Features

Just over one month into the war on Iran, US President Donald Trump made an apocalyptic threat that raised the alarm in Washington and Middle Eastern capitals alike, attached to a tight deadline.

If Iran didn’t immediately reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz, Trump warned on April 7, “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again”.

Tehran didn’t blink. And with two hours to the deadline, Trump walked back the threat and instead announced a two-week ceasefire, brokered by Islamabad.

Since then, the US president has repeated this pattern multiple times. It goes like this: Trump ups the ante, shaking up the markets, and then dials it back down at the 11th hour, apparently hoping this strategy will influence negotiations.

On Monday, Trump again insisted that negotiations were close to ending the war – and, yet again, gave “duplicitous” Iran “one last chance” to make a deal or suffer catastrophic strikes.

For its part, Tehran denies any ongoing talks with the US, saying it is only talking to Oman about how to manage the Hormuz strait, the closure of which has caused oil prices to soar amid havoc in energy markets around the world.

The war is now in its 23rd week, with no end to hostilities in sight, and both Washington and Tehran are more entangled than before, with additional variables in the conflict that could determine its direction.

So, how many times has Trump given Iran “one last chance” to make a deal or suffer the consequences, before walking his threat back? And how many times have we heard from the US president that a deal is just around the corner?

The times Trump threatened heavy attacks – before backing down

There have been several times since February 28, when the US and Israel launched their first joint attacks on Iran, that Trump has threatened an attack but did not follow through.

March

Less than a month into the war, Trump threatened Tehran over its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the US would strike Iran’s power plants if the critical waterway was not reopened. Two days later, he postponed the strikes for five days, citing “progress” in talks.

As the delayed deadline neared on March 26, Trump delayed the strikes again, this time for 10 days, claiming that Tehran requested it.

April

Then came the April 7 threat that a whole “civilisation will die”, before Trump called off those strikes and announced a two-week ceasefire, to give Iran a chance to reach a peace deal.

No deal emerged. And then, after threatening to strike Iran “harder”, and in the final hours of the ceasefire, on April 21, Trump announced an indefinite ceasefire, saying Pakistani mediators had asked him to do so.

May

With those talks making no progress, Trump returned to his threats to strike Iran on May 17, saying “nothing will be left” of Iran if Tehran did not make a deal with the US.

But the next day, Trump again told reporters that he had decided to “put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran”.

By May 27, US strikes were back on after negotiations faltered, once again.

June

On June 11, after two days of back-and-forth strikes, Trump threatened the US would take “total control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries. But then, a few hours later, he posted on social media, claiming there had been a breakthrough in negotiations and called off the attacks.

On June 17, the US and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), announcing a ceasefire and a 60-day period to complete negotiations for a lasting peace. Within days, that had fallen apart over the glaring gaps in the two sides’ positions over the contents of the MoU, triggered mainly by who had control of the Strait of Hormuz – and both sides returned to tit-for-tat, widening strikes.

July-August

On July 27, Trump halted the strikes, claiming the “perimeters of a deal” had been agreed to, but noting that Washington “is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II”.

On Monday this week, Trump told reporters again that negotiations were close to ending the war and that this was Iran’s “last chance before decapitation”. The US has not followed up on this latest threat yet.

Iran denies it is talking to the US, although it may be holding indirect talks via mediators, analysts say.

The times Trump said Iran peace deal was imminent

Trump has insisted that Iran is “desperate” to cut a deal, or that a deal is imminent, multiple times since the start of the war.

March

Two days after launching the first attacks on Tehran on February 28, which the US initially appeared to believe would be a quick operation, Trump seemingly conceded it might take a bit longer when he said at the White House: “We projected four to five weeks [to end Iran war], but we can go far longer than that.”

The US president changed tack again on March 9, when he told CBS that “the war is very complete, pretty much”, and that the US military operation was “way ahead of schedule”.

Later the same day, he shifted his stance again, saying the war is “both complete and just beginning”. And later that day again, he said: “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.”

On March 23, Trump told reporters outside Air Force One that “major points of agreement, I would say – almost all points of agreement” had been reached with Iran. Tehran was denying that it was party to negotiations at this point.

Two days after that, Trump repeated that Iran wanted to “make a deal so badly”. The next day, he also told a cabinet meeting that Iran was “begging to make a deal”.

April

On April 7, Trump said, again, that Washington was “very close to a deal” with Iran, before threatening to blow up a “whole civilisation”, but then walked back on that to announce a ceasefire the next day.

Over the following days, throughout April, Trump reiterated that the war was, in fact, pretty much over. But it continued.

Trump repeatedly claimed on separate occasions that Iran had “agreed to everything”, that “I think we will get a deal in the next day or two”, and that “I don’t think there’s too many significant differences” between the US and Iranian positions.

May

On May 23, Trump said the administration was “getting a lot closer” to a deal, which was “largely negotiated, [and] subject to finalisation”.

June

On June 8, Trump called for “total victory” in the next two weeks and claimed Iran was “willing to give us everything”. Still, no peace deal has materialised and the conflict began again in July.

August

On Monday this week, Trump again told reporters that Iran was “desperate” for a deal and warned Tehran it had “one last chance” before “decapitation” to make an agreement. Iran denies it is even holding talks with the US, saying that it is only speaking with Oman about management of the Strait of Hormuz.

Europe’s summers are transforming. What were once considered exceptionally high temperatures, such as the near 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) being experienced in Prague, are becoming the norm.

According to Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, late May and June heatwaves brought daily average temperatures of more than 10C (18F) above the norm in parts of France, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Western European temperatures averaged 20.74C (69F) in June, 3.06C (5.4F) above the 1991-2020 average.

With some temperatures climbing well above 40C, prolonged droughts, destructive wildfires and shrinking rivers are no longer freak events but recurring features of European summers.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that climate change would increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather. Heatwaves now last longer, arrive earlier and affect more countries simultaneously.

The consequences extend beyond uncomfortable temperatures. They are reshaping ecosystems, economies and daily life across much of the continent.

Wildfires: Larger, earlier and more destructive

Extreme heat dries vegetation, turning forests, scrubland and grass into fuel for fires. When strong winds combine with prolonged drought, fires can spread more rapidly and become ever more difficult to control.

Countries across the Mediterranean area – including Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and France – have a history of wildfires. But fire season now starts earlier, lasts longer, and affects regions that in the past faced a much lower risk.

The European Union recorded at least 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land burned in the region last year, nearly double the historical average.

Some fires are so intense they generate their own weather systems. Known as pyrocumulonimbus clouds, these towering smoke clouds can produce powerful winds, lightning and embers that ignite new fires several kilometres away, making them even harder to contain.

Beyond the immediate destruction of homes and forests, wildfires damage biodiversity, release dangerous quantities of carbon dioxide and leave landscapes vulnerable to erosion and flooding when heavy rain eventually returns.

Water under pressure

Heatwaves also place enormous strain on Europe’s water resources. Higher temperatures increase evaporation from rivers, lakes and reservoirs while reducing soil moisture. Mountain snowpacks melt earlier in spring, leaving less water available during the hottest months.

Rivers such as the Rhine, Po and Danube have repeatedly experienced unusually low water levels during recent summers. Low rivers disrupt shipping, reduce hydroelectric power generation and can threaten industrial operations that rely on river water for cooling.

Agriculture is often among the hardest hit sectors due to high temperatures. Farmers across Southern and Central Europe are dealing with reduced crop yields, livestock heat stress and greater demand for irrigation at the same time water is becoming scarce.

A study released in May by the European Investment Bank and the European Commission projected that climate change threatens to increase annual European agricultural losses by as much as 66 percent by 2050, threatening the future of food production.

Some regions are already restricting water use during prolonged dry spells, a sign of how climate change is beginning to affect everyday life.

Health hazards, strain on energy systems intensify

Heat is among Europe’s deadliest natural hazards. Unlike floods or storms, the impacts are often less visible but more widespread.

Older people, children and people with existing medical conditions are most at risk. Hospitals see increased admissions linked to dehydration, heatstroke and cardiovascular illness during heatwaves.

Cities are especially vulnerable because concrete and asphalt absorb and retain heat, creating what is known as the urban heat island effect. Night-time temperatures remain high, preventing buildings and people from cooling down.

The growing use of air conditioning offers some protection but creates another challenge.

Electricity demand often surges during heatwaves as millions of people seek relief from the high temperatures. This coincides with a slump in efficiency in power generation as warmer rivers mean that the cooling of thermal and nuclear power stations is more of a challenge.

This creates a growing challenge for Europe’s energy systems as demand rises precisely when supply can become more constrained.

Economic costs escalate

The financial effects from this environmental crisis are mounting. The European Environment Agency estimates that extreme weather has already cost Europe 738 billion euros ($850bn) from 1980 to 2023. At least 162 billion euros ($190bn) of that was in the most recent three-year period.

The agency projected a lack of robust climate action could cost the European economy more than 5.6 trillion euros ($6.4 trillion) by 2050. These costs affect almost all sectors of the economy.

Wildfires destroy homes, tourism infrastructure and businesses. Drought reduces agricultural production while low river levels disrupt trade and manufacturing.

Outdoor workers in construction and agriculture face reduced productivity as extreme heat makes working safely more difficult.

Insurance losses from weather disasters have also risen sharply over recent decades. Three-quarters of Europe’s natural disaster losses are uninsured, according to the European Central Bank.

Meanwhile, governments face growing costs associated with responding to emergencies and rebuilding communities.

Many economists argued that investing in climate resilience today will be significantly cheaper than repeatedly paying the costs of more frequent disasters.

Adapting as warming accelerates

Climate projections consistently indicate that Europe will continue to warm faster than the global average. Southern Europe is expected to experience hotter and drier summers, increasing the likelihood of severe drought and wildfires.

Even Northern Europe, traditionally associated with milder summers, is expected to experience more intense heatwaves. Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands recently witnessed wildfires that forced local communities to flee

Communities are already adapting to some extent. Cities are planting more trees to provide shade, redesigning streets to reduce heat, expanding early warning systems and have begun developing cooling centres for vulnerable residents.

Water conservation, improved forest management and more resilient infrastructure are becoming important parts of long-term planning. Agriculture is also changing as farmers experiment with drought-resistant crops, different planting schedules and more efficient irrigation systems.

But scientists stressed that adaptation alone will not be enough. Without significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the conditions that create extreme weather are expected to become more common in the years ahead.

Europe’s recent summers are no longer viewed simply as isolated weather events. They offer a glimpse of what a warmer climate could mean.

The challenge lies in responding to today’s extremes and preparing populations for climates in which intense anomalies become normal.

Maasai Mara, Kenya – The Maasai Mara, Kenya’s most famous wildlife reserve, is one of Africa’s best-known safari destinations. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors travel to the reserve, generating millions of dollars for Kenya’s economy and supporting jobs, businesses and local communities.

But as luxury camps and lodges spread across the reserve, concerns are growing over the environmental cost of tourism. Conservationists warn that unchecked development is damaging wildlife habitats and threatening one of the world’s greatest natural spectacles, the annual migration of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles between Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve.

The debate has now reached Kenya’s courts.

A legal battle over the Mara

The future of the Maasai Mara is increasingly being contested in court. Conservation groups have filed several cases challenging the construction and expansion of tourist camps inside and around the reserve, arguing that some developments were approved without adequate environmental safeguards.

The latest petition, filed by the East Africa Law Society, Natural Justice, JustAct and the Africa Centre for Peace and Human Rights, seeks conservatory orders to halt the construction and expansion of accommodation facilities in the Maasai Mara National Reserve pending the hearing of the case.

The petition names the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Marriott International, Lazizi Mara Limited, the Narok County government, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), the attorney general, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), The Safari Collection Ltd and Minor Hotels Ltd.

Court documents filed by advocate Gichohi Waweru challenge the construction and operation of the Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara Safari Camp, alleging that it was built in a protected ecological zone despite a 2023 moratorium on new tourism accommodation in sensitive areas of the reserve under the Maasai Mara Management Plan 2023-32.

The petition also claims that the camp lacks a valid environmental impact assessment licence and sits along a key wildebeest migration corridor.

The petitioners are seeking an audit of all lodges in protected zones, warning that continued development could cause irreversible damage to the Mara ecosystem.

The legal battle has become a test of whether Kenya can balance conservation with tourism, one of the country’s most important economic sectors.

Kelvin Kubai, an advocate at the High Court of Kenya, told Al Jazeera that tourism should never come at the expense of wildlife and the environment.

“When the interests of wildlife and nature conflict with tourism, the rights of nature are supreme. Any interaction between tourists, wild animals and the environment should not come at the expense of the animals. The rights of human beings in the Mara are not above those of animals and nature,” he said.

The disappearing migration

Every year, more than a million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles move between the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara in search of fresh grazing land. The migration sustains predators, attracts visitors from around the world and plays a crucial role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem.

Kenya has, however, seen a significant decline in the number of wildebeest making the journey into the Maasai Mara. Conservationists say that construction, vehicle traffic and human activity near migration routes are disrupting animal movements and placing additional pressure on wildlife already affected by climate change.

According to a Kenyan government wildlife survey whose findings were released after fieldwork conducted between June 2024 and August 2025, populations of several species, including lions, buffalo, hirola antelope and wildebeest, have fallen sharply. Wildebeest numbers declined from 58,000 to 34,200 between 2023 and 2025.

Scientific data released in early 2026 showed that the number of wildebeest using one of the key migration routes in the Greater Mara ecosystem had fallen by almost 90 percent in just five years.

The pressure from tourism development has become a central concern. Despite the 2023 moratorium on new tourism accommodation in sensitive parts of the reserve, conservationists say new camps have continued to emerge while existing facilities have sought to expand.

The moratorium was introduced to curb overdevelopment, reduce pressure on wildlife habitats and protect migration corridors, but conservationists argue that enforcement has been weak.

Samwel Odhiambo, a climate activist and founder of the Climate Awareness Defenders community-based organisation, told Al Jazeera that conservation must take precedence over commercial interests.

“The government must rein in investors who do not really care about conservation because everyone has a responsibility to the environment and the animals. What we are seeing today is a result of developments that are profit-driven, to the point where lodges are built on riverbanks, too close to animals, and on migration routes, affecting especially female animals as they lose their habitats for nurturing and delivering their babies.”

Odhiambo argued that the same level of environmental protection applied along Kenya’s coast should be extended to the Mara.

“Kenya’s coast at times generates more tourism revenue than the Maasai Mara, but you will not find developers building on the beach or in the waters,” he said.

Maps published in December 2025 by ecologists at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in the Atlas of Ungulate Migration showed that migration routes supporting more than 100,000 wildebeest as recently as 2020 now support fewer than 30,000.

The report estimated that the wildebeest population, which numbered between 120,000 and 150,000 in the 1970s, had fallen to about 26,700 by 2024. Settlement and fencing across the Loita Plains and northern Mara Plains have severely restricted migration, confining surviving herds to a patchwork of conservancies surrounding the reserve.

Although these figures come from different wildlife surveys and migration studies, they all point to a sharp decline in wildebeest numbers and movements across the Greater Mara ecosystem.

When tourism threatens itself

For decades, the Maasai Mara has been Kenya’s premier tourism destination, earning billions of shillings annually and supporting thousands of jobs, from safari guides and hotel workers to transport operators, craft sellers and Maasai communities.

But conservationists and tourism analysts warn that overdevelopment could begin undermining the very industry that depends on the reserve’s wildlife and wilderness.

Tourism operators say overcrowding, rising park fees and increasing competition from other regional destinations have made the safari market more competitive. Conservation groups argue that continued habitat loss and pressure on wildlife corridors could further erode the Mara’s appeal to visitors seeking intact wilderness and abundant wildlife.

Al Jazeera contacted Marriott International, Lazizi Mara Limited, the Narok County Government, NEMA and KWS for comment. Marriott and Lazizi have previously said the Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara Safari Camp received the necessary approvals and complied with Kenyan environmental and planning requirements, while Kenyan authorities have defended the project as being located in a designated tourism investment zone under the Maasai Mara Management Plan 2023-32.

Wangari Kebuchi, an economist and managing director of Expertise Global, told Al Jazeera that the conservancy model offered the most viable path forward, provided it was accompanied by stronger oversight.

