Coffee break: New study says moderate consumption of coffee lowers the risk of death
Coffee is a popular beverage for many people and is associated with various health benefits. New research suggests that drinking a moderate amount of sweetened or unsweetened coffee is associated with lower mortality risk. Based on the study’s observational nature, the findings cannot conclusively prove that coffee lowers the risk...
Scientists say they are making headway in getting to know how Covid supresses sense of smell
Researchers are finally making headway in understanding how the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus causes loss of smell. And a multitude of potential treatments to tackle the condition are undergoing clinical trials, including steroids and blood plasma. Once a tell-tale sign of Covid-19, smell disruption is becoming less common as the virus evolves....
Funding disaster: UN emergency aid coordination agency has no classification for forgotten disasters
Bangladesh’s population is nearly 168 million – 99,000 of whom were displaced following 31 disasters in 2021. Nepal’s population is 30 million, meaning that proportionally almost exactly the same amount of displacement occurred. Azmat Ulla, head of Nepal’s delegation at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies...
Disasters: Most times when aid response fails to mitigate losses victims opt to put their lives on the line
Four months on from the landslide, the devastation was still clear to see: long and wide fissures crisscrossed San Isidro’s few main roads, running both down and across the hillside, while the collapsed and dangerously cracked buildings remained eerily empty. “I worked hard to have this and to raise my...
UN predicts disasters, fuelled by climate change, will rise sharply by 2030 as funding dips steeply
Every year for the past two decades, an estimated 350 to 500 medium-to-large disasters have taken place globally; numbers only expected to rise further due to the climate crisis. But many, like the case studies we report on here in Peru and Nepal, receive little attention beyond the areas directly...
‘Weed’ is currently subject of political storm in Kenya, but is the interest in its hyped medicinal efficacy genuine?
Three weeks ago, I wrote about the various medical approaches to treating pain, and one reader emailed to ask why I hadn’t mentioned cannabis. I had been thinking about more mainstream options, but I was wrong to ignore cannabis because, in several parts of the world, this drug has now...
President Mohamud’s second coming: Security and universal suffrage top new Somali leader’s agenda
Newly elected Somalia President Sheikh Hassan Mohamud plans to move with speed to entrench democracy and mend fences with neighbours Kenya and Ethiopia after nearly three years of a diplomatic standoff occasioned by territorial, trade and security disputes, his allies say. And he was on cue at his second inauguration....
Volunteers step in to shield LGBTQI+ and other marginalised people from rights abuses in Ukraine
SAFEBOW, a grassroots organisation set up by Rain Dove and other activists, has helped more than 4,000 refugees from marginalised groups – including LGBTQI+, disabled, and elderly people, as well as Indian, African and other international students who were studying in Ukraine – leave Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began. The...
Ukraine war: Barriers trans-women, trans-men and non-binary people face when trying to escape Russian invasion
In just over three months since Russia began its full-scale invasion, nearly seven million people have fled Ukraine as refugees. The vast majority are Ukrainian women and children who have been received in neighbouring countries, mainly with open arms. However, an untold number of LGBTQI+ Ukrainians, especially trans-women, trans-men and...
how video analysis provided evidence of how Russia trucks and ships ferry stolen Ukrainian wheat for export
In late April, video surfaced of columns of covered trucks driving what Ukrainian officials said was captured grain. In an analysis of the video, it has been confirmed it was taken in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, showing the convoy headed southwest on a main road toward Crimea. It was...
