66 m. ago Madagascar president who took power in coup accuses protesters of trying to trigger another one

Young people take to streets to voice anger at water and power cuts, and corruption in political systemMadagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, who first came to power in a coup in 2009, has condemned protests calling for his resignation, saying that demonstrators were trying to trigger a coup and were funded by unspecified foreign governments and organisations.Youth-led demonstrations on the Indian Ocean island started on 25 September, initially driven by outrage over water and power cuts, but have grown into demands for action against corruption and reform of the political system. At least 22 people have been killed by security forces, according to the UN, which officials denied. Continue reading...

Politics

12 h. ago Met Office issues amber warnings as 'weather bomb' is set to hit: Storm Amy to bring 'danger to life' winds and torrential rain

Storm Amy will arrive in the UK on Friday afternoon, bringing with it disruptive wet weather and 'damaging winds' for much of Scotland, Northern Ireland, northwest England and northwest Wales.

Events

6 d. ago Supreme Court says Trump is allowed to freeze $4 billion in funding, overriding Congress’s spending power

Trump had deemed $4 billion in foreign aid funding wasteful

Economics

7 d. ago Voices: Taxes on alcohol and smoking can help countries facing severe aid cuts

The benefits of health taxes are clear, writes the World Health Organisation's Jeremy Farrar. But it requires political courage to invest in all of our futures

Politics

7 d. ago They fled war and sexual violence and found a safe space in Athens. Then the aid cuts hit

Thirty women and their children found themselves out on the streets when their shelter closed. It was a direct result of US and European governments slashing their aid budgetsThe night of 29 May was sombre at 15 Mitsaki Street, a women’s shelter in the centre of Athens. Shoes, winter coats, shampoo bottles and sheets lay strewn around: belongings the 30 refugee women and five children living there had worked hard to acquire, and would now have to abandon. The next day, the shelter would be shuttered for good.“I was so stressed I couldn’t sleep,” says Oksana Kutko, a Ukrainian. “I knew I had nowhere to go.” Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Brides review – teenage girls head to Syria for IS and marriage in powerful and poignant drama

Two friends leave the UK and head to the Turkey on their way to marry Islamic State jihadis in this spirited drama directed by Nadia FallThe phenomenon of Islamic State brides, which became a press preoccupation with the case of Shamima Begum – who 10 years ago left the UK at the age of 15 to join IS and is still in a Syrian refugee camp – is now filtering through to fictional representations; they are striving for a sympathetic, intimate way of intuiting the motives and feelings of young women who were hardly more than children when they were radicalised, and somehow get more pruriently disapproving media coverage than the male jihadis. Nussaibah Younis’s hit comic novel Fundamentally tells the story of an aid worker tasked with bringing IS brides home to the UK, and now there is this watchable comedy-drama from screenwriter Suhayla El-Bushra and director Nadia Fall.It is about two teenage girls: shy, thoughtful Doe (Ebada Hassan) and stroppy, lairy Muna (Safiyya Ingar), who make t...

Events

1 week ago Voices: In our new global order we must focus on aid, not just development

As humanitarian need hits record levels, aid budgets are being cut and redirected, says David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee. A clear strategy is needed to ensure the poorest and most fragile communities are not abandoned

Politics

1 week ago Voices: In our new world order, it is aid, not development, that matters most

As humanitarian need hits record levels, aid budgets are being cut and redirected, says David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee. A clear strategy is needed to ensure the poorest and most fragile communities are not abandoned

Politics

2 w. ago Baba Vanga's terrifying list of 2026 predictions – 'alien contact' and 'AI takeover'

The blind prophetess – world renowned for her accurate predictions, including the death of Princess Diana and the outbreak of Covid – has warned of the dangers 2026 could bring

Events

2 w. ago Gangster Ross McGill and crew of hoods snared in Dubai should be "banned from legal aid"

Former police chief and Labour MSP Graeme Pearson says people known to be involved in serious and organised crime should not be eligible for legal aid to fund any future criminal defences

Events

2 w. ago SCIAF celebrates its 60th anniversary with a Mass in the town where it was founded

The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund has given millions of people around the world a hand up out of poverty since 1965.

Politics

2 w. ago Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers bring junkie chaos to the London Lyceum, 1984

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers bring junkie chaos to the London Lyceum, 1984  dangerousminds.net

Events

3 w. ago Voices: Cutting aid funding now could bring a dangerous resurgence in malaria

A resurgence in malaria would mean tens of thousands of young children dying, writes Gareth Jenkins, despite there being effective means of helping them

Politics

3 w. ago Global health fund battles Trump’s aid cuts by giving more to poorest nations

‘Parts of the world which are suffering... and the idea that we can leave those parts of the world to their own devices, is morally repugnant,’ says Global Fund chief

Politics

4 w. ago Afghan earthquake death toll jumps to more than 2,200, say Taliban

Aid agencies plead for funds as rough terrain hinders relief effort and 98% of buildings in one province are damagedHundreds more bodies have been recovered from houses in mountain villages destroyed by a major earthquake in Afghanistan early this week, pushing the death toll to more than 2,200, a Taliban government spokesperson said Thursday.The shallow, magnitude-6.0 quake struck the mountainous and remote eastern part of the country late on Sunday, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble. Most of the casualties have been in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep river valleys separated by high mountains. Continue reading...

Events