“The Maasai Mara is one of Kenya’s biggest economic assets and a major source of foreign exchange, but Narok County depends too heavily on it for revenue. If wildlife numbers decline because of overdevelopment, tourism demand will eventually fall. The conservancy model will help by protecting wildlife corridors and limiting visitor numbers, but it needs stronger oversight. Future tourism growth should be guided by ecological limits, not commercial demand, so the Mara remains both environmentally healthy and economically sustainable,” Kebuchi said.

For conservationists, the court cases are about far more than a single luxury camp. They could determine whether Kenya is willing to enforce ecological limits in one of Africa’s most celebrated landscapes.

As the legal battle unfolds, the question is whether the Maasai Mara can remain both a thriving wildlife ecosystem and a sustainable source of livelihoods and tourism revenue.

“Future tourism growth should be guided by ecological limits, not commercial demand, so the Mara remains both environmentally healthy and economically sustainable,” Kebuchi said.

DO you need more ideas on how to keep the kids entertained over the summer holidays but want to keep it cheap?

Check out this full list of every single museum in England that offers free entry – from Victorian homes that are like stepping back in time, to boarding world-famous locomotives.

North East

Grace Darling Museum, Bamburgh 

Home to personal letters and family portraits of Grace Darling, who saved nine people from the wrecked SS Forfarshire in 1838.

Elsecar Heritage Centre, Barnsley 

A former hotspot for joiners, carpenters, blacksmiths, and repair shops in 1850, with insight into the history and culture of the village. 

Worsbrough Mill Museum, Barnsley

Learn about the milling industry in the region.

Oakwell Hall Country Park, Batley 

Step back to the 1690s and discover different Elizabethan period rooms and what life was like for the Batt family. 

Bolling Hall Museum, Bradford 

Learn about the lives of the families that lived in Bolling Hall over different time periods. 

Bradford Industrial Museum, Bradford 

Home to a range of exhibits related to textile machinery, engineering innovations and motor vehicles.

Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford 

Witness a range of artworks from Old Masters to 20th-century British paintings.

National Science and Media Museum, Bradford 

The most popular museum outside of London with seven floors of galleries and three cinemas including the UK’s first IMAX. 

The Bayle Museum, Bridlington 

Learn about Bridlington’s history through archaeological artefacts.

Killhope Lead Mining Museum, Cowshill 

Get a unique insight into a 19th-century lead mine. 

The Moors National Park Centre, Danby 

Learn about the people, places, and wildlife through an interesting collection put together by a group of artists.

Cusworth Hall Museum and Park, Doncaster 

A Grade I-listed building with insight into local lives from the 18th-century to the present day. 

Danum Gallery Library and Museum, Doncaster 

Learn about the city’s past as a Roman settlement and Doncaster’s status as an industrial powerhouse. 

Durham Cathedral, Durham 

Uncover the relics of St. Cuthbert, saint of the early Northumbrian church, such as his cross and coffin, manuscripts, and a colourful crucifix.

Bankfield Museum, Halifax 

A diverse range of displays including the Havercake regiment and a textiles gallery. 

Heugh Battery Museum, Hartlepool

Learn about British military history at this museum, home to the UK’s only First World War Battlefield.

Byland Abbey, Helmsley 

One of England’s biggest monasteries, with early gothic architecture which inspired the famous York Minster rose window. 

Tolson Museum, Huddersfield

See displays on natural sciences, technology, and archaeological artefacts dating back to prehistoric times. 

Arctic Corsair, Hull 

Dive into Hull’s deep-sea fishing industry at this museum that includes a historic deep-sea trawler built in 1960.

Ferens Art Gallery, Hull 

A fine art collection with everything from Viking swords and Roman mosaics to a full-sized Wooly Mammoth.

The Hull and East Riding Museum of Archaeology, Hull

Artefacts dating back 235 million years of ancient civilisations and natural history.

Streetlife Museum of Transport, Hull 

Explore this collection of horse-drawn carriages and vintage cars, or hop on Britain’s oldest tramcar.

Wilberforce House Museum, Hull 

The private collection of William Wilberforce, a British politician who helped to abolish the slave trade.

Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley 

Home of Victorian millionaire and textile manufacturer, Henry Isaac Butterfield.

Royal Armouries, Leeds 

Historic weaponry and armour, from Japanese samurai swords to modern warfare including Henry VIII’s armour.

Dorman Museum, Middlesbrough

Discover the town’s history with dinosaur installations and a slice of meteorite from space.

Discovery Museum, Newcastle 

Collection of scientific and technical materials, including Joseph Swan’s lightbulb and the world’s first ship powered by steam turbines. 

Great North Museum Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne 

Learn about natural history and archaeology with 800 objects from the Ancient Greeks, Roman Empire and Anglo-Saxons. 

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne

Home to a collection of art and sculptures including Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces.

OuseBurn Farm, Newcastle upon Tyne 

Working city farm that includes a sensory trail. 

Pontefract Castle and Visitors Centre, Pontefract 

Medieval fortress built around 1086 where you can dress up as a lord, lady or soldier.

Zetland Lifeboat Museum and Redcar Heritage Centre, Redcar 

Home to the world’s oldest surviving lifeboat with maritime history dating back to the 1800s. 

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield 

Discover steelworks dating back to the 1700s and learn what it was like to live and work onsite. 

Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield 

Learn about life in Victorian-era Sheffield, with artefacts including a 1760’s chocolate pot and Metrovick milk float.

Millennium Gallery, Sheffield 

All things art and design in Sheffield, including one of the finest collections of metalwork in the world. 

Sheffield Botanical Gardens, Sheffield 

Grade II-listed botanical gardens with 18 areas, including a warm Mediterranean Climate Garden and the Asia Garden.

Weston Park Museum, Sheffield 

Home to archaeological artefacts, zoological specimens and works of art.

Locomotion Museum, Shildon 

Hop aboard the Flying Scotsman and experience the power of steam travel. 

South Shields Museum and Art Gallery, South Shields 

Discover the history of South Tyneside inside this historic building with a Victorian tea room, served by costumed staff.

Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Sunderland 

Home to 108,000 objects dating back to 1810, as well as more than 2,000 plants and trees.

National Coal Mining Museum for England, Wakefield

Discover the history of the British coal mining industry with guided underground tours.

Sandal Castle, Wakefield 

Wander through the grounds and learn about the Battle of Wakefield and the castle’s ties to Richard III. 

RNLI Whitby Lifeboat Museum, Whitby 

Custom-built double boathouse where you can learn about the lifeboat history in Whitby.

Robin Hood’s Bay Museum, Whitby 

Range of displays on Whitby’s shipwrecks, the last lifeboat stationed in Bay, and its smuggling history.

National Railway Museum, York 

Collection of iconic British railway vehicles, significant artefacts and historical locomotives in York.

North West

The Dock Museum, Barrow-in-Furness

Built over a 19th-century dry dock with displays on decorative and applied art, archeology, textiles, and fine art, plus a unique collection of ship models. 

Birkenhead Priory and St Mary’s Tower, Birkenhead 

Merseyside’s oldest building, with the remains of St Mary’s church.

Lady Lever Art Gallery, Birkenhead

30 rooms of paintings, sculptures and decorative art, from tapestries to vintage furniture and Chinese porcelain.

Wirral Transport Museum, Birkenhead 

Museum delving into the history of transport in Birkenhead.

Witton Country Park and Visitor Centre, Blackburn 

480 acres of mixed woodland and parkland with a collection of natural sciences and land transport.

Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Burnley 

Former home of Towneley family for over 600 years, with collections of fine art, local history, and ancient civilisations. 

Grosvenor Museum, Chester 

Museum housing everything from Roman tombstones to 400 years of Chester hallmarked silver, and prehistoric urns. 

Queen Victoria Monument, Liverpool 

Monument to Queen Victoria built in 1906 on the former site of Liverpool Castle.

Sudley House, Liverpool 

Former home of Victorian merchant George Holt.

Tate Liverpool + RIBA North, Liverpool 

Currently operating at a smaller location in Liverpool due to a refurbishment, this museum has two galleries exploring contemporary art. 

Victoria Gallery and Museum, Liverpool 

Uncover artworks across different eras, dig into archaeological items, and spot oceanography displays. 

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

National gallery of the North, with paintings and sculptures from Rembrandt, David Hockney and Rodin.

Lytham Windmill Museum, Lytham 

Five floors of exhibitions on milling processes, the importance of lifeboats, and the history of Grade II-listed buildings. 

Greater Manchester Police Museum, Manchester 

Learn about the history of policing with photographs and records pre-dating 1974.

Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester 

Browse artists and designers such as William Ratcliffe, Bernado Daddi and Coco Chanel.

Manchester Museum, Manchester 

After reopening in 2023, this was named Europe’s Museum of the Year, and has 4.5 million items across four floors.

Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester

Home to 250 years of innovations across science and technology, as well as UK’s oldest surviving train station.

Ordsall Hall Museum, Manchester 

Salford’s oldest building dating back to 1177, with over 10,000 artefacts.

People’s History Museum, Manchester 

Learn about the history of the working class in the UK, with displays on the Peterloo Massacre and the women’s suffrage movement. 

Portland Basin Museum, Manchester

A restored 19th-century warehouse showcasing local history, industry, and trade.

Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Manchester 

A reconstructed Victorian street with original shop fronts and a large collection of Pilkington Ceramics.

Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 

A collection of over 60,000 artworks including works from Turner, Picasso, and Peter Blake. 

Anderton Boat Lift, Northwich 

One of the UK’s only two working boat lifts. 

Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston 

Discover art, culture, and history, with displays on printed textiles, the remains of an elk, and glassblown scent bottles. 

The Whitaker, Rawtenstall 

A diverse collection of history, fine art and textiles, with displays on the Haslingden Coat of Arms and prisoner of war poems.

Samlesbury Hall, Samlesbury 

A stately home dating back to 1185 with cafe and shepherd huts and UK’s first wafflery.

Imperial War Museum North, Stretford 

A museum offering perspective on how war and conflict changes everyday lives.

The World of Glass, St Helens

Learn about the history of the glass industry with live glass blowing demonstrations. 

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery, Warrington 

Grade II-listed building with an art collection dating back to 1857.

East Midlands

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Buxton 

Marvel at archaeological and geological wonders of the Peak District.

Cromford Mills, Cromford 

A UNESCO site displaying how Sir Richard Arkwright changed the modern factory system and textile industry.

Canons Ashby, Daventry 

Grade I-listed Canons Ashby House, with a collection of Elizabethan and Jacobean artistry.

Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby 

An impressive collection of works by artist Joseph Wright as well as archaeological items, ceramics, decorative art, and objects from all over the world. 

Pickford’s House, Derby 

Georgian townhouse and gardens showcasing domestic life from the 18th to 20th centuries.

New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester 

Displays include a 15-metre Rutland Dinosaur and stories about Leicester’s achievements and obstacles.

Newarke Houses Museum, Leicester 

Built in 1511, with exhibits on the Leicestershire Regiment and Tudor objects.

University of Leicester Botanic Garden, Leicester 

A beautiful garden spanning 16 acres, featuring an arboretum and tropical plants.

Lincoln Museum and Usher Gallery, Lincolnshire 

Displays everything from artefacts from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, to works by Turner, as well as forensic processes of the Anglo Saxons. 

Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Lincolnshire 

Home to 250,000 items dating back to 1750, including a World War I tank, as well as a museum trail and playground for kids.

Charnwood Museum, Loughborough 

Collection centered around geology, archaeology and local history, including one of the world’s oldest fossils.

Green’s Mill and Science Centre, Nottingham 

Former home of mathematical physicist George Green with displays related to science, technology, and social history.

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Northampton 

Impressive collection of 15,000 pairs of shoes, alongside history and art of shoemaking.

The Harley Foundation, Worksop, Northamptonshire

Includes artworks from Van Dyke, Michelangelo and Sir Thomas Lawrence. 

Wellingborough Museum, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire

Diverse display from pre-historic eras to the present day, including coins, medals and costumes.

Oakham Castle, Oakham 

Huge collection of horseshoes, alongside displays on Norman history and architecture. 

Rufford Abbey and Country Park, Ollerton 

Collection exploring architecture, decorative and applied art, and religion, as well as the Runnford Abbey Ruins. 

Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, Spalding 

15th-century, Grade I-listed building with five acres of public gardens and a war memorial. 

Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum, Stoke Bruerne

Grade II-listed corn mill that tells the stories of the people who worked on Britain’s waterways. 

West Midlands

National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas 

British site of national remembrance with over 400 memorials and 25,000 trees. 

Bewdley Museum, Bewdley 

A riverside museum exploring the town’s local history.

Aston Hall, Birmingham 

Grade I-listed Jacobean house with a beautiful public park, as well as collections from the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. 

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham

Collection of art and design from Pre-Raphaelite artists, including oil paintings, tapestries and ceramics.

Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 

Diverse media collection with displays on sound, photography, and paintings. 

Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford 

Learn about the heroes of the RAF and famous aircraft dating back to 1918. 

Himley Hall and Park, Himley 

Explore 180 acres of landscaped parkland with three galleries.

Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, Lichfield 

Learn about the first lexicographer Samuel Johnson, who created A Dictionary of the English Language.

Brampton Museum, Newcastle-under-Lyme

Award-winning museum where you can learn about 2,000 years of the local town.

Ancient High House, Stafford

The biggest timber-framed house in England open to the public

Stafford Castle, Stafford 

Step back to 1100 AD with archaeological artefacts and learn about the history of the castle.

Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent 

Tour around the last working Victorian potbank in a Grade II-listed building. 

Walsall Leather Museum, Walsall 

Learn about Walsall’s leather trade in a renovated Victorian factory building.

Bantock House Museum, Wolverhampton 

Step back into the Edwardian period and discover local history in Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton 

Home to contemporary art from the likes of David Hockney and Andy Warhol.

East of England

The Higgins Bedford, Bedford 

Collection of watercolour, prints and decorative art – with displays on the works of William Burges and Edward Bawden.

Bury St Edmunds Abbey, Bury St Edmunds 

The wealthiest Benedictine monastery in medieval England includes the shrine of St Edmund and the 14th-century Great Gate. 

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Huge collection of artworks and objects formerly owned by Cambridge alumni Richard Fitzwilliam, from ancient Egyptian coffins to Renaissance masterpieces. 

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge

Collection of archaeology and anthropological items including Roman pottery and objects from predynastic Egypt. 

The Polar Museum, Cambridge 

Learn about the history and science of polar exploration, Arctic art and culture.

Sedgwick Museum of Earth Science, Cambridge 

Dig deeper into a collection of rocks, minerals, and fossils dating back two million years.

Peterborough Museum, Cambridgeshire 

Home to 227,000 items from the city’s history and artistic heritage, including ceramics from the Roman empire and Jurassic fossil remains.

Hollytrees Museum, Colchester 

Glimpse into life for both the rich and the poor in 18th-century Colchester, and get the chance to dress up as a servant. 

Henry Blogg Museum, Cromer 

Discover the life of hero Henry Blogg, who helped 387 rescues at sea and created a hull shape for a new lifeboat. 

Hylands House and Estate, Essex 

The Neo-Classical Hylands House is surrounded by 574 acres of parkland, and the popular Go Ape attraction.

Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon 

Collection of artefacts, paintings, and material relating to Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate. 

Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich 

Tudor brick mansion featuring collection of items from the Tudor period including clothing, children’s toys, and musical instruments. 

Stockwood Discovery Centre, Luton 

Learn about Luton’s local history and see Europe’s biggest collection of horse-drawn carriages.

Bhaktivedanta Manor, Radlett

78 acres of land featuring an organic farm, monastery, and Hare Krishna temple in Hertfordshire.

Great London & Outer London

Myddelton House Gardens, Enfield 

Former home and gardens of the horticulturist, Edward Bowles. 

Bank of England Museum, London 

Deep dive into 1,500 years of monetary history with a famous 13kg gold bar you can hold, worth £380,000.

British Museum, London

The UK’s biggest museum, with the world’s largest collection of works – eight million pieces exploring human history, art, and culture. 

Geffrye Museum of the Home, London 

Step back into British homelife, from 1600 to the present day, with a series of period room displays. 

