Mon 08 December 2025: In public discourse, we spend a great deal of collective energy debating the accuracy of facts. We fact-check politicians, monitor social media for misinformation, and prioritise data-driven decision-making in our workplaces. This focus is vital; the distinction between truth and falsehood is the bedrock of a functioning society. However, by focusing […]
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Mon 08 December 2025: China routinely sends astronauts to and from its space station Tiangong. A crew capsule is about to undock from the station and return to Earth, but there’s nothing routine about its journey home. The Shenzhou-20 capsule will carry no crew, because one of its windows has been struck by space debris. Astronauts […]
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Sun 07 December 2025: Infertility affects one in six people of reproductive age worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as it released a new global guideline that outlines recommendations for improving access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The WHO said access to fertility care remains “severely limited” despite the scale of the issue. In many countries, […]
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Sun 07 December 2025: Global child mortality is likely to rise to 4.8 million this year from 4.6 million in 2024 after declining since the start of the millennium, a research team commissioned by the Gates Foundation predicted in a study released on Thursday. The figure refers to children dying between birth and their fifth birthday. The foundation, which […]
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Sun 07 December 2025: Last week the 2025 chair of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, had an article published extolling the benefits of the scheme. He must have had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek when he sent the article for publication. Despite the bullish headline, integrity was missing from the outset. If, […]
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An illustration from ‘The History of Witches and Wizards,’ published in 1720, depicting witches offering wax dolls to the devil. Wellcome Collection/Wikimedia Commons Sun 07 December 2025: Between 1400 and 1780, an estimated 100,000 people, mostly women, were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe. About half that number were executed – killings motivated by a constellation of […]
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Sat 06 December 2025: Al Arabiya-released video shows ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad laughing off Ghouta with the words “to hell with it” to his advisor. In the video, which shows al-Assad driving in an unknown location in Syria, Luna al-Shibl asks the former president: “We are about to leave Ghouta, what will we say,” […]
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Sat 06 December 2025: Ousted Syrian leader’s former spy chief and billionaire cousin scheme to destabilise Syria with armed violence. Former loyalists to deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad are funnelling millions of dollars to tens of thousands of potential fighters in a bid to start uprisings against the country’s fledgling government, a Reuters investigation has found. The […]
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Sat 06 December 2025: A recent survey released by a French rights group on Thursday revealed an increase in religion-based discrimination, particularly against Muslims. According to the new 2024 edition of the Access to Rights survey conducted by the Defenseur des droits (Defender of Rights), 7% of more than 5,000 respondents reported experiencing discrimination based […]
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Sat 06 December 2025: The UN plans to cut nearly a fifth of its positions as unpaid member dues climb to $1.59 trillion. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the UN will cut its budget by 15.1 percent and reduce staff by 18.8 percent in 2026 as unpaid dues from member states climb to […]
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