Wegovy and Mounjaro might affect how well your contraceptives work – here’s why: The UK's medicine regulator has issued a warning to those taking oral contraceptives. MillaF/ Shutterstock Weight loss drugs, including Wegovy (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide), are becoming increasingly popular among those trying to lose weight. But a rise in so-called “Ozempic babies” has …
Why Iran’s failed attack on Israel may well turn out to be a strategic success: saeediex/Shutterstock As midnight approached on April 13, over 300 weapons were launched from Iran towards Israel. This included 185 drones, 110 ballistic missiles and 36 cruise missiles. The vast majority were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system …
In 2024, we’ll truly find out how robust our democracies are to online disinformation campaigns: I'm Friday / Shutterstock Disinformation, sharing false information to deceive and mislead others, can take many forms. From edited “deepfake” videos made on smartphones to vast foreign-led information operations, politics and elections show how varied disinformation can be. Hailed as …
Why renewed China-US cooperation bodes well for climate action: Melnikov Dmitriy / Shutterstock The relationship between the US and China is the most important in the world, and it has been unstable and sometimes under extreme stress in recent years. But a recent meeting between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in California may bring …
Rwanda’s troops in Mozambique have done well to protect civilians – the factors at play: Rwanda’s involvement in peacekeeping operations for the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) has increased since 2004. The relatively small east African nation is Africa’s most active troop-contributing country and the fourth most active worldwide. It has nearly 6,000 …
How much income is needed to live well in the UK in 2023? At least £29,500 – much more than many households bring in: StanislauV/Shutterstock You don’t have to look very hard at the moment to find evidence of the immense financial pressure on UK households. New figures from the Trussell Trust show that 1.5 …
Israel-Hamas war: hard experience says a land war won’t go well – and faltering international support suggests the world knows it: For the past four decades, Israel’s experience of fighting paramilitary militias has been grim. Its last major operation was in southern Lebanon, which started with Operation Peace for Galilee in 1982. While initially successful, …
Christian leaders in Ghana are trying to reshape government – it may not end well: Ghana is constitutionally a secular state. This means religious liberty is guaranteed, and all citizens are free to believe and manifest any religious faith. No political parties are allowed to base their appeal on religion. However, the situation is changing. …
People with intellectual disability are often diagnosed with cancer when it is already well advanced: Stokkete/Shutterstock Many people with intellectual disability are diagnosed with cancer when it has already spread (metastasized) and the odds of survival are lower. Intellectual disability is a lifelong condition that occurs before adulthood where people have a reduced ability to …
How well you do at school depends on how much your teachers know: insights from 14 French-speaking countries in Africa: Almost half of all sixth-grade students in Niger struggle to read a simple sentence. Olympia De Maismont/AFP Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made remarkable progress towards reaching universal school enrolment in the past 25 years. …
In future, we’ll see fewer generic AI chatbots like ChatGPT and more specialised ones that are tailored to our needs: Alexander Supertramp / Shutterstock AI technology is developing rapidly. ChatGPT has become the fastest-growing online service in history. Google and Microsoft are integrating generative AI into their products. And world leaders are excitedly embracing AI …
School concrete crisis: how Raac has been used well beyond its expiry date: More than one hundred schools in England have been fully or partly closed just days before the start of the new academic year, due to concerns over the safety of concrete roof panels. Problems with what the construction industry terms “reinforced autoclaved …
Why Pope’s message to young Russians not to forget ‘great Russia of Catherine II and Peter I’ has not gone down well in Ukraine: Pope Francis’s video speech to the All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth in St Petersburg, urging them to “not forget their heritage” has caused quite a stir. What struck a bitter chord …
Slavery stole Africans’ ideas as well as their bodies: reparations should reflect this: Jamaican hero: a statue to Sam Sharpe, who led the Baptist War slave rebellion in 1831. Debbie Ann Powell/Shutterstock In a speech to mark Unesco’s campaign for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, UN secretary-general António Guterres told the …
Despite domestic political turmoil, Pakistan is well placed to boost regional integration: Karachi could channel exports from central Asia. Asianet-Pakistan/Shutterstock Pakistan is showing clear signs of economic and political crisis. Inflation was recently almost 38%, and the country faces a debt crunch as it tries to manage its trade deficit with the rest of the …
UFOs: what we’ll learn from the Nasa panel investigating sightings: Raggedstone / Shutterstock A committee set up by Nasa has examined about 800 reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), or what most of us would call UFOs (unidentified flying objects). Nasa defines these events as sightings “that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural …
Billions is spent on cancer research globally – but is it money well spent?: In 2020, 19 million people around the world received a cancer diagnosis. By 2040, that number is expected to reach 28 million. Poorer countries will be especially hard hit, with an increasing number of cases and more deaths, compared with richer …
Kosovo government must take most of the blame for the latest violence, but any long-term solution will require a constructive response from Serbia as well: Renewed violence in northern Kosovo reminds us that parts of the western Balkan region have a long way to go on the route to recovery from the wars of the …