Grant Museum of Zoology, London 

One of the oldest natural history collections, dating back to 1828, including 68,000 zoological specimens.

Guildhall Art Gallery & London’s Roman Amphitheatre, London 

Home to City of London’s art collection dating back to the 1600s, as well as a famous Roman amphitheatre. 

Horniman Museum and Gardens, London

Collection with over 350,000 anthropological and historical items as well as musical instruments and taxidermied animals.

Kenwood House, London 

A 17th-century house in Hampstead Heath, used to film Notting Hill, Sense and Sensibility, and Mansfield Park.

Museum of London Docklands, London

A 200-year-old warehouse featuring the history of trade and how pirates transformed the capital in the 1600s. 

Museum of the Order of St John, London 

Learn about the history of St John Ambulance dating back 900 years.

National Army Museum, London . 

Wander through warfare across the ages, from English Civil War and Seven Years War to present day.

National Gallery, London 

2,600 pieces of art, from the Renaissance, Impressionism and Gothic periods.

National Portrait Gallery, London 

The world’s biggest portrait collection, with artworks of some of the most important and iconic British people. 

Natural History Museum, London 

One of the UK’s most popular museums with 80 million items, including the famous blue whale skeleton.

Petrie Museum, London 

One of the world’s biggest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology.

Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, London

UK’s oldest church, founded in 1123, and still a place of worship.

Royal Air Force Museum, London

Discover the history of aviation and the RAF with famous aircraft including the WWII bomber, Avro Lancaster.

Royal Hospital Chelsea, London

British Army soldier retirement home exploring the history of the residents and the building. 

Science Museum, London

Family-friendly museum where you can discover famous inventions from rockets and computers, to aviation and trains, across 50 exhibits and regular pop-up events.

Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

Former home of the English architect most famous for designing the Bank of England.

Tate Britain, London

Biggest collection of British art in the world, dating back to 1897.

Tate Modern, London

Britain’s national collection of contemporary and modern art, including Picasso and Matisse.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London 

World’s biggest museum of arts and design, with more than 2.8 million objects.

The Wallace Collection, London 

Former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford, with collection of fine and decorative arts.

William Morris Gallery, London 

Step inside the famous textile designer’s former home and learn about his influence on the design industry.

South East

Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, Canterbury 

Grade II-listed building with works from David Hockney, as well as an ancient Egyptian mummified cat, and the original Bagpuss. 

The Novium, Chichester 

Former Roman bathhouse exploring 500,000 years of Chichester.

Dover Museum, Dover 

Learn why Dover is England’s ‘Lock and Key’ having survived invasions from Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror and Napoleon. 

The White Cliffs of Dover, Dover 

Visit deep shelters built for soldiers in World War II.

Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne 

Extensive collection of modern British and contemporary international artworks. 

Royal Holloway Art Collection, Egham 

Collection of paintings, drawings, and prints by artists including John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, and John Nash. 

Hastings Fisherman’s Museum, Hastings 

Dive into the fishing industry and maritime history of Hastings. 

Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Hastings 

Collection of over 90,000 objects on everything from natural sciences and decorative arts, to world cultures and a dinosaur gallery. 

Shipwreck Museum, Hastings 

Learn about maritime disasters, and see shipwrecks including from the English Channel.

The New Forest Centre, Lyndhurst 

An independent charity dedicated to showcasing traditions, origins, and wildlife of the New Forest.

Maidstone Museum, Maidstone

Collection of more than 600,000 artefacts and specimens, exploring fine art, human history, and textiles.

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 

UK’s oldest public museum, exploring the works of artists and archaeologists dating back to 8,000 BC.

Museum of the History of Science, Oxford

Home to the world’s best collection of early scientist instruments.

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Houses the Oxford University’s collection of over 500,000 archeological and anthropological objects.

Dorchester Abbey Museum, Oxfordshire 

Displays dating back 6,000 years, with artefacts such as prehistoric stone tools, Roman fortified settlements, and an Iron Age village. 

Hook Norton Brewer Museum, Oxfordshire 

Victorian brewery with guided tours and free beer samples.

The Oxfordshire Museum, Oxfordshire 

Learn the story of Oxfordshire, from the Jurassic period through to the Victorian era and modern day.

Boathouse 4, Portsmouth 

Discover the history of maritime craftsmanship including the development of boatbuilding.

Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, Portsmouth

Look into the local history and heritage of the city including special moments from Portsmouth FC.

Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson, Portsmouth 

A Victorian fortress, home to the national collection of artillery and historic cannon.

Southsea Castle, Portsmouth

An important landmark built by King Henry VIII, where he watched the sinking of The Mary Rose in 1545. 

The Museum of English Rural Life, Reading

Discover the traditions and daily routines of rural life dating back to 1750 in Reading.

Winchester City Mill, Winchester 

View the waterwheel and machinery of an ancient water-powered corn mill.

The Lightbox, Woking 

A museum housing contemporary art including the works of Elisabeth Frink, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Barbara Hepworth.

Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, Worthing

One of the UK’s biggest displays of costume and textiles. 

South West

Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, Barnstaple 

Learn about North Devon’s local history across 12 galleries with annual events and a tearoom.

Avon Valley Railway, Bristol 

See tracks, locomotives, and carriages from the Avon Valley Railway, dating back to 1869.

Blaise Castle House Museum, Bristol 

Learn about Bristol homelife across the last 300 years with a costume collection of 10,000 items.

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol 

Three floors of of art, costume and textiles, ceramics, archaeology and religion.

Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum, Bristol

Discover how and why the famous bridge was built.

The Georgian House Museum, Bristol 

An 18th-century townhouse that shows what life for the wealthy was like in Bristol.

M Shed, Bristol

Collection of 3,000 artefacts as well as a Banksy built into a 1950s transit shed by the docks.

The Red Lodge Museum, Bristol

Learn about 400 years of the historic house, once a party place for royals and a Victorian reform school.

Brixham Heritage Museum, Brixham 

Former police station that explores the town’s history with 10,000 objects.

Castle Bude, Bude 

Built into the sand, the 1830 castle is now home to a local museum, art gallery and cafe.

Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, Charmouth 

Learn how to collect fossils with guided walks and rockpooling.

The Wilson, Cheltenham 

A collection of arts and crafts from World War I, and Chinese ceramics.

Red House Museum and Gardens, Christchurch 

A former Georgian workhouse turned into a museum displaying the local town’s history dating back to the Ice Age.

Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, Dorchester 

Find out about a group of farm workers who became martyrs for forming a trade union, influencing modern day unions.

Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter 

Home to an impressive collection exploring zoology, anthropology, fine art, archeology and geology.

Gloucester Folk Museum, Gloucester

One of Gloucester’s oldest buildings with music and theatre events.

Museum of Cornish Life, Helston

One of the largest social and cultural history collections in South West Britain.

Otterton Mill Centre and Working Museum, Otterton 

See a historic water mill along with a gallery of arts and crafts.

Poole Museum, Poole 

Learn about Poole’s history from Ice Age to present day.

Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, St Ives

Learn about the sculptor’s life and explore her studio and gardens.

The Museum in the Park, Stroud 

Unique 4,000-strong collection of items, from dinosaur bones to the world’s first lawnmower.

Durlston Castle, Swanage

Learn about the Victorian history of the folly with cafe and rooftop views

The Museum of Somerset, Taunton 

Explore 400 million years of Taunton’s history. 

Cockington Court, Torquay 

Watch artisans, like chocolate makers, painters and glassblowers, at work with seasonal gallery shows.

Longleat House, Warminster 

Explore an Elizabethan manor house with 900 acres of parkland.

For the past couple of days, I have commuted to work between Europe and Africa. When an estimated 60,000 migrants arrived in Ceuta, Spain’s autonomous outpost on the northern tip of Africa, from Morocco this week, businesses shut their doors and all available beds quickly disappeared.

So, we have been staying in the mainland Spanish port city of Algeciras, taking the one-hour ferry to and from Ceuta.

A fellow commuter is Isabel Hossein, a port police officer in Algeciras whose home is Ceuta. “I have documents, so it’s easy for me,” she says. “Sometimes I cross the border to Morocco just for lunch. Why not? The food is good.”

Isabel says the mass influx of migrants on Wednesday and Thursday was overwhelming for the residents of Ceuta. “People were afraid; there were so many young men everywhere,” she said.

“I am half Christian, half Muslim, as many in Ceuta are. We live peacefully together. But the numbers this time were scary.”

It has got me thinking about the journeys we take. At Algeciras, hundreds of cars line up daily for the ferry to Tangier. Moroccans from all over Spain, and elsewhere in Europe, depart here to go home for the summer holidays.

I am told that on motorways in Spain up to 1,000km away, the word “Algeciras” appears in Arabic to ensure people find their way here. They, of course, have documents.

In Ceuta, on Saturday, I saw hundreds of young men making their way back to Morocco on foot, under the watchful, occasionally threatening, eye of the Spanish military.

The undocumented ones

Exhausted by the heat, 48 hours earlier, the men swam to the shores of Ceuta.

“For the good life, humanity, safety, and all the things you need,” Abdelmajid said.

There was none of that available when they arrived in Ceuta, just extreme heat, thirst and a very hostile reception.

Of the estimated 60,000 Moroccans who arrived in little more than 24 hours, 90 percent had returned to Morocco by Saturday night.

Several indicated by rotating their wrists they would simply try again. “They were told to come. I saw it on Instagram, ‘Go to Spain and get money, jobs,’” she said. “It’s all a game.”

Dozens died in the attempt to reach Ceuta, and on Saturday evening, police divers were still recovering bodies from the surrounding waters.

The Spanish government blames criminal gangs and traffickers. Opposition politicians blame the left-wing Spanish government’s immigration policies for the weekend’s events, some describing it as “an invasion”.

Zia Yusuf, a senior figure in the anti-immigration Reform UK party, turned up in Ceuta to join those from the right and far right trying to set their narrative for the events.

A long way to come for a bit of social media, but this was powerful stuff: in a crisp white shirt and surrounded by muscled minders, I watched Yusuf extract a few words from young men who spoke little English.

On his X account, he told his nearly 150,000 followers: “I am in Ceuta, the scene of the 60,000 strong invasion. Spain has effectively militarised its border. Already spoken to Moroccan men here who say they are trying to get to Britain. More to come.”

No one I spoke to said they were heading for Britain. Though I’ve no doubt if you posed the question to someone with a passing idea of what you were asking – “Would you like to go to Britain?” – the answer would likely be, “yes”.

For some, it no doubt is a game. But here in Ceuta, amid the detritus of flippers and rubber floating devices that litter the beaches this weekend, a game with tragic consequences.

Ahmet Davutoglu was once one of Turkiye’s most powerful figures: The academic who helped shape the country’s ambitious foreign policy after the turn of the century, served as foreign minister and prime minister, and was chosen by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to lead the governing Justice and Development Party, or AK Party.

But later, he became a critic of the political system he had helped build.

Now, after announcing that his opposition Future Party would cease political activities, Davutoglu is withdrawing from party politics. He described the decision not as surrender but as an effort to distance himself from what he called Turkiye’s “polluted political climate”.

His departure leaves a contested legacy – that of an intellectual who transformed Tukiye’s diplomatic outlook, but struggled to turn his ideas and prominence into an independent political movement.

From professor to foreign minister

Born in 1959 in Taskent, in the central province of Konya, Davutoglu studied economics and political science at Bogazici University before becoming an academic.

He taught in Malaysia and at universities in Turkiye, with students calling him “Hoca”, or the professor – a title that followed him into government.

Davutoglu became widely known for his so-called “strategic depth” doctrine, the argument that Turkiye’s geography, Ottoman history and connections across the Balkans, Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia could make it a central diplomatic power rather than a country confined to Europe’s periphery.

After the AK Party came to power in 2002, he became Erdogan’s chief foreign policy adviser. He was appointed foreign minister in 2009 and entered parliament in 2011.

His early years in government coincided with an expansion of Turkish influence.

Ankara opened embassies, strengthened its presence in Africa and the Middle East, mediated regional disputes and promoted trade and visa-free travel with neighbouring countries. The approach became known as “zero problems with neighbours”.

Tarik Celenk, a writer and analyst familiar with Turkiye’s conservative intellectual tradition, said Davutoglu altered the country’s diplomatic culture.

“Davutoglu brought a change of mentality to the Foreign Ministry cadres,” Celenk said, crediting him with opening diplomacy to businesses and civil society.

Celenk noted that Davutoglu sought to position Turkiye as a country capable of communicating with otherwise incompatible actors. “Davutoglu was able to have good relations with Hamas, with Russia, and also to have good relations with the US,” he added.

Davutoglu called this intensive and multidirectional engagement “rhythmic diplomacy” – an effort to maintain dialogue across competing regional and global power centres.

But the Arab uprisings, particularly the war in Syria, exposed the limits of that vision, analysts said. Turkiye supported the Syrian opposition and anticipated that President Bashar al-Assad’s government would fall quickly. Instead, the conflict brought mass displacement, security threats and prolonged instability.

“His principal mistake in foreign policy was that he was very emotional, very romantic,” said Celenk, arguing that Davutoglu struggled to establish boundaries between “idealism, romanticism and realism”.

Erdogan’s chosen successor

When Erdogan moved from the prime minister’s office to the presidency in 2014, he selected Davutoglu to succeed him as AK Party leader and prime minister.

The arrangement contained a fundamental contradiction. Under Turkiye’s parliamentary system at the time, Davutoglu formally headed the government. But Erdogan continued to dominate the governing party and exercise authority from the presidency while advocating an executive presidential system.

Davutoglu led the AK Party through two elections in 2015. After losing its parliamentary majority in June, the party regained it in November with nearly half the national vote. Yet the victory did not give Davutoglu an independent power base.

According to Celenk, Davutoglu entered politics imagining a forest without “wolves, foxes, jackals or snakes” – but discovered while prime minister “that this forest did not exist”.

Amid disagreements over appointments, governance and Erdogan’s efforts to expand presidential authority, Davutoglu stepped down in 2016. He remained in the AK Party for another three years before resigning and establishing the Future Party in 2019.

An opposition party without a base

The party sought to attract conservative voters disillusioned with Erdogan while advocating parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and accountable government. It never developed substantial electoral support.

Political scientist Berk Esen said opposition parties face structural disadvantages in Turkiye, where the governing party has extensive access to state resources and much of the media.

But those conditions did not fully explain the failure of Davutoglu’s party, he added. “For one thing, the Future Party was already half stillborn by its very foundation,” argued Esen.

Davutoglu and Ali Babacan, another former senior AK Party figure, established separate opposition parties, dividing an already limited pool of disaffected conservative voters. Both also struggled to confront the records of the governments in which they had served.

In the 2023 elections, Future Party candidates entered parliament on the lists of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, then Turkiye’s main opposition party. The arrangement delivered seats but exposed the party’s dependence on a larger organisation.

Esen said pursuing guaranteed representation prevented the Future Party from fielding its own candidates across Turkiye and building local networks.

“In order to achieve a small success in the short term, they squandered the party’s institutional identity in the medium term,” he said. “And that is already why this party closed.”

Celenk offered a similar assessment: “You could say that the Future Party was never the party of the future. It became stuck in the past.”

Yet he distinguished between Davutoglu, the unsuccessful party leader, and Davutoglu, the intellectual.

“Let us criticise Ahmet Davutoglu the politician together, all the way to the end,” he said.

“But Ahmet Davutoglu’s intellectual production capacity within the conservative community was belittled and not taken seriously,” added Celenk, referring to sections of Turkiye’s conservative political and religious establishment which, according to him, benefited from Davutoglu’s ideas and intellectual framework but did not sufficiently acknowledge his contribution.

Esen said he doubts Davutoglu could exercise significant political influence while Erdogan remains in power. “But I think, in practice, his political career appears to be over,” he said.

Yet the analysts found substance in Davutoglu’s explanation for withdrawing. Celenk said his four-page letter offered a serious diagnosis of “the state the country, its politics and its society have reached”, including the risk that Turkiye was “losing its character as a nation”. Esen agreed that “Turkish politics has become very polluted and authoritarian”, adding that some of Davutoglu’s criticisms were therefore well grounded.

