By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A woman and her daughter in Revere, Massachusetts, US, December 11, 2020. © 2020 Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images On June 4, the United States House of Representatives passed the 2027 agriculture appropriations bill. If enacted in its current state, the bill would cut US$200 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) compared to 2026. The reduction would hit fruit and vegetable benefits for 5.4 million pregnant and postpartum women and young children, disproportionately affecting low-income families…
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A US Border Patrol Tactical Unit agent sprays pepper spray into the face of a protestor near the scene where a woman was shot and killed by a federal agent, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 7, 2026. © 2026 Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images US President Donald Trump signed the Secure America Act into law on June 10, including roughly $70 billion for immigration enforcement. The legislation funds several agencies through September 2029, including approximately $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and $26 billion…
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image The European Parliament chamber in Strasbourg, France, February 11, 2026. © 2026 Serge Tenani/Hans Lucas via Reuters The European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted on June 16 its second motion in a year pressing European Union institutions and governments to address transnational repression.Transnational repression encompasses violations used by states to target, silence, or intimidate critics, particularly nationals and former nationals, who are outside their borders and beyond their territorial jurisdictions. In its worst forms, transnational repression includes…
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Human rights defender Rufat Safarov. A Baku court’s June 12 decision to convict prominent human rights defender Rufat Safarov on bogus criminal charges and sentence him to eight years in prison is the latest blow to Azerbaijan’s already severely restricted civic space.Safarov, executive director of the human rights organization Defense Line (Müdafiə Xətti), was convicted by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on charges of fraud, hooliganism, and intentional infliction of bodily harm. His lawyers said they would appeal.Authorities arrested Safarov on December 3, 2024,…
(Full Story)
|
By Peter Adkins, Lecturer in Modernist Literature, University of Edinburgh
Virginia Woolf remains one of the most widely read and celebrated writers of the 20th century, with To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway regularly appearing near the top of lists of the greatest novels of all time. Yet not all of her books are so well remembered.
Woolf’s second novel, Night and Day, published in 1919, is often seen as an anomaly. Unlike her more famous books, it has a realist, almost Victorian style and a slow,…
(Full Story)
|
By Dipa Kamdar, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University
Many medicines begin life with one purpose and end up proving useful for a completely different reason.
Few areas show this more clearly than men’s health. Three drugs in particular have become household names not because of their original uses, but because of what researchers later discovered they could do.
Their stories show how scientific serendipity, careful observation and patient experience can reshape modern medicine.
Sildenafil
Sildenafil is perhaps…
(Full Story)
|
By Areej Al-Hamad, Assistant professor, School of Nursing, Toronto Metropolitan University
For most observers, the World Cup is about soccer, national pride and global celebration. But for host cities, it’s also a public health event. Here’s how nursing students could help.
(Full Story)
|
By Darren Lilleker, Professor of Political Communication, Bournemouth University
Authenticity and the performance of ordinariness are increasingly attractive elements of a political candidate’s brand. Social media particularly can be a space to present the “no-filter self” using more casual language, posting images and videos of everyday situations and using emojis or memes – just like the average person would.
In terms of authenticity, at election times, being ordinary, approachable and in touch…
(Full Story)
|
By Johan Linåker, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Computer Science, Lund University
Europe is taking decisive steps to strengthen its control over the technology that underpins its societies. It is concerned about the digital infrastructure that sits behind everything from energy grids and water supplies to public transport, healthcare and the apps in people’s phones.
The European Commission has now published its package of measures for “tech…
(Full Story)
|
By Gregory Salter, Associate Professor in History of Art, Head of Department, University of Birmingham
David Hockney, who died on June 11, was perhaps the most successful and well-known British artist of his lifetime.
His exhibitions, from career-spanning shows like David Hockney 25 at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (2025) to his groundbreaking touring immersive exhibition David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) (2025),…
(Full Story)
|