Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
Swifts delayed by cold and wet springs face mounting problems as the climate changes
How is this much-loved migratory bird species faring as rising temperatures change when seasons arrive, asks ALEXANDER C LEES
A swift in flight
[Kentish Plumber / Creative Commons]
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
THE weather is warmer and the nights are lighter. What are those black, curved silhouettes looping in the sky?
Assuming you are looking at birds and not attending the World Boomerang Championships, those shapes will likely be Britain’s only breeding member of the Apodiformes (a grouping that includes the hummingbirds): the common swift (Apus apus), harbinger of summer.
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What has worked well – and what needs to change – for the convention that controls trade in endangered species? DAN CHALLENDER and MICHAEL ’T SAS-ROLFES explain
Addressing new climate challenges will require co-ordinated efforts by governments and local authorities for both drought and flood risks — and it’s people power that will be key to getting policy implemented, writes DOUG SPECHT
ROSIE NELSON applauds a graphic novel that asks what does it mean to exist as a fat person in a fatphobic society?