Davutoglu exits party politics without establishing the conservative democratic alternative he promised. But some of the ideas and diplomatic practices he introduced survived his loss of power, ensuring that debate over his legacy will outlast the party he founded.

“At least as Davutoglu leaves politics and withdraws from institutional politics, this must be remembered,” said Celenk.

In the Musa family home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, for three siblings, the announcement of this year’s high school examination results on July 24 reflected a long journey of determination.

Despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Sama, Abdullah and Nada Musa had focused all their attention on their Tawjihi, a series of exams that decide Palestinian high school students’ academic future, to insulate their futures from incessant hardships and uncertainty.

Their trepidation turned into a family celebration when all three found out that they had passed their exams with flying colours. Sama scored 97.5 percent, Abdullah 94.6 percent, and Nada, 94.4 percent.

Sama Musa, who achieved the highest grade among the siblings, said the path to academic success was “exceptional and difficult”.

“Thank God for everything. I expected a higher grade, but the circumstances determined the result we achieved,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Even psychologically, a person did not have the energy to continue, but I challenged all circumstances so I could make my family happy and achieve the grade I had dreamed of for years.”

Educational challenges

The path was particularly demanding for Abdullah and Nada, who could not attend private lessons due to their physical disabilities, so the family arranged for teachers to come to their home.

Their mother, Hind Muhanna, says years of care and support had played a role in their children achieving exceptional grades. “Thank God, we worked very hard for them, and today I am reaping the fruits of their success. Our efforts did not go to waste,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We always made them feel that they were better than everyone else. From kindergarten through school, everyone who knew them would ask me: ‘What is the secret behind their confidence?’”

Nada Musa acknowledged that their parents’ support was a key motivation to push them towards achieving high grades.

“Thank God, because of my parents I was able to challenge all difficulties. They supported me at every step and never fell short,” she said.

Despite the students’ work and parents’ backing, the genocide in Gaza inevitably affected their academic year, so Abdullah was relieved that their grades reflected the family’s joint efforts.

“Thank God, it was a grade that reflected the effort and hard work. It was a very difficult year filled with displacement and hardships, but despite the pain, we were able to reach the top and achieve the goals we worked for,” he said.

In an environment that makes life for Palestinians unbearable, thousands of students in Gaza – including the three siblings – worked hard over the year to prepare themselves for the exams.

Palestinian Minister of Education Amjad Barham said about 89,000 students in the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip took the Tawjihi this year. Another 2,000 students sat for the exams in 46 other countries.

Barham said that more than 106,000 students in Gaza have taken the Tawjihi exams over the past three years, including 36,900 students in 2026. More than 1,100 students who were due to take the Tawjihi exams this year were killed by Israel.

Israel’s war on Gaza has also seen thousands of homes destroyed, schools bombed, roads uprooted, and educational resources barred from entering Gaza.

The United Nations said in November, shortly after a truce was announced for Gaza, that more than 97 percent of schools have been damaged or destroyed over the past two years of war.

Gaza’s educational system was on the verge of collapse, the UN added, with nearly 92 percent of education facilities requiring full reconstruction or major rehabilitation to become functional.

Teaching amid a genocide

Also behind the students’ success were teachers who continued their duties despite the exceptional circumstances.

Hanaa al-Sayed, a mathematics teacher, supported a number of Tawjihi students through classes at an educational centre in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, amid the destruction wrought by Israel.

Many students arrived at class carrying heavy psychological loads caused by the grief and trauma of losing family members. Her response to the situation was to treat them not just as her students, but also as children, with love and care.

“The students did not only need someone to explain the curriculum; they needed someone to listen to them and stand beside them,” she told Al Jazeera.

“I treated them as if they were my own daughters, trying to support them psychologically before teaching them mathematics.”

Inside the school, which also served as a shelter for displaced people, children sat on mats during lessons.

“There were no desks or chairs. The school was divided between Tawjihi students and displaced people, but despite that, we insisted on continuing education,” she said.

Palestinians have demonstrated a commitment to education despite the difficult circumstances they have faced over the past decades, and the Tawjihi results this year reflect this.

“What I saw from the students was something exceptional. They came to study despite everything around them because they believe education is their path to the future,” Hanaa said.

Some of her students who paused their education before the war have since returned to school.

“There were students who had lost hope of completing their education before the war, but they returned and decided to start again,” Hanaa said. “This reflects the level of determination and desire to achieve their dreams.”

Celebrations amid grief

While many students celebrated their Tawjihi results, this was also a time mixed with grief.

Tala Abu Sukkar, from the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, lost her mother, Salwa, in 2010 when she was just two years old. During the war on Gaza, she lost her older brother Yusuf, then her father, Mahmoud, followed by her sister and her four nephews and nieces. Tala now lives with her uncle, who became her main support carer after the loss of so many family members, and took her Tawjihi exams this year.

The final year of school was not only an academic challenge, but also a major psychological struggle as she tried to cope with the pain and grief that followed her throughout the year.

“I lost people who were part of my life. The hardest thing was continuing my path while carrying all this pain inside me, but I tried to stay strong and keep going,” she said.

“The Tawjihi period was one of the most difficult stages I have gone through. I was studying while trying to deal with grief, but I had a goal to succeed and achieve something that would make my family proud.”

When she received her certificate, achieving an average score of 86 percent, it was a moment mixed with joy and sadness.

“When the results appeared, I felt mixed emotions. I was happy that I succeeded, but I wished my father and my family members were with me to share this joy,” she said.

“My uncle has been my support after losing my family, and his presence beside me helped me continue and not give up.”

The stories of this year’s Tawjihi students in Gaza represent the determination of a generation to continue education and work towards a better future, despite great hardships.

Despite losing loved ones, changing learning environments and daily difficulties, students continued their journey with the support of loving family members and teachers.

The Tawjihi journey is a story of patience and determination but also shows how important education is to Palestinians’ lives. For the children of Gaza, schools remain a place of hope, care and ambition.

IF you’ve ever wanted to live like a celebrity, your chance has finally arrived. 

A growing number of famous faces – from Hollywood A-listers to royalty – have opened up their lavish homes and cozy cottages to the public. 

Whether you fancy relaxing poolside in a pop star’s hideaway, or spending the night on a royal estate, these exclusive stays let you step right into their world. 

Here, we share some of the top celebrity-owned properties you can actually book this summer…

1. Alan Carr – Ayton Castle Estate Glamping (Scottish Borders)

Fresh off his victory on Celebrity Traitors, comedian Alan Carr snapped up the historic £3.3million Ayton Castle in Berwickshire, Scotland, earlier this year to convert into a luxury retreat. 

This summer, guests can stay in fully furnished luxury bell tents right on the 17-bedroom 160-acre castle grounds, just an hour’s drive from Edinburgh.

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At a cost of between £140 and £160 a night, the luxury tents sleep up to four people, and are “fully furnished with comfy beds, warm bedding and pillows.”

Visitors have been promised ‘serene walks’ through the estate’s vast woodland and wellness offerings on site including sauna and cold water sessions.

2. George Michael – The Pool House at Mill Cottage (Goring-on-Thames)

Pop legend George Michael bought Mill Cottage in South Oxfordshire in 2001, where he spent 15 peaceful years living by the River Thames until his passing in 2016. 

The current owners transformed the superstar’s private pool house on the estate grounds into an exclusive one-bedroom guest hideaway, which costs around £720 a night over summer.

Sitting right on the riverbank, the retreat features exclusive access to a heated outdoor swimming pool, sun loungers, an outdoor BBQ, and a cozy fireplace. 

It has become a dream stay for music fans looking to sip a drink poolside and experience the peaceful surroundings George loved so dearly.

• How to book: Listed on Airbnb.

3. Kelvin Fletcher – Stag Cottage (Peak District)

Former Emmerdale star and Strictly Come Dancing winner Kelvin Fletcher traded showbiz for rural living on his 120-acre family farm. 

Featured on ITV‘s Fletchers’ Family Farm, the actor converted a stone building on the edge of the property into a luxury three-bedroom holiday home. 

The interior combines a cozy country aesthetic with modern comforts, including a traditional AGA stove, flagstone floors, and a wood-burning fireplace. 

Outside, guests can soak in their private outdoor hot tub while taking in sweeping views of the surrounding Cheshire countryside and Peak District.

4. Jules Hudson – Mole Hill Hut (Herefordshire)

As the longtime presenter of BBC’s Escape to the Country, Jules Hudson used his rural expertise to handcraft his very own bespoke shepherd’s hut. 

Tucked away in a private meadow on his own land near the scenic Wye Valley, the hut offers a secluded, off-grid retreat designed strictly for two. 

It features a cozy double bed, a functional kitchenette, and an adjoining timber lounge area affectionately dubbed “The Trough.” 

Guests can spend their evenings around the outdoor wood-burning stove enjoying panoramic views of Herefordshire’s rolling hills.

5. King Charles III – Balmoral cottages (Scottish highlands)

Fancy a stay fit for royalty? It may be easier than you think.

Tucked away on the Balmoral estate – which was the late Queen’s favourite residence – are some secret cottages that you can rent out.

If you want to earn ultimate bragging rights among your pals, these self-catered lodges could be the perfect opportunity.

And you’ve got a few to choose from, as the Balmoral estate has 10 cottages available: Connachat Cottage, Garbh Allt Shiel, Karim Cottage, Knocks Cottage, the three Milton of Braichlie properties (Farmhouse, Mill Cottage, and Stable Cottage), Rhebreck Lodge, Sterinbeg, and Tigh Na Garaidh. 

Unfortunately, if you dream of bumping into the likes of King Charles or Prince William and Kate Middleton, you may not be in luck, as you can’t book when the royal family is in residence.

6. Adam Henson – Cotswold Farm Park Lodges (Cotswolds)

Countryfile presenter and rare-breed conservationist Adam Henson grew up on the 650-acre working farm in the heart of the Cotswolds. 

Each year, thousands of visitors flock to his Cotswold Farm Park, a rare breeds centre and country play park in a picturesque corner of his land. 

To give visitors a true taste of country life, he also built a collection of wooden lodges, safari tents, and glamping pods on the grounds.

Each custom-built timber lodge comes with modern amenities, an outdoor deck with a private hot tub, and a fire pit for evening stargazing. 

Stays include complimentary admission to the farm park, where guests can meet rare livestock breeds and participate in daily farm activities.

7. Sting & Trudie Styler – Villa Il Palagio (Tuscany, Italy)

Music icon Sting and his film producer wife Trudie Styler bought this sprawling 16th-century Tuscan estate south of Florence back in 1997. 

When the couple isn’t residing there, they open up the grand nine-bedroom main villa and surrounding historic guest cottages to private rentals. 

The 860-acre organic estate boasts manicured Italian gardens, private swimming pools, a tennis court, and its own wine cellars. 

Guests can sample olive oil, honey, and biodynamic wines produced directly on the estate while taking in views of the Chianti hills.

8. Leonardo DiCaprio – 432 Hermosa Estate (Palm Springs)

If you want to get the full Hollywood experience, Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has provided a way.

The star purchased an iconic mid-century modern architectural masterpiece in Palm Springs back in 2014. 

Designed in 1964 by renowned architect Donald Wexler for entertainer Dinah Shore, the six-bedroom estate drips with vintage Hollywood glamour. 

The compound features floor-to-ceiling glass walls, sleek stone fireplaces, a cocktail bar, a heated pool, and a private lighted tennis court. 

Located in the prestigious Old Las Palmas neighborhood, it offers full luxury estate staffing and concierge services for short-term stays.

• How to Book: Book through the official estate manager at 432 Hermosa.

9. Kirstie Allsopp – Meadowgate (North Devon)

Property guru and Location, Location, Location host Kirstie Allsopp brought her passion for interior design to life by restoring a grand coastal home. 

Situated in the peaceful village of Welcombe in North Devon, the six-bedroom period cottage accommodates up to 14 guests.

The renovation process was even filmed as part of her Kirstie’s Homemade Home series.

The TV star personally decorated the interior with bold wallpapers, handcrafted details throughout every room, and upcycled vintage furniture. 

A short walk through country lanes near the home brings guests directly to the secluded Atlantic beach at Welcombe Mouth.

10. Wayne Rooney – Royal Westmooreland estate (Barbados)

If you have lots of cash to spare, you can holiday like Coleen and Wayne Rooney who have a mansion in Barbados. 

The £5million villa – located in the gorgeous Royal Westmoreland luxury estate in the Caribbean island – costs up to £25,000 a week to rent.

For that, you can expect a week of luxury at the five-bedroom pad that sleeps up to 14, which includes an infinity pool.

Sitting by idyllic palm trees, Wayne and Coleen’s white mansion opens up with a covered gated entrance.

Inside, the colour scheme is white and summery, with doors opening to the outside and fans situated above the beds to keep things cool.

IF you’re dreaming of a sun-soaked getaway without blowing through your savings, we’ve got good news.

While some popular hotspots, like Mykonos and Positano, often charge eye-watering prices, there are plenty of lesser-known, wallet-friendly spots in Europe and beyond for a sunny getaway.

And, with pints from £1.50, plus free attractions that the whole family will love, you don’t need a huge budget to enjoy your time abroad.

Whether you want White Lotus vibes in a cheap spot in Sicily, sun-drenched Spanish cities, or French countryside spots where local wines cost €2.50, we’ve got you covered.

Here are the Sun Travel team’s favourite cheap and sunny holiday destinations to book right now.

Fuengirola, Costa del Sol, Spain

Head of Travel, Lisa Minot

Yearning for the glitz and glam of the Spanish celeb magnet that is Marbella but don’t have the dosh?

Just half an hour along the coast, fabulous Fuengirola offers the same sun-soaked shores without the A-lister prices.

You’re guaranteed sizzling sunshine – more than 300 days a year – and the 7km stretch of wide, golden sands leading down to gently-shelving, family-friendly waters is the star of the show.

Los Boliches Beach is a Blue Flag-clean favourite and you’ll be paying far less than in other Mediterranean beach resorts for sunbeds, with prices from just £12 a day for two loungers and a sun shade.

All along the coast are chiringuitos – beachside bars – serving up cheap plates of grilled sardines on skewers for just a few euros, and a pint of chilled beer will set you back around £4.

Shopaholics should save their pennies for the sprawling Tuesday Street Market – one of the largest on the coast – with bargain leather bags, clothes and souvenirs.

Tirana, Albania

Travel Reporter, Cyann Fielding

When you think of a sunny destination, your first thought probably isn’t Albania, let alone its capital Tirana.

But in fact, the city can reach 35C in July and is one of the sunniest cities in Europe with more than 2,500 hours of sunshine each year.

So there really couldn’t be a better holiday spot to sit back and sink a refreshing pint. It won’t even set you back much either, costing as little as £1.50.

One thing I really love about the city is it still feels completely undiscovered by Brits, lacking crowds and the typical souvenir shops on each corner that tend to come with that.

In the heart of the city, visit Skanderbeg Square, where you’ll be able to get a clear view of the surrounding architecture – a mix of traditional Albanian villas and Soviet grey concrete buildings.

If you want to earn your pint, climb the city’s very own pyramid, which has spectacular views of the mountains that border the capital.

Make sure to also look out for ‘pillbox’ bunkers which are littered across the city – many of which have been turned into vibrant and quirky bars and cafes.

Occitanie, France

Assistant Travel Editor, Sophie Swietochowski

This jaw-dropping region in southern France is crammed with off-grid holiday spots, and petite villages that showcase authentic French history, cuisine and mannerisms… By that, I mean brush up on your linguistic skills before venturing into the rural parts.

Your efforts attempting to blend in with the locals will be rewarded with shockingly affordable food and drink of the highest quality – the French, after all, are the master innovators in the winemaking industry.

Head to the historic commune of Albi, where a glass of house wine will set you back around €2.50 – it’s good stuff, too.

The “Red City” has some of the most gorgeous medieval streets, with some immaculate palace gardens that are completely free to explore.

It’s best to fly into Toulouse so that you can pop over to some of the gorgeous villages nearby.

Saint Cirq Lapopie is frequently voted one of the most beautiful in France and it’s not hard to see why, with cobbled streets and wonky cafes that feel stereotypically French.

