By Liam Temple, Assistant Professor in the History of Catholicism, Durham University
The decision by Pope Leo XIV to excommunicate members of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is the latest twist in a long-running saga between the Vatican and this contentious traditionalist group. It is yet more evidence of the deep polarisation between conservatives and progressives within the Catholic church.
The Vatican issued a statement on July 2 to the effect…
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By Rory Jones, Associate Professor, School of the Built Environment, University of Reading
For decades, people in the UK tended to view air conditioning as something that belonged elsewhere. It was associated with office buildings, hotels and hotter countries rather than their own homes. But as summers become warmer and heatwaves more frequent, that picture is beginning to change.
Colleagues and I analysed data from the English Housing Survey, a nationally representative sample of about 16,000 households. This shows that air conditioning remains relatively uncommon, with
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By Arun Dawson, PhD Candidate, Department of War Studies, King's College London
Seventy years ago, Britain confronted a dilemma. It wanted to remain a leading military power but no longer had the economic resources to sustain all the conventional capabilities it had inherited from the second world war.
The solution proposed in the 1957 Sandys defence white paper was technological. Guided missiles, Duncan Sandys argued, were transforming warfare so fundamentally that many traditional capabilities, including some crewed combat aircraft, would become obsolete.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2025. © 2025 Lian Yi/Xinhua via Getty Images The UN Human Rights Council held an emergency session today on the imminent risk of atrocities in and around Sudan’s El Obeid, a city in North Kordofan. The session follows an appeal by rights groups for the Council to exercise its prevention mandate by meeting in anticipation, rather than the aftermath, of another round of devastating atrocities in Sudan’s conflict.The UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan has reported an increasing and apparently indiscriminate barrage…
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By Amnesty International
The Israel-Lebanon framework agreement signed in Washington on June 26, 2026, threatens to betray war crimes victims in Lebanon, Amnesty International and five human rights and press freedom organizations said today. Parts of the text appear to be aimed at preventing victims of serious international crimes from seeking justice before international forums. Others seem to […] The post Lebanon/ Israel: Framework agreement betrays victims of war crimes in Lebanon appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Amnesty International
Responding to reports of the death of a Tibetan man following an apparent act of self-immolation outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said: “Our thoughts are with everyone who knew and loved the man who has died and the broader Tibetan community. Self-immolation as protest by […] The post Self-immolation of Tibetan man outside UN highlights long-standing Chinese repression appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Oonagh Coleman, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Psychiatry, King's College London
Andrea Danese, Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London
A major new analysis of nearly 40,000 people finds memories of childhood abuse and neglect stay remarkably stable over time.
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By Thomas Gernon, Professor in Earth & Climate Science, University of Southampton
East Antarctica hosts the largest ice sheet on Earth, containing enough water to raise global sea levels by 52 metres, were it to fully melt. Yet it has puzzled scientists for decades how and why this ice sheet formed.
In fact, there are two interlinked mysteries. First, Antarctica became covered in ice around 34 million years ago – a period known as the Eocene-Oligocene transition – while the Arctic region stayed largely ice-free for another 25 million years or so.
Carbon…
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By Adriana Marin, Lecturer in International Relations, Coventry University
Following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, Russia endured a period of violent criminal lawlessness known as the “wild 90s”. Organised crime spiked, with gangs taking control of banks, factories and other lucrative markets. Contract killings, shootings and car bombings became part of urban life.
There are now fears that the Ukraine…
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By Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Professor and Head of Pain Research, Aalborg University
Pain is one of the few things all of us experience, from stubbing a toe to waking up with an aching back; we can all relate to the feeling of being in pain.
Although pain is a universal experience, the way we understand it has changed dramatically over time.
Ancient societies might have blamed pain on demons entering the body through the nose or ears, but we now know pain to be more about…
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