By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych wearing a helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine during skeleton training at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Italy, February 9, 2026. © 2026 Press Association via AP Photo The disqualification of the Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych from the 2026 Winter Olympics shines a critical light on Rule 50 (2) of the Olympic Charter prohibiting political, racial, or religious “propaganda” at Olympic venues. He was disqualified for wearing a helmet displaying images of Ukrainian…
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Thursday, February 19, 2026
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out ethnically targeted killings, widespread sexual violence and enforced disappearances during their late-October takeover of El Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region — acts that a UN fact-finding mission said show “hallmarks of genocide” against the Zaghawa and Fur communities and signal an ongoing risk of further atrocities.
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Thursday, February 19, 2026
Increased Israeli attacks and the forced transfer of Palestinians have sparked concern over ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said in a report issued on Thursday.
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Thursday, February 19, 2026
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has warned that without urgent guardrails, AI risks deepening inequality, amplifying bias and fuelling real-world harm.
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By Anna Monnereau, PhD Candidate in Music Copyright, Bangor University
A high-stakes dispute forcing copyright law to confront a long-standing problem: how to define ‘originality’ for the protection of musical works.
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By Stephanie Dennison, Professor in Brazilian Studies, University of Leeds
Alfredo Luiz Paes de Oliveira Suppia, Professor Associado do Depto. de Multimeios, Mídia e Comunicação, Inst. de Artes, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp)
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto, 2025) marks a moment of consolidation in one of contemporary Brazilian cinema’s most consistent careers.
Since his early short films such as Cold Tropics (Recife Frio, 2009), the filmmaker has developed a unique style packed with movie references that tantalisingly falls somewhere between arthouse and genre film. These traits reach new heights of self-awareness and formal freedom in The…
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By Nicholas Payne, Associate Professor of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin
Louise Overy, Assistant lecturer in wildlife biology, Munster Technological University
Hundreds of thousands of marine animals are killed every year after becoming accidentally caught in commercial fishing nets. Sharks, skates and rays are at particular risk, alongside turtles, seals, whales and dolphins, many of which are endangered.
Much of this problem comes down to the design of fishing nets and how they are used. Particularly damaging are tangle…
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By Lillian Hingley, Postdoctoral Researcher in English Literature, University of Oxford
When the album dropped at the stroke of midnight on February 13, I found myself lying in the dark listening to Charli XCX’s album, Wuthering Heights. As her second soundtrack album (after Bottoms in 2023), this record was made for Emerald Fennell’s 2026 film adaptation of Wuthering Heights. But this collection of songs also stands as a musical adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel in its own right.
The opening track, House, struck me with its ability to succinctly get to the heart of what Wuthering Heights…
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By Abdul Jabbar, Dean of Internationalisation, Associate Professor Data Strategy and Analytics, University of Leicester
Araz Zirar, Senior Lecturer in Management (Organisational Behaviour), University of Huddersfield
The kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie – the mother of US news anchor Savannah Guthrie – is the latest in a string of crimes where ransoms have been demanded in Bitcoin.
The 84-year-old was kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in the middle of the night. A ransom of US$6 million (£4.4 million) has been demanded by the kidnappers.
The scale of the ransom demand, combined with the use of…
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By Michelle Spear, Professor of Anatomy, University of Bristol
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder than during a church service, when something faintly ridiculous caught my eye. My friend saw it too, and once she started laughing, it became impossible to stop. Years later I’ve tried to explain what was so hilarious, but it seems you had to be there. What was it about the combination of the situation – sometimes referred to as “church giggles” – and shared laughter that made it so funny?
Most people recognise the experience. A solemn setting. Absolute silence. A fleeting…
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