Seville, Spain

Deputy Travel Editor, Kara Godfrey

As one of Spain‘s most southern cities, you can always expect great weather in Seville (outside of summer of course – unless you like 40C days).

When it comes to wining and dining, you’re spoilt for choice, so I’d recommend trying a Secret Food Tour (from £65) which takes you around the local-loved spots. I had everything from churros and vermouth to pig cheeks and omelette along the way.

If you want a quick, cheap breakfast, go to Bar Alfalfa for a coffee and tomato toast for a few euros, or have a drink at El Rinconcillo, the city’s oldest bar.

The city is famed for its flamenco, but rather than forking out for a show, I simply headed to the parks where you can usually catch a live street performance for free.

Instead, save your money to see the city’s two top attractions – the moorish Royal Alcazar Palace and Cathedral de Sevilla, the world’s largest gothic church.

Cefalu, Sicily

Head of Travel, Lisa Minot

Want White Lotus vibes on a budget?

Sicily’s coastal seaside resort of Cefalu has the same stunning coastline that featured in the smash hit show.

While the hotel scenes were shot at the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Taormina, the opening beach scenes and swimming spots were filmed at Spiaggia di Cefalu in the town itself.

There’s a broad stretch of golden sands backed by a maze of cobbled streets and hidden lanes full of medieval architecture.

While meals in the restaurants in town are still great value, for a real bargain, do as the locals and pick up some street food to eat on the beach.

Arancini – deep fried risotto balls stuffed with ragu – or sfincione – thick slices of Sicilian pizza – will cost between £1 and £3.50.

Seeing the historic sites also won’t cost a lot. Head to the Piazza del Duomo to admire the twin-towered Norman cathedral – entry to admire its stunning mosaics is free.

And for just £4.30 you can hike up the craggy mountain of La Rocca that looms over the town and be rewarded for your efforts with jaw-dropping, picture-postcard views across the entire coastline.

Maspalomas, Gran Canaria

Assistant Travel Editor, Sophie Swietochowski

Seeking something cheap and cheerful with guaranteed sun? Few places fit the bill better than Gran Canaria.

The Spanish island’s proximity to the northwest coast of Africa (around 150 kilometers) means that balmy temperatures are practically guaranteed year round, especially in the south of the island, with the northern mountains acting as a protective barrier.

While it may not initially spring to mind as a budget destination, you can find some incredible value package offers.

Its popularity among Brits means that you’ll have your pick of deals with a huge variety of tour operators to pick from and some competitive prices.

A package holiday is exactly what you should book when heading here, too, as its resorts are completely geared up for fly and flop holidaymakers.

The last time I visited, I splashed out on an all-inclusive deal so that I could have pina coladas delivered to my sunlounger on a rotating basis, flopping between the pool and restaurants, barely lifting a finger. Talk about R&R.

Lake Garda, Italy

Travel Reporter, Cyann Fielding

Italy will always have a fond place in my heart and when it comes to Lake Garda it has everything you could wish for, for a sunny family holiday.

In the 28C July heat, the lake is the perfect place to head for a swim which you can do from a number of beautiful beaches dotted around the perimeter, including Jamaica Beach.

If I had to pick one spot in particular around the lake that is really special, it would be Limone – a small cliff side town known for its historic lemon houses, waterfront promenade looking out at the clear lake, tonnes of citrus trees and even lemon-themed shops.

Make sure to head to Spiaggia Tifu beach in the town, which has lots of nearby amenities and calm waters making it ideal for families.

You can also hop on a ferry ride to a number of other villages and towns that sit around the lake.

And thanks to the abundance of restaurants and cafes around the lake, it won’t be hard to find a pretty spot to enjoy a pint, which will cost you around £4.20.

Milan, Italy

Deputy Travel Editor, Kara Godfrey

The Italian city of Milan often gets a bad rap when compared to the likes of Rome, Florence and Venice – but you can still find some less-touristy gems if you know where to look.

Of course, you have to visit the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is free and one of the world’s oldest shopping arcades, as well as the famous Duomo.

But after this, leave the main city centre for Navigli, a canal-side neighbourhood lined with restaurants and cafes and crisscrossed by arched bridges.

Iter is a great bar with friendly staff and fantastic wine, while the nearby Pizza AM is cheap and cheerful (and comes with a free glass of fizz).

Film buffs should head to Bar Luce, a retro-style cafe designed by filmmaker Wes Anderson.

Prices correct at the time of publication.

Russia claimed this week to be advancing into Ukraine’s regions of Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, as Ukraine installed new political leadership in its defence ministry and a new military leadership in its armed forces.

The changes followed the unprecedented firing of both defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov and commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii within a week.

Most concerning was the news from Ukrainian soldiers in the eastern region of Donetsk that Russia was “effectively cutting off” Kostiantynivka, the southernmost of four “fortress cities” Russia had pledged to overthrow in a bid to capture the remaining free territory of the region by the end of the year.

Kostiantynivka was “the key to liberating the entire territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic”, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said.

“Things are very bad in Kostiantynivka. It’s not a question of whether we’ll lose [it] or not – we’ve effectively already lost it,” a soldier told the Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske. “If there’s a large number of Russians there, you can’t really say we’re holding it. They’re just pushing our guys into a corner.”

A local Ukrainian commander told Hromadske that Russians were moving into the villages of Molocharka and Izhevka north of the city, and his units could find themselves surrounded in “another month or two” unless reinforcements arrived or containment tactics changed.

Shortly before he was dismissed on July 21, Syrskii had painted a more optimistic picture, saying there were an estimated 145 Russian infiltrators in the city who were suffering “significant losses” of about 25 people a day, as Ukrainian drone units hunted them down in their urban shelters.

The commander of a group called Kurt and Company shared that more optimistic view with the news outlet Suspilne.

“Heavy fighting and gunfire are going on all over the city,” said the commander, identified by the call sign Kurt. “But we still control most of the city and the enemy is mainly on the flanks. They are trying to bypass us, cut us off, but we are holding our defence there. We are just constantly under attack from the KABs – they are just taking out positions with aerial bombs. This is the only thing that still gives the Russians success and this is a big problem for us.”

KABs are massive aerial ordnance with payloads of between 500kg and 3,000kg, which Russia has been dropping on Ukrainian positions at a rate of more than 200 and sometimes more than 300 a day. Ukraine has repeatedly placed aerial defence equipment at the top of its list of requirements from allies.

As recently as three weeks ago, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, estimated that Russian forces had a presence in just 37 percent of Kostiantynivka, mostly in the form of “infiltrations” rather than firm control. Its most recent assessment of Russian infiltration suggests that it has spread to most of the city, however.

Overall, Russian forces have been slowing down, though. The ISW estimated that they were capturing 16.6sq km a day in the first half of 2025, but just 1km a day in June this year. In July, the ISW has assessed that Russia has been losing territory at a rate of 1.6sq km a day.

Now, it appears that Russia has been mounting an effort to regain the offensive. The commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS), Robert Brovdi, said “the actual number of enemy personnel involved in offensive operations along the front line” during the month had increased by 12 percent compared with June and 18 percent compared with May, based on analysis from the SBS intelligence centre. Russian casualties increased by similar proportions, he said.

In the northern Kharkiv and Sumy regions, Russia claimed to have destroyed 10 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control centres on July 27, killing 70 personnel.

Three days later, it said its troops had routed defenders in Nova Sich, Mogritsa and Malaya Slobodka in Sumy and Yurchenkovo in Kharkiv, by copying the Ukrainian tactic of using drones to disrupt ammunition deliveries.

“Russian servicemen found large amounts of abandoned weapons, ammunition and military equipment,” according to a Russian report.

A local Russian official claimed Moscow had captured 13 settlements in Kharkiv this month.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the Russian claims, which have in the past been inflated or premature, and Ukraine denied Nova Sich had fallen.

An autumn offensive?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week he had received intelligence that Russia was preparing an “expanded mobilisation” to counter losses of 225,000 this year, versus recruitment of 221,000 people. Six out of 10 casualties were fatalities, he said.

Zelenskyy told Sky News Putin aimed to raise 300,000 to 500,000 troops in early October, after Russian parliamentary elections had taken place in September. “He will not be able to quickly prepare these people. This, again, means that he will send poorly trained people to the battlefield, which will inevitably lead to heavy losses,” Zelenskyy said.

More worrying, perhaps, were the 30,000 North Korean troops Russia was preparing barracks for in Voronezh, in southwestern Russia, according to Zelenskyy. Russia received 3,000 North Korean soldiers in 2024, and used them to reclaim territory Ukraine had counterinvaded in Kursk.

Fedorov announced a plan in June to attract foreign fighters by raising the salary for a front-line soldier to $7,000 a month. “I believe that 50 percent of the front line or among the attack aircraft could be foreigners,” he told Ukrainska Pravda this week.

Russia estimates that Ukraine currently employs about 4,000 foreign troops. Ukraine’s armed forces are estimated at 900,000 people.

Long-range strikes

Ukraine struck blows in its economic war against Russia, hitting refineries and oil depots.

Those included confirmed hits against the Subkhankulovo oil tank farm in Bashkortostan, 1,350km from Ukraine, six refineries, an oil loading terminal at Rostov-on-Don, and fuel and lubricant depots at Ishki in occupied Crimea and Udmurtia.

Ukraine has recently struck targets as far afield as 2,500km, and Zelenskyy said it had now acquired range of at least 3,000km.

Ukraine claims to have disabled 42 percent of Russian refining capacity this year. A Financial Times investigation using satellite photographs confirmed that it had disabled 45 percent of nominal capacity and 30 percent of actual capacity, causing damage lasting weeks or months.

Russia, which has been experiencing a fuel crisis as a result, extended a fuel export ban from the end of August to the end of January.

Ukraine also struck military production targets, including the Avitek plant in Kirov city, producing components for aviation and missiles, and an S-400 radar. On July 27, it downed a Forpost-R heavy drone used to carry KABs – only the sixth such prize of the entire war.

Brovdi’s forces continued to starve Crimea of electricity and fuel, striking 37 electricity substations and four oil tankers during the week, bringing the total number of electricity infrastructure nodes struck in July to 164, and the total number of tankers hit in the Black and Azov seas to 205.

Brovdi’s forces focused much of their fire on the warehouses of the Wildberries online retailer, suspected by Ukraine of providing equipment to mobilising troops.

During the past week they have struck warehouses in Voronezh, Leningrad, Simferopol, Udmurtia and Penza, bringing the total number of warehouses set ablaze to 12 and the estimated damage to $2.2bn.

Russia also claims to have hit military targets in massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, but many of the hits were civilian.

One person died when a supermarket in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, was struck on July 26, and the entire Voronov family was wiped out in Radushne in central Ukraine when their house was blown to smithereens on July 30. A record 56,000 people spent the night sheltering in the Kyiv Metro that night.

THE price tag for John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever suit is every bit as eye-watering as his dance moves.

The flared white three-piece outfit from the 1977 hit movie is expected to sell for as much as £300,000 at auction next month.

It is one of more than 1,400 items from film and TV that Propstore will be putting under the hammer in its four-day Summer Entertainment Memorabilia Auction.

The sale includes the fake axe wielded by Jack Nicholson in The Shining, a Harry ­Potter golden snitch and a hoverboard ridden by Michael J Fox in Back To The Future II.

A 15-inch stop-motion animation puppet from the 1949 film Mighty Joe Young is estimated to be worth up to £1.5million.

Here, we look at the most memorable mementoes up for grabs.

BANKS BIDS

Gordon Banks’ ‘Pele save’ shirt & 1966 medal set to fetch huge sums at auction

MEGA MEMORABILIA

Ringo Starr’s drum kit & Kurt Cobain’s guitar to sell for massive sum

A spike in mortality

The tightening restrictions have forced the Cuban government to effectively ration care.

In February, Havana announced a package of emergency energy-saving measures. Among them was the suspension of all non-essential medical services across the island.

But non-essential does not mean unimportant. Fernandez, the paediatric anaesthesiologist, explained that preventive healthcare plays a major role in saving lives.

Under normal conditions, he said, preventive healthcare helps doctors catch potentially fatal conditions like appendicitis sooner.

But in recent months, Fernandez has observed patients arriving at his hospital in a “worsened” condition than they might otherwise have had.

“All the appendicitis cases we treat now present complications,” he said. “They demand more resources and antibiotics – supplies we don’t have.”

Deaths in Cuba have also escalated as years of increasing restrictions take effect.

Just last month, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported that survival rates for childhood cancer dropped from 85 percent to 65 percent amid the oil blockade.

Infant mortality has also steadily climbed. In 2017, at the start of Trump’s first term, Cuba had an infant mortality rate of four for every 1,000 live births. That figure climbed to 7.7 in 2024, just before Trump’s second term, and reached 9.9 in 2025.

The maternal mortality rate similarly rose to 44.1 deaths for every 100,000 live births by the end of 2025, up from 40.6 the previous year.

Lilian Delgado, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at Cuba’s main maternity hospital, explained that the escalating humanitarian crisis has triggered a sharp rise in premature births and severe morbidity among pregnant women.

“Conditions are far from ideal at all the levels of the system,” Delgado noted. “There are shortages everywhere.”

The decision to prioritise emergency care can be deceptive. A wide range of medical procedures are considered “elective”. But just because they do not rise to the level of an emergency does not mean they are optional.

Typically, in Cuba, emergency surgeries are those that need to be urgently completed within 48 hours. Other necessary surgeries often fall into the “elective” category.

Mastectomies – a common breast cancer treatment – are among the surgeries often categorised as elective. So too are some organ transplants.

Healthcare advocates point out that, if certain elective surgeries are postponed too long, they too can result in deadly conditions.

More than 100,000 Cubans are currently on waiting lists for elective or reconstructive surgeries, a backlog MINSAP credited to the US sanctions.

Among those waiting are 5,152 cancer patients and approximately 12,000 children. Delgado said some of her patients have been languishing on such lists for months.

“Our surgical services are severely hampered by a lack of supplies,” she explained. “We have more women suffering from serious complications, and our operating rooms have become tied up with emergency cases, making it impossible to perform elective surgeries.”

Hospitals in Cuba largely have backup generators to weather the increasingly frequent power outages. But accessing even emergency medical care is tough when the fuel blockade is affecting basic services like transportation.

“Ultimately, if you have a cancer patient and cannot operate due to a number of factors – such as a nationwide blackout forcing the suspension of surgeries – then, whether you intend to or not, you are directly condemning that patient to death,” Delgado said.

The oil embargo has cost “human lives, both directly and indirectly”, she added.

Taiz, Yemen – Fuad Mohammed has been working as a construction labourer for more than 25 years. The 46-year-old has seen things get progressively worse in Yemen’s construction industry since the war in the country started more than a decade ago, and then further deteriorate after the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February, with its devastating economic impact on the wider region.

“We can barely eke out a living for our families,” Fuad told Al Jazeera.

The ongoing regional war has damaged economies across the Middle East, with government-controlled areas of Yemen bearing a heavy burden as commodity prices soar. Among the hardest-hit sectors is fuel: in January, 20 litres (5.3 gallons) of diesel cost 25,000 Yemeni riyals ($17), but today that price has skyrocketed to 45,000 riyals ($30). That massive spike has triggered a domino effect, driving up the costs of all goods and services dependent on fuel and transportation – including construction.

As a result, countless construction projects across those areas – in Yemen’s east and southwest – have ground to a halt.

Pausing construction

Fuad explained that, before the US-Israel-Iran war, he was able to find work for around two weeks every month. But this year, he has now gone several months with barely any work.

“The price hikes in building materials have frustrated both homeowners and construction labourers,” Fuad said. “Those who want to build find that their budgets are no longer enough, and we are left with no work.”

Fuad recalled that he briefly found work in May for a woman who had saved money to build a home for her family. However, when a fresh wave of price increases hit the market, she paused construction to wait for prices to drop.

“I also work with construction contractors, but most of them have paused their projects at the request of homeowners,” he added. “When I call them, they tell me they are waiting for regional conditions to improve.”

As an example of the rising costs, the price of a truckload of sand increased from 130,000 Yemeni riyals ($87) to 190,000 riyals ($127), while the average cost of one metre of window glass rose from 90,000 riyals ($60) to 130,000 riyals ($87).

