Skip to content
Latest
Deep TimeThe bone that proved whales used to walkEarthThe world's farmland, and why our survival depends on itGuidesThe FAST test takes ten seconds. Symptoms stopping does not mean it is over.SportWhy a Paralympic swimmer can be an S8 in freestyle and an SB7 in breaststrokeAnimalsA cat licking pollen off its fur can be enough. Lilies cause kidney failure.GuidesHands-only CPR is two steps: call, then push hard and fast in the centre of the chestDeep TimeThe bone that proved whales used to walkEarthThe world's farmland, and why our survival depends on itGuidesThe FAST test takes ten seconds. Symptoms stopping does not mean it is over.SportWhy a Paralympic swimmer can be an S8 in freestyle and an SB7 in breaststrokeAnimalsA cat licking pollen off its fur can be enough. Lilies cause kidney failure.GuidesHands-only CPR is two steps: call, then push hard and fast in the centre of the chest
VOTVS
Headlines

Headlines

Short news items, newest first. Longer pieces are under Articles.

August 19, 2026

UN aid plan targets 87 million people after counting 239 million in need
Headline

UN aid plan targets 87 million people after counting 239 million in need

The United Nations has asked for $33 billion to reach 135 million people in 50 countries during 2026. Inside that appeal is a smaller "hyper-prioritised" tier of $23 billion aimed at 87 million people, the portion the UN expects it can fund. Agencies identified 239 million people as needing humanitarian assistance. UN appeals received about $12 billion in 2025, the lowest in a decade, and reached 25 million fewer people than the year before.

AidUnited NationsFunding

Read our full story
Guinea worm cases fall to ten worldwide, an all-time low
Headline

Guinea worm cases fall to ten worldwide, an all-time low

The Carter Center has reported ten human cases of guinea worm disease worldwide in 2025, the lowest number since records began. Four were in Chad, four in Ethiopia and two in South Sudan, down from 15 cases in 2024. The disease infected an estimated 3.5 million people a year across 21 countries when the eradication campaign started in 1986. There is still no vaccine and no drug treatment; the decline has come from filtering drinking water, treating ponds and case-by-case surveillance.

HealthChadEthiopiaSouth Sudan

Read our full story
Ethiopian crop could feed 100 million more people, study finds
Headline

Ethiopian crop could feed 100 million more people, study finds

Researchers modelling where enset could grow found a potential range across parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, and estimated the crop could feed more than 100 million additional people over the next four decades. Enset, sometimes called the false banana, already feeds more than 20 million people in Ethiopia, where as few as 15 plants can support one person for a year. It is cultivated as a food crop almost nowhere else. A separate study found Ethiopian smallholders plant more of it directly after severe droughts.

EthiopiaFoodClimate

Read our full story

August 18, 2026

Rohingya food vouchers split into tiers, dropping as low as $7 a month
Headline

Rohingya food vouchers split into tiers, dropping as low as $7 a month

The World Food Programme replaced its flat $12 monthly food voucher for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh with a tiered system of $7 to $12 on 1 April, according to the Associated Press. About 17 per cent of refugees receive the lowest amount, while roughly a third assessed as extremely food insecure continue to receive $12. WFP described the change as targeting by need rather than a cut; Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner said it amounts to a cut for the Rohingya. The agency lost about a third of its funding after aid reductions by the United States and other donors.

RohingyaBangladeshFood security

Read our full story
UNESCO counts 2.4 million Afghan girls shut out of secondary school
Headline

UNESCO counts 2.4 million Afghan girls shut out of secondary school

UNESCO says 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan are excluded from secondary education, five years after the Taliban returned to power. It describes Afghanistan as the only country in the world that formally prohibits education for girls and women beyond primary level. The UN has documented more than 100 decrees restricting women's education, work and movement. Half of the Afghan women interviewed for the UN's five-year assessment said they leave home only once or twice a month.

AfghanistanEducationWomen's rights

Read our full story
DR Congo named second most neglected displacement crisis for a tenth year
Headline

DR Congo named second most neglected displacement crisis for a tenth year

The Norwegian Refugee Council has placed the Democratic Republic of the Congo second on its annual list of the world's most neglected displacement crises, behind Sudan. Congo has appeared on the list every year since the ranking began in 2016. NRC scores crises on funding, media attention, international diplomatic effort and the scale of displacement. It reported that Congo's response received 27.4 per cent of the funding it requested in 2025, the lowest coverage in ten years, with funding per person in need falling from about $55 a decade ago to under $33.

DR CongoDisplacementFunding

Read our full story

August 17, 2026

CPJ records 129 journalists killed in 2025, the highest annual total it has counted
Headline

CPJ records 129 journalists killed in 2025, the highest annual total it has counted

The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 129 journalists and media workers killed in 2025, the highest annual total since it began documenting these deaths in 1992 and the second record year in a row. CPJ attributes about two-thirds of the deaths to the Israeli military, with most of those killed being Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza. It classified 47 of the deaths as murder, its category for journalists deliberately targeted for their work, and said no one has been held accountable in those cases. Sudan recorded nine deaths, Mexico six, Ukraine four and the Philippines three.

Press freedomGazaSudanMexico

Read our full story
Congo's 2026 aid plan covers 228 health zones, down from 332
Headline

Congo's 2026 aid plan covers 228 health zones, down from 332

The UN humanitarian plan for the Democratic Republic of the Congo will cover 228 health zones in 2026, compared with 332 in 2025. It targets 7.3 million of the 14.9 million people it identifies as in need, and requests $1.4 billion. The 2025 plan received 24 per cent of what it asked for. Bruno Lemarquis, the humanitarian coordinator for DR Congo, said the combination of large needs and limited resources forces "extremely difficult, sometimes impossible, choices."

DR CongoAidHealth

Read our full story