wealthiest U.S. colleges

Economics

5 d. ago Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’

Ex-fossil fuel executive Chris Wright said administration is reviewing national assessments made by past governmentsThe US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their “worst fears” were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would “update” the US’s premier climate crisis reports.Wright, a former oil and gas executive, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins earlier this week that the administration was reviewing national climate assessment reports published by past governments. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago UK aid cuts will cause untold damage, wildlife charities warn – as they fear for future of key programmes

Nick Ferris talks to groups around Britain and Africa about the cost-cutting that is already taking place, and the difficult few years ahead

Events

9 d. ago John Swinney urged to crackdown on plastic pollution 'fuelling climate crisis'

Eighteen environmental and civil groups have issued the call as international talks on plastics con

Events

1 week ago Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation

Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked researchA new Trump administration report which attempts to justify a mass rollback of environmental regulations is chock-full of climate misinformation, experts say.On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to undo the 2009 “endangerment finding”, which allows the agency to limit planet-heating pollution from cars and trucks, power plants and other industrial sources. Hours later, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a 150-page report defending the proposal, claiming scientific concern about the climate crisis is overblown. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Foreign aid cuts could lead to millions more dying from superbug infections by 2050, study warns

There could be excellent ‘value for money’ from global interventions, scientists say amid foreign aid cuts

Events

3 w. ago Malaria ‘back with a vengeance’ in Zimbabwe as number of deaths from the disease triple

Withdrawal of USAID funds threatens decades of progress, say experts, with cuts to research and shortage of mosquito nets putting thousands at risk across the countryZimbabwe’s efforts to control malaria have been dealt a huge blow as experts say the disease has returned “with a vengeance” after US aid cuts, with 115 outbreaks recorded in 2025 compared with only one last year.The sharp rise in cases comes six months after Donald Trump halted critical funding for US research and national response programmes. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago House Republicans pass Trump’s proposed aid and public broadcasting cuts

Proposal heads to president’s desk to be signed after party-line vote was delayed by Jeffrey Epstein controversyHouse Republicans passed Donald Trump’s funding cut proposal just after midnight on Friday – clawing back $9bn in federal dollars.The vote was split on party lines, 216-213, with two Republicans, Mike Turner of Ohio and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, opposing the package alongside all Democrats. The proposal will now go to the president’s desk to be signed and codified. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago The Latest: House approves Trump’s $9 billion cut to public broadcasting and foreign aid

Republican majorities in both houses of Congress have now approved President Donald Trump’s clawback of about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid that lawmakers had appropriated

Politics

3 w. ago ‘We’re the canary in the coalmine’: when will Russia take action on the climate?

World’s fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases pays lip service to tackling climate crisis and, with fossil fuels central to regime’s legitimacy, it seems happier with status quoSource of figures at top: World Economic Outlook Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Young, educated and knee deep in rubbish: the recyclers cleaning up in Cairo’s Garbage City

Piles of waste line the streets of Manshiyet Nasr, turning it into a no-go zone for many. But a new generation see themselves as agents of change in the fight against plastic pollutionWhen Mina Nedi graduated with a nursing degree last year, his friends and family expected him to start working in one of Egypt’s overstretched hospitals. Instead, the 25-year-old decided to join his father’s recycling business in Manshiyet Nasr, a neighbourhood on Cairo’s eastern outskirts known as Garbage City.Every day, he sorts through thousands of plastic bottles, collected by a team of men who roam the city at night to pick up rubbish, separating them by colour and compressing them into large bundles with the help of a machine, ready to be sold for recycling and reuse.Mina Nedi, 25, has been working as a plastic collector for five years and funded his university education with it Continue reading...

Politics