Fuad’s situation at home is desperate. Relying entirely on daily wages but having no work, he can not provide basic essentials for his family. He has considered finding another job, but he lacks professional experience in other fields.

In a desperate attempt to find work, he has lowered his daily wage from 25,000 Yemeni riyals ($17) to 20,000 riyals ($13).

“My situation is getting worse every day,” he said.

Economic division

An official from the Yemen Petroleum Company in Aden told the Reuters news agency in May that the increase in the price of diesel was caused by the worsening supply crisis and rising global fuel prices, driven by regional tensions and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, alongside increased transportation and marine insurance costs. The official noted that the measure was temporary and would remain in place until the end of the crisis and conditions returned to normal.

Wafeeq Saleh, executive director of the Taiz Center for Yemeni-Gulf Studies, explained that the Yemeni economy was particularly susceptible to external economic shocks.

“Any disruptions in global commodity markets directly affect the local market because [Yemen] imports nearly 90 percent of its needs,” Saleh told Al Jazeera. “Consequently, the local rise in commodity and fuel prices is a natural outcome of surging global prices, shipping tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as increased maritime insurance and freight fees.”

In areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, however, including the capital Sanaa, there has not yet been a sharp increase in fuel prices, and therefore no impact on the construction industry – yet.

Yemen’s war has entrenched two separate economic structures in the country, with the central bank bifurcated between Aden and Sanaa, and two different exchange rates operating for the Yemeni riyal.

The Houthi group is already facing popular anger over a weak economy, as it grows increasingly isolated regionally and internationally. The group has so far avoided an increase in the price of fuel, with 20 litres (5.3 gallons) of diesel costing 9,500 Yemeni riyals, which at the exchange rate set in Sanaa is the equivalent of roughly $18.

“[The Houthis] may have sufficient inventory from previous months, which is why the local market hasn’t been affected,” Saleh said. “However, the impact will appear in the coming period when imports are made at the new price.”

The actions of the pro-Iranian Houthis themselves have contributed to the increase in global oil prices. Having sat out the Iran war for its first few months, the Houthis recently began attacks against Saudi ships passing through the Red Sea, after the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition that backs it refused to allow a plane from Iran to land in Sanaa. The Houthi attacks mean that the transportation of oil from the Gulf is now disrupted in both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, and has contributed to oil prices going past $100 a barrel for the first time since May.

Will prices come down?

Lutf Zuraiqi, 58, had saved some money to build a home, but the dramatic increase in the cost of building materials forced him to pause the project until “things get better”.

“Price increases aren’t new in Yemen, but I believe this current surge is regional. I believe as soon as the regional war ends, building materials will return to their old prices,” Zuraiqi told Al Jazeera.

Zuraiqi has been following news of the Iran war on a daily basis because its end would mean lower material costs for him and the chance to resume building his planned home.

“The government promised that prices will go back down after the [US-Iran] war ends,” he said. “So this time I’m choosing to believe them and hope I will manage to finish my home.”

Mohammed Jameel, on the other hand, hasn’t been following the news – but the building contractor has been tracking prices of building materials instead. The 59-year-old believes that, based on his experience, once the price of the materials goes up, they never come down.

“I have worked in construction for more than four decades now, and throughout this entire period, building material prices have consistently risen,” Jameel said. “We have never witnessed a price drop. So, I advise those who have paused their construction to resume, as today is always better than tomorrow.”

Jameel said that he has been forced to reduce his rates and cut profit margins on major contracts to keep some work.

“My experience tells me it is normal for owners of homes and projects to pause work until they adapt to the new prices,” he added. “But eventually, construction labourers’ wages will rise, and the total cost of building will increase.”

Jameel feels for the plight of construction labourers, but he views this as a temporary phase and believes the suffering will ease once work picks up again. “We are all in the same boat, not just the daily wage labourers,” he said. “But we hope things will get better.”

Taipei, Taiwan – China’s coastguard and civilian fleet are expanding their presence in the waters east of Taiwan, raising fears that Beijing may be rehearsing a containment strategy that would cut off the self-ruled island from outside trade and assistance.

Through June and July, China’s Maritime Safety Administration and coastguard staged multiple patrols and “special maritime law enforcement operations”, according to official government announcements.

While China regularly patrols the Taiwan Strait – the waterway with an average width of about 180km (112 miles) separating coastal China from the main island of Taiwan – this marks the first time the patrols have moved east of Taiwan in such quick succession, according to analysts.

K Tristan Tang, a nonresident fellow at the United States-based National Bureau of Asian Research, said the shift carries both strategic and symbolic weight for Taiwan.

“Beijing is signalling that it wants to extend its claimed administrative jurisdiction to Taiwan’s eastern waters, effectively surrounding Taiwan rather than only eroding Taiwan’s space in the strait,” Tang told Al Jazeera.

“Law enforcement operations” have included patrolling the area and requesting information from commercial vessels about their origin and destination, according to Taipei.

The shift east has also occurred amid a greater uptick in Chinese maritime activity around Taiwan and its outlying islands. Taiwan reported 55 sightings of Chinese coastguard and research vessel activity in June, up from 30 sightings in May.

These sightings included Chinese activity near the uninhabited Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands, also known as the Pratas Islands, in the South China Sea.

Beijing has said the operations are a response to talks between Japan and the Philippines to set their maritime boundaries, which infringe on “territorial sovereignty as well as its maritime rights and interests”, according to Chinese state media.

Some of the waters around southern Japan and the northern Philippines overlap with Taiwan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coastline.

On July 4, China’s coastguard announced that law enforcement activities to the east of Taiwan would continue to “firmly safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”.

China claims Taiwan as a province – which means it also views Taiwan’s EEZ as under its jurisdiction. It also claims large swaths of the nearby South China Sea and East China Sea, some of which are disputed by Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously told reporters that its activities near Taiwan are “legitimate actions to exercise China’s jurisdiction, safeguard regional stability and uphold order at sea in accordance with the law”.

The Chinese embassy in Washington, DC did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

‘Grey zone’ tactics

Ray Powell, founder and director of Sea Light, a maritime transparency project based at Stanford University, said he views the uptick in patrols as part of China’s “boa constrictor strategy that intends to squeeze Taiwan one coil at a time”.

China has pledged to annex Taiwan by peace or by force, and it employs a variety of pressure tactics, from cutting off access to international spaces such as the World Health Organization, drone and fighter jet incursions, to alleged cyberattacks, according to Taiwan’s National Security Bureau.

Known as “grey zone” tactics, these manoeuvres are designed to strain Taiwan’s limited resources and damage morale in order to convince its 23 million people that annexation is inevitable, according to Taiwanese officials.

Security analysts like Powell have warned that “law enforcement” activities could quickly escalate into a blockade or quarantine. Taiwan is particularly vulnerable to this type of pressure as an island that imports nearly all its energy supplies.

“One day we could look back at this and say this was in some ways the start of the quarantine,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Today it’s radio challenges; what is the next stage after that? When do we start to see them stop and inspect ships or reroute them? It’s not a very big step to start squeezing Taiwan on things it needs, like LNG,” Powell said.

China has already signalled that a blockade could be on the table in the future. Since 2022, Beijing has regularly staged large-scale military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including a simulated blockade of the island during its last round of exercises in December.

While coastguard activity is more low-profile than a naval patrol, Chauluen Lin, an expert in asymmetric warfare at Taipei’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Al Jazeera the fleet could be considered a “second navy”.

China’s coastguard is not a civilian police force, as it falls under the jurisdiction of the Central Military Commission as a division of the People’s Armed Police.

China’s coastguard patrols have been unusual enough to elicit a rare joint response from the United Kingdom, Germany and France, who said in late June that the “actions threaten regional stability and the freedom of navigation and safety of international shipping”.

“We reiterate our opposition to any unilateral change to the status quo, particularly by threat or use of force or coercion,” the statement said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that Washington disagrees with the expanded patrols and that they undermine regional stability.

A distracted US

William Yang, the Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Northeast Asia, told Al Jazeera that Beijing may be taking advantage of a US distracted by the war in Iran and a president who appears ambivalent towards Taiwan.

Although the US does not recognise Taiwan as a country, it has pledged to help the island defend itself. Much of this assistance has come in the form of weapons sales, training and intelligence sharing.

US President Donald Trump also cast doubt on these commitments when he said US weapons sales could be a “negotiating chip” with China following a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May.

“The external environment has fundamentally changed in the Indo-Pacific region, at least from their perspective, with Washington very focused and tangled up in the Middle East,” Yang said.

“At the same time, the US has no bandwidth to really look at or respond to such an expansion of Chinese maritime operations in these sensitive waters,” he added.

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – For years, Nuha Abu Lebda dreamed of becoming a mother. But Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has turned that dream into loss, time and time again.

As she was forcibly displaced several times across the Gaza Strip since the war began in October 2023, Abu Lebda lost three pregnancies. She says the losses came after months of air strikes, hunger, fear and living without proper medical care.

“I miscarried because of the air strikes, the displacement, the difficult conditions, the lack of clean water and malnutrition,” she tells Al Jazeera.

After each miscarriage, she hoped she could still become a mother.

“When I lost my baby, I was exhausted. I woke up hoping my baby was still inside me. But the dream I carried for 10 years was gone.”

Abu Lebda sold her gold and almost everything she owned to pay for injections of heparin, a drug prescribed to some women to prevent blood clotting during pregnancy. She hoped the treatment would help her bring her pregnancies to term, but she lost the babies despite it.

“I cried so much because I lost the baby I dreamed of every single day,” she laments.

Even after the fighting slowed, her dream remained the same. “I dream of bringing a baby into this world. I want to be a mother and have children. Every time I see my husband playing with children, I start crying.”

Medical officials in Gaza say they are treating a surge in miscarriages, which they link directly to Israel’s genocidal war and blockade. The trend has worsened as Gaza’s health system has collapsed under bombardments and Israeli ground operations with malnutrition and psychological strain cited as key drivers.

Dr Yasser Saadeddine, the maternity director at al-Awda Hospital in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, told Al Jazeera roughly 70 percent of pregnancy losses his team treats are linked to the war and blockade.

‘I lost my daughter during childbirth’

Abu Lebda is one of many women in Gaza who say they have lost pregnancies during the war. They describe miscarriages, premature births and losing newborns while trying to survive bombardments, displacement, hunger and the collapsing healthcare system.

Mai Zaqout tells Al Jazeera she lost her daughter because she could not access the medical care she needed.

“I lost my daughter during childbirth. She had already died inside my womb for a month, but I could not deliver her because the medical resources and support I needed were not available,” she says.

Her loss came shortly after another tragedy. “All of this happened within a very short time after my husband was killed.”

For Sara al-Awad, she had a scare when she was eight months pregnant. She says powerful explosions in Tal al-Hawa, a neighbourhood in Gaza City, caused extreme fear and stress, leading to severe bleeding.

“Because of the fear, anxiety and the power of the explosions, I started bleeding. My placenta had separated.”

Al-Awad says no ambulance could reach her, and she waited for hours before her brother took her to al-Quds Hospital in a wheelchair. “The doctors decided I needed an emergency C-section immediately.”

Her baby, Muhammad, was born weighing only 1.1kg (2.4lb) and was placed in an incubator. But as fighting continued around the hospital, Sara and her family were separated from him.

“My brother had to leave for the south while Muhammad stayed alone in the incubator. We could only check on him through messages from the medical staff,” she says.

After more than a month, al-Awad was finally reunited with her baby. “Thank God, the ceasefire came. … Muhammad left the incubator after 37 days.”

‘I witnessed horrific situations’

Across Gaza, other women have similar stories.

For Iman Badah, the loss was of the child she had waited years for.

“I am a mother who lost my only son. I waited six years to have him. I gave birth prematurely while I was being displaced,” she tells Al Jazeera.

Nuha Salameh was carrying twins during the war. “Fear and trauma caused me to lose them.”

She says doctors told her that, before the war, her babies may have survived.

“The doctor told me that if the situation had been normal, we would have placed them in the incubator, and they would have lived.”

Nidaa Seyam says she experienced her second miscarriage during the war. “I lost a baby girl, and this is the second time I have miscarried.”

She says doctors told her the war conditions affected her pregnancy. “They told me it was because of the psychological stress we are living through and malnutrition.”

She also describes surviving intense bombardment.

“I witnessed horrific situations where I was trapped under air strikes. I inhaled a lot of toxic fumes.”

‘War, blockade, malnutrition, displacement’

Palestinian doctors say these stories are becoming more common.

They report more miscarriages and pregnancy complications linked to hunger, stress, displacement and the lack of medical care.

At al-Awda Hospital, doctors say they have seen a major increase in pregnancy losses.

“During the war, there was a significant increase in miscarriage cases we received,” Saadeddine says.

He says the causes include “the war and the blockade, including malnutrition, poor hygiene, environmental contamination and continuous displacement”.

Doctors say miscarriages are only one part of the crisis. They are also seeing more babies dying in the womb, more premature deliveries and more dangerous pregnancy complications.

Many women lost their homes, medical records and access to regular check-ups during repeated displacements. Hospitals are also struggling with shortages of medicines, equipment and medical staff.

For many mothers, the war has left wounds that continue to hurt even after most of the fighting has stopped. For women in Gaza, the war has not ended with October’s “ceasefire”. It continues with every pregnancy lost, and every dream of motherhood left unfulfilled.

Rampur, India – More than 100 people sit cross-legged on mats, braving the brutal July heat, as they raise slogans and wave the national flag in a north Indian town.

Barely 200km (132 miles) from the capital, New Delhi, where thousands of youths demanding education reforms just forced a minister to resign, a group of students, alumni and residents are holding an indefinite sit-in to oppose the planned demolition of 38 of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University’s 40 buildings.

Named after a freedom fighter who fought against British rule, the university was founded by prominent Muslim politician Azam Khan in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh state. Khan established the Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust in 2003, which oversaw the university’s establishment three years later.

On July 15, when protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) – a youth movement born out of a joke – were at their peak, the Rampur district administration issued an order to demolish most of the university’s buildings, alleging they flouted regulatory guidelines.

Only two structures, including a proposed medical college block, were built with valid approvals, the authorities claimed, as they ordered the university to take down the “illegal” buildings by August 5. If they failed to do so, the authorities said they will move in with bulldozers and recover the cost of the demolition from the university.

On Monday, the state administration issued an interim stay on its order, but did not explicitly state whether the demolition was halted.

Jauhar University’s vice chancellor, Zaheeruddin, told Al Jazeera the stay order does not mean the demolition has been called off.

“It means that the demolition will not take place by the August 5 deadline set by the RDA. The university is now seeking a verdict that quashes the demolition order outright,” he said, using the acronym for Rampur Development Authority.

‘Stop the demolition’

For nearly 3,000 students pursuing dozens of courses at the 250-acre campus, the government move is a bolt from the blue.

Since July 15, a group of university students and alumni has been sitting outside its main gate, demanding the withdrawal of the demolition order.

“If a [federal] minister can be forced to resign following the CJP protest, why can’t the Uttar Pradesh government be forced to stop the demolition of the university when so many students are agitating here,” asked Usama Tayyab, who graduated from Jauhar University in 2019.

Uttar Pradesh – home to about 240 million people – has been governed by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2017. The state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, is a saffron-clad hardline Hindu monk, known for his anti-Muslim hate speech and policies.

Khan, the 77-year-old founder and lifelong chancellor of the university, had been one of the most stringent critics of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He is one of the founders of the Samajwadi Party (“samajwadi” means socialist in Hindi), a political group popular among the state’s 38 million Muslims, as well as a large majority of its underprivileged caste Hindu voters.

Khan studied law in the 1970s at the Aligarh Muslim University, India’s largest minority institution, about 160km (100 miles) from Rampur. At Aligarh, he made a mark as a fiery student leader, and later as a politician who took on a former royal family, which for decades had dominated the politics in Rampur, a district with nearly 50 percent Muslims, according to the last census conducted in 2011.

He joined electoral politics in 1980 and represented Rampur in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly for 10 terms, also serving as a minister in several state governments and as leader of the opposition. He was also elected to the lower house of Indian Parliament from Rampur and sent to the upper house later by his party. In 2003, he established a Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, which oversaw the establishment of the university three years later, and cemented his position as one of the most prominent Muslim leaders in northern India.

