18 h. ago It is safe for me to write this article – and for you to read it. But globally, those rights are under grave threat | Antonio Zappulla

The act of labelling journalists ‘foreign agents’ is deliberately chilling. On World Press Freedom Day, be aware of the peril involved in seeking the truthLast month, Georgian president Mikheil Kavelashvili approved a new law inflicting criminal charges, including prison sentences and fines, on any organisation or individual who fails to comply with the country’s “foreign influence” bill.The news didn’t trouble the front pages of the international press and went largely unnoticed, but it marks a significant inflection point in the decline of global press freedom. Continue reading...

Events

64 h. ago I know how global aid works. Here’s how Britain can do the right thing – and make its money count | David Miliband

The politics of aid may be toxic, but the UK must realise that supporting the world’s poorest people is both a moral and pragmatic thing to doDavid Miliband is president and CEO of the International Rescue CommitteeIn more than 10 years working in the aid sector, I have seen extraordinary innovations, from childhood education programmes for refugee children, to AI-driven flood warnings that alert farmers in some of the most vulnerable places on earth. Many of the initiatives I’ve seen are remarkably impactful and deliver serious value for money: it costs the International Rescue Committee (IRC) just £3 ($4) to deliver a life-saving vaccine dose in the midst of a conflict in east Africa, for example.The politics surrounding international aid, however, are increasingly toxic. The UK’s Department for International Development and now the US equivalent, USAID, have been dismantled, despite the British public being more than twice as likely to say that aid has a positive rather than nega...

Economics

4 d. ago Symptoms of bird flu everyone needs to know as experts warn public to prepare for a pandemic NOW

Experts have warned that bird flu is 'trying really hard' to reach pandemic potential, and urged global governments to put prevention tactics in place right away.

Events

5 d. ago Trump’s first 100 days supercharged a global ‘freefall of rights’, says Amnesty

World now in era of repressive regimes’ impunity, climate inaction and unchecked corporate power, says reportThe first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency have “supercharged” a global rollback of human rights, pushing the world towards an authoritarian era defined by impunity and unchecked corporate power, Amnesty International warns today.In its annual report on the state of human rights in 150 countries, the organisation said the immediate ramifications of Trump’s second term had been the undermining of decades of progress and the emboldening of authoritarian leaders. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Uyghur rights group calls on hotel chains not to ‘sanitise’ China abuses in Xinjiang

Growth in international hotels coincides with government effort to push region as a tourism destination Almost 200 international hotels are operating or planning to open in Xinjiang, despite calls from human rights groups for global corporations not to help “sanitise” the Chinese government’s human rights abuses in the region, a report has said.The report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) identified 115 operational hotels which the organisation said “benefit from a presence in the Uyghur region”. At least another 74 were in various stages of construction or planning, the report said. The UHRP said some of the hotels also had exposure or links of concern to forced labour and labour transfer programmes. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘I sent AI to art school!’ The postmodern master who taught a machine to beef up his old work

Warhol for colour, Hopper for volume American art world star David Salle is using AI on old paintings of his that had a mixed reception – with wild, sprawling results. Why isn’t he afraid of being replaced?By the time you read this article, there’s a good chance it will have already been scanned by an artificially intelligent machine. If asked about the artist David Salle, large language models such as ChatGPT or Gemini may repurpose some of the words below to come up with their answer. The bigger the data set, the more convincing the response – and Salle has been written about exhaustively since he first rose to art world stardom in the 1980s. The question is whether AI can ever say anything new about the artist and his work, or if it’s for ever condemned to generate more of the same.A similar question lingers beneath the surface of the paintings that Salle has been making since 2023, a new series of which he has just unveiled at Thaddaeus Ropac in London. His New Pastorals were ma...

Politics

2 w. ago Having as many babies as possible is not the only way to show you love humanity | Zoe Williams

Elon Musk is obsessed with falling birth rates, as is the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. Why would leftwingers want to buy into their ‘pronatalist’ agenda?‘Perpetuating humanity should be a cross-politics consensus,” read an article in the Atlantic last week, “but the left was mostly absent at a recent pronatalism conference.” It’s such a simple proposition – everyone loves babies and wants the species to perpetuate, right? – but pronatalism has provoked a ferocious battle on the American left. Should they be trying to engage meaningfully at a preposterous far-right conference? Or should the left stop self-flagellating and start organising?But what is pronatalism – and is it really borderline fascist? I don’t want to think about slippery, bad-faith, rightwing claptrap any more than you do, but in an era in which US politics can sneeze and the world catches encephalitis, we do, regrettably, have to think about bad-faith everything, all the time. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘I became like a slave’: why 43 women are suing the secretive Opus Dei Catholic group in Argentina

Lured by promises of an education but allegedly trapped in servitude and self-mortification, the former members are suing the ultra-conservative organisation over their ‘exploitation and abuse’The first item Opus Dei gave 12-year-old Andrea Martínez was a pink dress. The second was a schedule that detailed every task for every minute of her day. Then, when she was 16, she was given a cilice – a spiked metal chain to wear around her thigh – and a whip.In the late 1980s, Opus Dei, a secretive and ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, promised Martínez an escape from a life of poverty in rural Argentina. By attending one of their schools, they said, she would receive an education and opportunities. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago How rich is Gina Rinehart, and how much will she earn in the time it takes to read this article?

Australia’s wealthiest person rakes in billions from her iron ore mines. We look at how she makes her money – and how she spends itExplore the series: Gina: power, privilege and influenceListen to episode three Gina: Love and moneyGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastGina Rinehart has been the richest person in Australia for years, making billions from her iron ore mines.But just how rich is she? Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘A new golden age’: how rightwing media stuck by Trump as global markets collapsed

Trump’s tariffs were sometimes played down, sometimes cheered but rarely seriously questioned by the rightWhile Donald Trump recently instituted and paused hefty tariffs, sparking a trade war and chaos in financial markets, most of the country’s conservative media either applauded the US president or critiqued the policy but not the person behind it, according to journalists and observers of conservative media.Meanwhile, economists, business leaders, Democrats and even some Republicans warned that the tariffs, which prompted the largest American stock market drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, could cause a recession. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Marine Le Pen ruling is fuel for the global right’s attacks on court authority

Rightwing and populist leaders are seizing on conviction to push narrative they are being silenced – but legal experts disagreeThe three-word message, launched minutes after the verdict came in, was succinct in its solidarity. “Je suis Marine!” Hungary’s Viktor Orbán posted on social media after France’s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, was found guilty of embezzling European parliament funds and barred immediately from running for public office.Messages soon came tumbling in from Brazil to Belgium, hinting at how rightwing nationalist and populist leaders had seized on the ruling to push their own narrative. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago About 500 law firms sign brief challenging Trump's executive orders targeting the legal community

President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting the legal community pose “a grave threat to our system of constitutional governance and to the rule of law itself."

Politics

4 w. ago BBC and ITV opt against bids to televise Fifa Club World Cup in summer

Dazn has global rights and will show games on appDazn remains confident of securing agreementThe BBC and ITV have declined to pursue the chance to televise this summer’s Club World Cup, leaving Fifa increasingly concerned about the visibility of its flagship new tournament in a key market.The streaming platform Dazn agreed to pay $1bn (£787bn) for global Club World Cup rights in a deal which involved the company pledging to make all 63 matches available free-to-air on its app. Continue reading...

Politics

last month Planning to retire early but not sure you dare? Read my words of warning... and it may just sway your choice: JANICE HORTON

Retiring early meant I got valuable quality time with my husband before he died three weeks ago. But to anyone wrestling with the decision as we did, let our story be a warning.

Events