44 h. ago 'Beautiful secret escape' is medieval French town 'similar to a fairytale'

Le Malzieu-Ville in the south of France is a medieval town that looks like it's straight out of a storybook, and it's been named the country's 'most beautiful secret escape'

Society

45 h. ago Deadly floods and storms affected more than 400,000 people in Europe in 2024

European State of the Climate report ‘lays bare’ impact of fossil fuels on continent during its hottest 12 months on recordThe home-wrecking storms and floods that swept Europe last year affected 413,000 people, a report has found, as fossil fuel pollution forced the continent to suffer through its hottest year on record.Dramatic scenes of cars piled up on inundated streets and bridges being ripped away by raging torrents were seen around the continent in 2024, with “high” floods on 30% of the European river network and 12% crossing the “severe” flood threshold, according to the European State of the Climate report. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Vultures are among the least loved animals. African conservationists are trying to change that

Vultures have an image crisis and are among the least loved animals in the world

Politics

8 d. ago Trump Tariffs threaten 35,000 jobs, entire towns in South Africa's citrus sector, farmers group says

A farmers group says the new 30% tariffs set to be imposed on South Africa by the Trump administration will threaten 35,000 jobs in the country’s citrus-growing sector and the economies of entire towns

Politics

8 d. ago AP PHOTOS: Swollen rivers flood towns in the US South and Midwest

Flooding worsened across the U.S. South and Midwest, threatening communities already waterlogged and badly damaged by days of heavy rain and storms that killed at least 23 people.

Events

9 d. ago Swollen rivers flood towns in US South after dayslong deluge of rain

Rivers rose and flooding worsened across the U.S. South and Midwest, threatening communities already waterlogged and badly damaged by days of heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people

Events

1 week ago ‘Something to be proud of’: how an Irish town got a sewage makeover – and stopped discharging its waste into the sea

Arklow’s sleek new wastewater treatment plant is a collaborative triumph between engineers, contractors and architects Clancy Moore. And it’s amazingly unsmelly “Who’d want to live next to a sewage treatment plant?” asks the architect Andrew Clancy, who with his business partner Colm Moore runs the Dublin-based practice Clancy Moore. Who indeed, yet they have had to find a way to overcome precisely this difficulty. In the coastal town of Arklow, 40 miles south of the Irish capital, they have designed a wastewater facility that seeks to act as a landmark for the town, an agent of its renewal and growth, and a good neighbour to the homes and shops and places of work that it is hoped will be built alongside. The plant consists of two calm oblongs of mysterious scale, their long horizontals echoing the line where the sea meets the sky, plus a third more domestic structure alongside, all in a marine blue-green colour you could call pale teal.The project is in illustrious company. The tra...

Politics

2 w. ago Queensland’s recovery to ‘take months and years’ after floods sweep across vast interior

Bureau of Meteorology predicts flooding could continue for weeks as stock losses already estimated at over 150,000Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastQueensland’s premier has declared “day one” of a recovery that will take years as the state prepares to wake to clear skies that should reveal the vast scale of its outback floods.But despite forecasts the rain will pass for soaked central and south-west Queensland by Thursday, towns and homesteads could be cut off or at risk of flooding for weeks to come, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior meteorologist, Dean Narramore. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘No one came’: Myanmar volunteers dig with bare hands to save earthquake victims

The military junta is calling for foreign aid but agencies and rescuers must navigate crumbling roads, an overwhelmed health system and ongoing fighting• Scramble to free survivors as death toll passes 1,600 after Myanmar earthquakeThe children at Bright Kids nursery in Kyaukse, a town south of Mandalay, were taking a nap when the earthquake struck on Friday afternoon. The two-storey building collapsed with dozens of children aged between two and four trapped inside. For hours, rescuers sifted through the rubble, searching desperately for survivors.“We were clearing the building using diggers and rescuing people with manual tools,” said Thar Nge, a volunteer. They needed better equipment – metal cutters and generators – but made use of what they had. Thar Nge helped carry a four-year-old girl to safety. She pleaded, over and over, for him to save her, he said. He held a bottle of water to her mouth before her dusty body was freed. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago JD Vance’s home town is bouncing back – and it’s largely thanks to immigrants

Immigrants have played a central role to the revival of Middletown, Ohio, while the vice-president has made criticizing immigrants a main theme of his political careerWhen Daniel Cárdenas from Coahuila, Mexico, first arrived in Middletown, a post-industrial city of 50,000 people in south-west Ohio, he was immediately enamored.“It’s a small town with friendly people. You have shops, big stores; there’s no traffic,” he says. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago South African ambassador expelled from US welcomed home by supporters

Ebrahim Rasool, declared persona non grata by Washington, was surrounded by crowds at Cape Town airportThe South African ambassador who was expelled from the US and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration was welcomed home on Sunday by hundreds of supporters who sang songs praising him.Crowds at Cape Town International airport surrounded Ebrahim Rasool and his wife Rosieda as they emerged in the arrivals terminal in their home town, and they needed a police escort to help them navigate their way through the building. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Deadly flash floods hit south of Spain with entire towns submerged and cars swept off motorways as rescue operation gets underway

At least three people have died in southern Spain as Storm Laurence submerges entire towns with heavy rain and flash flooding. The country is bracing for the arrival of another storm tomorrow.

Events

4 w. ago Israel shatters Gaza ceasefire – Today in Focus Extra – podcast

Israeli military forces carried out strikes on dozens of targets across Gaza early on Tuesday, leaving more than 400 people dead. Emma Graham-Harrison reportsOn Tuesday, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Gaza, killing more than 400 people. This bombardment brings the fragile ceasefire, which began in mid-January, to an end.Israel also issued evacuation orders for the northern town of Beit Hanoun and other communities further south, which suggests that Israeli troops may launch a renewed ground operation. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Fear at isolated Antarctica base as a man is accused of attacking a colleague and making threats

South African officials say a member of a research team at an isolated Antarctica base has been put under psychological evaluation after he allegedly assaulted and sexually harassed colleagues

Events

last month From London to Lviv: how Trump’s new world order has shaken Europe

At each stop on 1,000-mile trip, discombobulated Europeans are grappling with new and unsettling realities as the US reforges its alliancesEurope live – latest updatesWhile Donald Trump talks of the “big beautiful ocean” separating the US from the war in Ukraine, 1,000 miles of rail track links London St Pancras to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine.The 19-hour trip takes in Brussels, the German economic powerhouse of Frankfurt, and Vienna, the Austrian capital, before the train rattles into Kraków in south-east Poland and Przemyśl, the Polish border town where the slimmer railway gauges of western Europe meet the wider tracks of Ukraine and Russia to the east. Continue reading...

Politics

last month 19th century ring linked to Scottish geologist found on South African beach

The ring is engraved with the name of pioneering scientist Hugh Miller who died in 1856.

Politics