And that brought him into the crosshairs of the BJP.

‘Vendetta politics’

Shortly after coming to power in 2017, Adityanath’s government filed nearly 100 cases against Khan, charging him with landgrab, forgery and hate speech. Dozens of those cases against him relate to Jauhar University.

Khan spent more than two years in jail before the Supreme Court granted him bail in 2022. The next year, a court in Rampur convicted him, his wife Tazeen Fatima and their son Abdullah Azam Khan, also a former legislator, of using forged birth certificates.

He is currently serving a two-year sentence handed down in May this year for making “provocative remarks” during the 2019 general elections, alongside his conviction in a separate case related to a fake income tax document.

Supporters say the cases against Khan and his family are politically motivated. The state government denies the allegation.

Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan, unrelated to Azam Khan, told Al Jazeera the Jauhar University demolition order was “vendetta politics by a ruling dispensation opposed to education and intent on keeping people illiterate”.

“There are many reasons why this university is being targeted. First, it was founded by Azam Khan. Second, its foundation stone was laid by Mulayam Singh, the Samajwadi Party patriarch. Third, it was inaugurated by Akhilesh Yadav, the former chief minister of the state. And fourth, it is a minority university,” he said.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, the main founder of the Samajwadi Party, died in 2022. His son Akhilesh now heads the party and is a member of the anti-BJP coalition that includes the Indian National Congress, India’s main opposition party.

BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi said the demolition order is “in line with legal procedures against illegal construction”, and accused the Samajwadi Party of playing “appeasement politics”.

“Can anyone deny that Azam Khan built this university on illegal land? He used his position and power during the Samajwadi Party government to construct this university on illegal land and erect illegal buildings. What we are doing is simply following the law on illegal construction, and that means the university should be demolished,” Tripathi told Al Jazeera.

‘Girls will never get another chance’

But anger over the imminent demolition of Rampur’s only full-fledged university is growing. The district is ahead of only four among Uttar Pradesh’s 75 districts in terms of literacy rate, according to the 2011 census.

Also, nearly half of the students at Jauhar University are females, according to chief proctor, Gulrez Nizami.

Iqra, a fifth-year law student who goes by only one name, told Al Jazeera she had chosen the university for a reason.

“Our parents were satisfied with the atmosphere here, and with the safety it offers to women students over other universities,” she said.

“If this university is demolished, girls like us will never get another chance to study anywhere else. Our parents will not be convinced to send us elsewhere. They chose this place because they believed Muslim girls were safe here,” Iqra said.

Iqra said the government is running a counselling camp to advise the students on joining another college or university to continue their education. “But we don’t want to go there. We chose this institution for a reason,” she said.

And it is not just Muslims who are protesting against the university’s planned demolition – more than a third of its students are Hindus.

“They may call it a Muslim university, and yes, it is indeed a minority university by legal status, but that does not mean others do not study here,” Chandni Diwakar, a first-year paramedical student, told Al Jazeera.

“I have been a part of the university for the past year and have never once felt like a non-Muslim in a minority university. Everyone here is friendly, teachers and students alike,” she said at the sit-in site.

The RDA says its action follows a report by a regional officer who flagged the alleged violations. A meeting with lawyers representing both the university and the RDA was held on July 15.

“They were given notice, and they have since given a written response. Out of the 40 buildings constructed at Jauhar University, only two were considered acceptable. The other 38 were proven invalid,” Ajay Kumar Dwivedi, district magistrate and RDA vice chairperson, told reporters on July 15.

But Vice Chancellor Zaheeruddin dismissed the charge, claiming the institution located in Rampur’s Singankhera village came under RDA jurisdiction only in September 2024, years after the buildings were constructed.

Approval, added Zaheeruddin, was therefore not required at the time of construction and cannot be demanded now.

“There was no RDA jurisdiction in Singankhera at the time the university was formed. We are running courses approved by different government bodies, which grant approval only once we meet all their criteria,” he told Al Jazeera, calling the RDA’s move a violation of the constitutional right to education.

“They are simply using this as a tool against the visionary Azam Khan, who created this university for the upliftment of the minorities, the poor, and the underprivileged,” he said.

But the officials say the alleged violations cannot be regularised under the existing laws, leaving demolition as the only legal remedy.

Al Jazeera made repeated attempts to contact Dwivedi for his comments and even visited his office in Rampur. But he declined to meet or respond to requests for an interview.

‘Police coming to our houses’

The university has challenged the RDA order as protests grow on campus.

“If others can achieve results through a peaceful protest, why can’t we, as Muslim students, achieve our legitimate goal of stopping the demolition of our university? If this requires sacrifice, we are willing to give it. But we will not accept this injustice against us any longer,” Usman Ali, a law graduate from the university, told Al Jazeera.

He alleged that police are visiting the homes of students on strike to pressure their families into calling off their protest. “Police are coming to our houses and threatening our parents with consequences, but we will not back down.”

On Sunday, the protesters were joined by a delegation of Samajwadi Party parliamentarians, including Javed Ali Khan, Ziaur Rahman Barq of Sambhal and Iqra Choudhary of Kairana.

“There are multiple dimensions to it [demolition]. One, it was meant to create a spectacle out of confronting powerful Muslims in front of its Hindu voters. Second, there has been a sustained campaign throughout this government’s tenure against minority institutions. And third, it does not want mingling between Hindus and Muslims, of which universities are a stronghold,” Apoorvanand, a teacher of Hindi literature at the University of Delhi who goes by a single name, told Al Jazeera.

Since 2014, when BJP’s Narendra Modi became prime minister, India has seen a spike in demolitions of homes, mosques, shops and other properties in a pattern that rights groups say disproportionately affects Muslims. Authorities claim they are targeting “illegal encroachments”.

Back in Rampur, Abdul Kaleem Ansari, another Jauhar University graduate, draws a parallel between their protest and the CJP movement that forced India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over a series of examination paper leaks.

Ansari, who attended both, said he was surprised that calls for education reforms, which drove the “Cockroach” protesters to the streets, do not include the imminent demolition of a full-fledged university as part of their agenda.

“It is astonishing that they are talking about education reforms, but saying nothing about the demolition notice served to Jauhar University, a minority university situated just a few hundred kilometres from Delhi,” he said.

“The futures of all its students and alumni are at stake, and we do not know where to go from here.”

Ifugao, Philippines – At first light, the village of Batad begins to stir to life beneath the towering cliffs surrounding its amphitheatre-like rice terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Apu Penneng, an Ifugao elder who owns one of the village’s largest tracts of ricefields, struts with youthful confidence along a narrow and steep path in this highland community 1,100 metres (3,608ft) above sea level.

Dressed in a traditional loincloth, shawl and headgear, he is heading for the Tanig, an elaborate morning ritual before the harvest begins. At a courtyard next to rows of huts, dozens of village women also gather for the Bullogan chi Munbotoh, the procession to the harvest site.

Against the glow of the rising sun, the centuries-old terraces finally come in full view as if cascading from the sky. The fields of Tinawon rice grains, moist from the drizzle the night before, glimmer like morsels of gold ready for picking.

But the otherwise majestic landscape is punctuated by the sight of collapsed earth and boulders, right in the middle of the terraces.

In November last year, Super Typhoon Fung-wong triggered a landslide that killed two locals and demolished one of the centuries-old canals irrigating the rice paddies. About 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres) of rice fields were damaged, affecting 150 farmers.

“It was the worst we’ve seen here,” Apu Penneng calmly said, as he pointed to a deforested patch of land above the terraces. From afar, it looked like it had been slashed with a giant blade.

The wreckage has been an unwelcome reminder for villagers of the destructive nature of extreme weather conditions, which have been increasing in frequency in recent years.

Batad was also struck with landslides in 2011, 2023 and 2025. With the emerging threat of this year’s Super El Nino, a climate phenomenon that increases global temperatures and drives more extreme weather and rainfall patterns, the Ifugao people worry about more damage to come.

Across the world, 80 percent of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites are facing climate-induced stress, according to an August 2025 study published in the scientific journal Nature.

The study found that UNESCO sites in low and middle-income countries receive the least conservation support, making them even more vulnerable to harsh climatic conditions. It added that in tropical monsoon areas, those conditions include record-breaking heatwaves, extended droughts and sudden drenching rainfall – much like what struck Batad in November 2025.

“Climate change is really aggravating the situation on the ground,” said lawyer Marlon Martin, head of the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMO).

For the rice terraces to stay intact and stable, the soil needs to maintain a certain level of moisture year-round. But because of recent bouts of dry spells, deep cracks have developed, making the terraces prone to erosion, said Martin.

“When sudden bursts of rain occur, the water would seep into the cracks too abruptly, resulting in erosion” and even soil collapse, he added, warning that the Super El Nino could only mean more trouble ahead.

According to Steve Baccay, head of Ifugao’s Provincial Agriculture and Environment Office, an equivalent of $500,000 is needed for the restoration work in Batad following last November’s landslide.

Since the disaster, Batad residents themselves have come together a few times to do voluntary communal work called bachang to fix the demolished irrigation canal.

The social welfare and labour departments have also extended emergency food and cash assistance to affected farmers. However, additional national government aid is unlikely until the next fiscal year.

Climate change is nothing new, and for centuries people in Ifugao have adapted to the changes using Indigenous engineering techniques to protect the terraces, said Martin. But for Batad to withstand more frequent and more extreme weather, national intervention is needed, he added.

For Batad village chief Romeo Heppog and his family, the rice terraces are not just a source of their livelihood, but part of their identity and their way of life.

Organising the annual rice harvest festival is his way of honouring their ancestors and renewing their “sacred oath” to preserve the terraces for the generations to come, he said.

At the Tanig pre-harvest sacred ritual, Heppog watches closely alongside Apu Penneng as Apu Buy-a Nadyug, Batad’s chief Indigenous priest known as Mumbaki, leads the harvest rituals, including the pouring and drinking of fresh rice wine.

Hunched on the ground next to a pair of wooden Bulul, which embody invisible spiritual beings of the Ifugaos, the octogenarian Apu Buy-a Nadyug recites verses seeking blessings and protection for the harvest.

With the help of another village elder, Apu Penneng then leads the slaughter of chickens as a symbolic offering to Ifugao ancestors and the spiritual beings.

In one of the final acts of the hour-long sacred ritual, Mumbaki Apu Buy-a Nadyug then scrutinises the guts of the chicken, and pronounces another year of “bountiful harvest”.

Apu Penneng and Heppog then lead the banging of gongs signifying merriment and the start of the joyful harvest.

For a moment, the worries of the villagers of Batad are drowned out by the loud rhythmic sound that has been passed from generation to generation.

Apu Penneng then proceeds to his ricefield for the harvest.  Amid the uncertainties for his community, his face beams with pride as he gazes at the panoramic view of Batad.

From a distance, the 2,702 metres (8,865ft) Mount Amuyao, the country’s 10th highest peak, towers over Batad, as if guarding it from the threats of nature.

“We will get through this,” said Apu Penneng.

WITH the summer holidays in full swing, travellers would do well to be wary of scammers spoiling their trips abroad.

A British tourist was recently charged £490 for an £8 taxi fare in Paris after a cabbie got her out of his car, claiming his internet connection was poor, changed the amount on the card reader, then got her to pay through the window.

In-person payments like this don’t offer the same automatic protection against fraud as bank transfers.

Around one in every 20 British holidaymakers falls victim to some sort of physical or digital scam while travelling overseas, and more than 9.4million have been caught out over the past five years.

Graeme Buck, Abta’s director of communications, said: “Always apply the same personal safety rules that you would at home, and read the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice for the destination you are travelling to.”

With millions of us jetting off this month and next, we reveal tricks con artists use to target you, as well as tips on how to keep your hard-earned holiday cash safe.

CLEAN BANDITS

IF you suddenly find an “accidental” dollop of ketchup, spilt coffee or fake bird droppings on your jacket or bag and an over-friendly local steps in to dab it off with tissues, keep your wits about you.

While you are distracted by the person cleaning you, their accomplice will rifle through your pockets and help themselves to valuables.

BED RECEPTION

TIRED after a long day travelling, you check in at your hotel and head off to bed.

Then someone claiming to be from reception calls to explain there is a glitch with the card you have just used, and they ask you to verify again your payment details over the phone.

But it could be a scammer after your money.

Never give card details over the phone. Go down to the desk to verify what the caller said.

JUICE JACKING

SNAPPING holiday photos can drain your phone’s batteries.

Exploiting this vulnerability, scammers tamper with public USB charging ports in hotels, cafes and aiports to steal data such as bank information, or to infect your mobile with malware.

Plug your own charger into a standard wall outlet or use a USB data blocker (an adapter that cuts off data transfer).

Or safer still, invest in a portable power bank.

Always tap “don’t trust” if a pop-up asks to share data.

FREE GRIFT

Couples tend to be a magnet for this sort of con in Paris, Milan, Rome and other European cities.

A stranger hands you a flower or ties a bracelet to your wrist, then demands a large cash payment — or the fake act of kindness is a distraction technique for pickpocketing.

Refuse the item and walk away.

THE SELFIE STEAL

WOMEN are mostly the target for this scam.

A random friendly couple asks you to take their photo.

The request might seem harmless — but do not oblige if they then ask you to join them for a selfie.

Once up close they’ll grab your purse, phone, watch and jewellery — and because they’re experts at what they do, you won’t feel a thing.

THE FRIENDLY WAITER

WHILE out sightseeing, you bump into a waiter who claims to recognise you and says: “I served you last night at dinner at your hotel. Don’t you remember?”

This is a red flag. Unsuspecting holidaymakers have told how they were conned into a “cheaper tour” by someone pretending to be their waiter, and intimidated into buying items from their friends’ shops — only to discover the conman didn’t work in their hotel at all.

Scammers can know where you are staying just by looking at your wristband, so turn it inside out when venturing outside the hotel.

PEA & CUP GAME

THE trickster lines up cups, hides a pea under one and moves them around.

You’re encouraged to bet on which one contains the pea.

A couple who are in on the scam get it right — and because you can see where the pea is, you then take a risk.

You win the first round but lose the rest.

One victim explained: “They won’t let you get away until you’re skint, and you’ll find it very intimidating. Just walk on by.”

TAKEN FOR A RIDE

A taxi driver insists the meter is broken, takes longer routes or charges hidden fees for the ride.

Or, upon picking you up from the airport or station, they claim your booked hotel is closed, under renovation or in a dangerous location.

The driver offers to take you to a better hotel where they get a commission for your new booking.

Always ensure the meter is running, use trusted apps such as Uber, Bolt or Freenow, or pre-book air-port transfers before your trip via a trusted site.

There’s a tourist Facebook site for many destinations, so head to the relevant one for transfer recommendations.

WHATSAPP TRAP

Scammers hack legitimate hotel and Airbnb messaging accounts so they can message guests shortly before arrival.

The con artists claim your booking will be cancelled unless you re-enter your card details, often via a WhatsApp or phishing link.

Never pay or click links outside the official app platform.

JUST SIGN HERE

TRICKSTERS — usually groups of young people — approach British tourists near major sights asking them to sign an English petition for a deaf charity or human rights cause.

While you are holding the board to read the details or sign, they pressure you for cash or pickpocket you.

TICKET TRICK

Hanging around busy stations such as Paris Gare du Nord or Rome Termini, swindlers posing as transit staff or helpful locals offer to assist you with the complicated ticket machines.

They will overcharge you, snatch your change or sell you cheap child-fare or invalid tickets.

Taiz, Yemen – Um Yousef knew that living on the front line in Taiz was dangerous. The area had been quieter for the past few years thanks to a general de-escalation of the war in Yemen, but it still lay between territory controlled by Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels.

Destroyed buildings mark the city’s front line areas, evidence of the brutal fighting that has lasted for more than a decade.

But Um Yousef felt that she didn’t have a choice. A single mother of four children in her 40s, she couldn’t afford the typical market rate of about $130 for a three-bedroom house in the central Yemeni city. Her husband died years ago while working abroad, so she was the sole breadwinner for the family in a country where poverty has increased sharply since the war began more than a decade ago.

“There is a huge demand for houses, and all my efforts failed while I was living in a single room with my children,” recalled Um Yousef, who asked to use a pseudonym for security reasons. “It was very difficult to stay in that one room.”

After eight months of moving from one area to another, and even searching on the outskirts of Taiz, she ultimately decided that her only option was a home near the front line. Yes, it was dangerous, but with little money coming in, the home she found for about $13 a month couldn’t be ignored.

In January 2025, the family made the move. Two months later, her 11-year-old son came into the house from playing outside with blood pouring out of his mouth – he’d been shot.

Sniper danger

“I couldn’t understand what happened – I didn’t hear any gunfire,” Um Yousef said.

She still doesn’t know the exact cause of the shooting, but many of the casualties near Yemen’s front lines are the result of sniper fire.

Taiz is particularly dangerous in this regard. The front line going through the city is one of the few in the country in an urban area. The city’s geography, hilly and with a mountain overlooking it, offers numerous vantage points for snipers.

A United Nations monitoring project found that 66 percent of all civilian casualties from sniper shootings in Yemen last year were in Taiz. Of the 21 cases recorded, nine were children.

Thankfully, Um Yousef’s son’s injuries were not as serious as first feared. After being immediately taken to hospital, he received medical treatment and was discharged the next day.

The incident woke Um Yousef up to the reality of where she had brought her children to. But she still can’t afford to move. Instead, she has had no choice but to stay and learn ways to reduce the risk.

“Residents here take precautions I wasn’t aware of, like turning off lights at night in rooms visible from a distance, and keeping children from playing in open areas,” she explained. “They have to play behind the houses instead. I’m aware of these things now and follow them to keep my children safe.”

Damaged homes

Taiz governorate is the most populous in Yemen, with a population of almost 4.5 million and more than 400,000 internally displaced people, according to Khalid Alwan, director of the local statistics office.

“More than 10,000 houses were completely or partially damaged by the conflict in Taiz, and there are many more we couldn’t reach to count,” Alwan told Al Jazeera. “Reconstruction is expensive, and most residents cannot afford to repair their homes even if they are in safe areas. This further worsens the housing crisis in the city.”

He noted that while some humanitarian organisations have repaired partially damaged homes in safe areas, these efforts are a drop in the ocean compared with the sheer number of affected properties.

The Nahda Makers Organisation (NMO) is one such group rehabilitating homes in several Yemeni governorates. To date, NMO has repaired 2,389 houses in Taiz, Lahj, Hodeidah, Aden and Abyan governorates – the vast majority of them in Taiz.

While this initiative has helped some families return to safe areas, the overall need remains overwhelming, with an estimated 4.8 million displaced people across the country still unable to return.

Housesitting

Mohammed Saeed has been living in the al-Thawrah neighbourhood of Taiz near the front line since 2023. He believes the war has taken a heavy toll on society, with soaring rents being one of its worst consequences.

“I’m not happy living here as we frequently hear the sounds of gunfire at night. Even if we aren’t targeted, just hearing it is enough to terrify us,” the 53-year-old told Al Jazeera. “In the beginning, my children couldn’t sleep when they heard the shooting, but now they’ve adapted. Adapted to what? Adapted to living in a dangerous area.”

Mohammed, who is unemployed and cannot afford rent, lives in a house for free in exchange for guarding it. Because the neighbourhood is near the front lines, many residents here do not pay rent.

“Nowadays it is calm, but if there is any escalation, we will be trapped in the crossfire,” Mohammed said. “I hope I can find a job that enables me to rent a house in a safe place and leave this one.”

Khalid Abdulhadi, 46, is one of the people who could afford to leave. He was born in the al-Kamb neighbourhood of Taiz city and owns a house there. However, he fled during the heavy fighting in 2018 and has not returned, as the proximity to the front line makes it far too unsafe.

“It is not the right decision to return and live in a dangerous area,” he told Al Jazeera. “Even though I am paying rent while owning my own home, going back could cost me my life.”

Khalid, who works as an accountant for a local company, said some of his neighbours did return and one of them lost their son, shot dead by a sniper.

He has allowed a family he knows to live in his house free of charge, knowing that they are impoverished and willing to guard the property. But he has decided to stay far away.

“I would prefer to live in a safe camp for displaced families rather than a dangerous house,” he said.

“We lost everything during this war; our lives are all we have left, so we must protect them.”

Noor Salem, 30, stands beside an incubator at a neonatal intensive care unit in central Gaza, where her baby, Yazan Al-Khalidi, lies attached to tubes and monitors.

She watches his tiny body behind a sheet of quartz glass, tracking his meagre breathing and the slightest movement he makes.

Yazan was born eight months into Noor’s pregnancy, his body appearing bluish in the first moments of life.

This required immediate transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, after it became apparent that Yazan was born with breathing issues.

Instead of being able to hold her baby in the first moments after his birth, Noor is now forced to sit by the incubator and wait for Yazan’s condition to improve.

Yazan is Noor’s second child, having lost her first baby shortly after birth during the famine in Gaza in 2025, brought about by Israel’s ongoing genocide in the enclave.

During her pregnancy with Yazan, she endured shortages of basic necessities and a constant fear of losing another child.

“I was afraid throughout my pregnancy because I had already lost my baby before. I was afraid I would go through the same pain again,” she said.

“When he was born, and I saw that he was not moving or crying like other babies, I felt terrified. I did not know what would happen to him. All I wanted was for him to survive.”

Noor waits for daily updates from doctors, hoping Yazan will overcome his health difficulties and return to her arms.

Rising premature births in Gaza

There has been a sharp increase in premature births and underweight newborns, as well as stillbirths and birth defects, since the genocide in Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

UNICEF has repeatedly warned about a crisis in premature births in Gaza, with one in every five newborns requiring intensive neonatal or thermal care. Maternal malnutrition, prolonged psychological stress and declining prenatal care services have all had an impact on both mother and child.

Dr Afnan Abu Hasaballah, an obstetrician and gynecologist working with UNRWA and Al-Awda Health Hospital in Nuseirat refugee camp, has personally witnessed the impact of this on the health of pregnant women and newborns.

She says many pregnant women arrive at hospitals suffering from severe stress and exhaustion after repeated displacement, deprivation of essential goods and bombings.

“Constant fear, repeated displacement, lack of food and clean water, and limited access to prenatal care all increased the risk of premature birth,” she says.

The Israeli siege on Gaza is also leading to severe malnutrition, and one of the main issues affecting both expectant mothers and their fetuses, leading to more premature births and low birthweights for newborns and requiring intensive care.

Inadequate nutrition also increases the risk of anemia, exhaustion for expectant mothers, pregnancy complications and restricted fetal growth.

“Many pregnant women during the war were unable to access sufficient or balanced food, and this directly affected the health of mothers and newborns,” Dr Abu Hasaballah says.

Pressure on Gaza health services

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is the only hospital with a neonatal unit in the whole of central Gaza, serving thousands of expectant mothers and causing immense pressure on overstretched health workers.

“We were working under enormous pressure, with shortages of incubators, ventilators, medications and basic supplies, in addition to repeated power and fuel shortages, which posed a direct threat to babies inside the incubators,” Dr Abu Hasaballah says.

Premature babies require continuous monitoring, oxygen, respiratory support, proper nutrition and treatment, something that health workers with their limited resources and time are not always able to provide.

“When these resources become unavailable, the risk of serious complications increases, including breathing difficulties, low body temperature, infections and low blood sugar,” Dr Abu Hasaballah says.

“Unfortunately, we may lose babies who could have survived if they had received basic care.”

The separation of mothers from their babies shortly after their birth is one of the hardest experiences for mothers to endure. This abrupt separation causes immense anxiety for both mothers and babies, with the most common question doctors at neonatal units are asked is whether their children will survive. Doctors and nurses do what they can to reassure the mothers and save the children.

“Instead of holding their baby and celebrating, mothers see them transferred directly to the incubator or intensive care unit. Their fear is doubled because the war has affected everything, from medical equipment and supplies to electricity shortages and overcrowding in hospitals,” says Dr Abu Hasaballah.

“We continued working day and night without sleep, and we did everything we could to save every child, but in many cases, the babies’ needs were greater than the resources available.”

New challenges for mothers

Once the parents and babies are discharged, a new struggle for families begins amid a landscape where a mother’s health has been impacted by deprivations and stresses of the war. Essential baby care items, such as sterilisation kits and baby formula, are absent or unaffordable.

“Many families have lost everything because of displacement, leaving mothers without baby clothes, diapers, blankets, formula or clean water,” Dr Abu Hasaballah says.

In Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, Qutoof Al-Khair Foundation supports pregnant women and newborns by providing vitamins, nutritional supplements, medicines and essential medical supplies.

Akram Abu Jiab, head of the foundation, says his staff is dealing with growing demand for their services among pregnant women and new mothers who are unable to access enough food and healthcare to sustain their babies’ health.

“Premature babies require special care and continuous medical follow-up even after being discharged from incubators,” he says.

“However, many families are facing significant challenges in securing the basic medical and nutritional needs of their children.”

Despite the foundation’s efforts to reach as many mothers and children as possible, their efforts can only go so far.

“The scale of needs far exceeds the available resources. The gap between needs and support continues to grow every day,” he says.

“Behind every baby born in Gaza is a mother trying to protect her child under exceptional circumstances. Supporting mothers and children at this stage is not a luxury; it is a necessity to protect the lives of the next generation.”

Wadi Dawan, Yemen – From above, Wadi Dawan looks untouched – a ribbon of date palms winding through towering cliffs, divided by a white wadi bed. Scattered mud‑brick homes cling to the rocky slopes, overlooking one of Yemen’s most celebrated agricultural valleys, renowned for its palm dates and quality honey.

But continuing down into the valley, a starkly different picture emerges: plastic waste litters the flood channels, while the smell of burning rubbish hangs in the air, triggering coughs and polluting the valley’s once‑clean atmosphere.

“By God, this is a very serious problem,” said Yousef Abdullah, a 65‑year‑old farmer and orchard owner, speaking angrily to Al Jazeera. “If it remains unresolved, it will cause a disaster.”

Yousef stood beneath the shade of date palms, surrounded by a blanket of plastic bags, bottles, and food wrappers.

Throughout Wadi Dawan, home to thousands of people across dozens of scattered villages in Yemen’s eastern Hadramout province, plastic bags, bottles, and other household waste litter roadsides and palm groves.

Piles of rubbish – including dead animals – are dumped into flood channels that irrigate the valley’s farms. Household waste is mixed with sewage discharged into the wadi bed, while mounds of rubbish are dumped along roadsides just metres from people’s homes.

Yousef said that floods flowing through the valley pick up the waste, blocking irrigation channels, and depriving some farms of the vital waters they need. That has forced farmers to rush to the channels whenever the floods arrive, clearing the waste that has accumulated before the water recedes.

“We move from one irrigation channel to another leading to our farms, removing plastic bags, construction debris, and trees,” Yousef said. “We have to do it carefully because broken glass hidden in the rubbish can easily cut us.”

And then, after the floodwater recedes, Yousef and other farmers return to their fields and collect the plastic bottles and bags before they can sow their seeds.

Waste awareness initiative

Residents, environmental advocates, and local officials say the growing problem is driven by the lack of a proper waste collection system and limited public awareness of the environmental and health risks of indiscriminate dumping.

Large parts of the valley have no waste collection points at all. In the places that do, green rubbish bins can be seen along the roads, but are often overflowing. Garbage trucks are supposed to collect waste from the bins once a week, but the service is often disrupted because of a lack of funding and poor vehicle maintenance.

With almost no funding or resources, Salem Raji, who heads the Ministry of Agriculture’s office in Wadi Dawan and is also an agricultural researcher, launched an initiative to draw attention to the growing problem of waste dumping in his home valley. He has met with local officials, spoken to local media and used social media to warn residents about the environmental consequences of dumping rubbish into the valley’s flood channels.

“The agricultural sector is particularly affected by plastic waste, which contaminates the soil and leads to poor or even failed crop yields,” Raji said. “Waste causes numerous problems in the main irrigation canals, blocking water flow, damaging canal walls and preventing floodwater from reaching farmland. As a result, some farmers lose an entire harvest season because their fields receive no irrigation.”

The problem has worsened over the past decade as Yemen has been engulfed in a war between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions, and devastated state institutions, leaving local authorities, including municipalities and agricultural offices, with little funding or capacity to provide basic services.

“The problem has worsened in recent years because of the war, which has led to administrative instability and a lack of funding for local authorities,” Raji said.

Raji appeared frustrated that his efforts had yet to bear fruit and that his warnings had largely fallen on deaf ears, with residents continuing to dump waste across the valley. He called for an increase in his office’s monthly budget, currently just 8,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $5, so that staff could conduct field visits, reach more residents, and help remove rubbish from farms and flood channels.

Despite Raji’s best efforts, he has had little success with his attempts to raise awareness. “Our office’s [limited] budget leaves us unable to carry out regular field visits to educate the public or remove waste from flood channels.”

Expanding problem

The crisis extends far beyond Wadi Dawan. Across Yemen, years of war, collapsing public services and inadequate waste management have turned rubbish dumping into a growing environmental and public health problem.

In cities such as Taiz, waste has polluted farmland, contaminated drinking wells and dams, and increased the risk of waterborne diseases, according to local officials and health experts.

Dr Yassin Abdul Malik al-Shuraihi, who heads disease surveillance in central Yemen’s Taiz governorate, told Al Jazeera by telephone that the province, home to millions of people, suffers from a severe shortage of rubbish bins and chronic delays in waste collection.

As a result, many residents have resorted to dumping rubbish into flood channels that run through agricultural areas.

“Sewage, household waste and construction debris are now being dumped directly into these channels,” al-Shuraihi said. “We record a large number of diarrhoea cases throughout the year because sewage contaminates some drinking wells, making the water unsafe.”

Environmental experts are now calling for urgent action, warning of the particular dangers the waste poses to Yemen’s rural areas and farmland.

Khaled Saleh Bawahidi, a professor and director of the Environmental Studies and Water Resources Centre at Hadramout University, said indiscriminate waste dumping poses serious long-term environmental and public health risks.

“Accumulated waste is degrading natural habitats and polluting the soil around the palms, threatening tree growth and long‑term productivity,” Bawahidi said. “Bee health is also at risk as grazing areas deteriorate and the quality of natural resources declines. This could lead to a drop in the quality of dates and honey.”

And ultimately, it will be local Yemenis who face the consequences.

“Waste dumped in valleys contaminates soil and surface water,” Bawahidi added, “and creates breeding grounds for insects and rodents that can transmit diseases to humans and livestock.”

Built in 1875 and modelled on the Chapelle Saint-Marc in Lyon, the church was originally intended to be the chapel for St Joseph University, which was opened by French Jesuits as part of France’s colonial-era “civilising mission”.

Its pale stone facade rises above a busy Beirut street. Today, it remains under Jesuit stewardship, with Father Michael Petro leading the parish.

“It’s an interesting space, because it is on the edge of Ashrafieh, a predominantly Christian, francophone area, which has plenty of wealthy Lebanese people living in it. But it also has their domestic workers. From the start of the first waves of migrants in the 70s, this place became known as a place for them,” he tells Al Jazeera.

Every Sunday, during peacetime, the gravel car park is transformed into a cricket ground. Indian and Pakistani migrant workers play softball cricket while families sit on the sidelines sharing home-cooked food, catching up with friends and enjoying one of their few days away from work.

Today, the atmosphere is very different.

Instead of the crack of a plastic bat and Bollywood music spilling across the church grounds, rows of mattresses line the floors, and laundry hangs from railings. Men slouch on plastic chairs littered around the church, scrolling through their phones. Women carry blankets and washed clothes in plastic tubs. Only the children seem able to break the subdued mood, darting between adults and filling the space with bursts of laughter.

“When the war escalated, we immediately had large groups of Sudanese and South Sudanese come here,” Father Michael says. “They showed up because they would ask community leaders what to do, and were told to come here, as it is the first place they trusted.

“On one hand, that’s very beautiful, because people thought they would be welcome here, and they were.”

However, the strain of being a first port of call for so many displaced migrants is beginning to show.

Supplies are low, and tensions occasionally flare among those sheltering at the church. Father Michael says the church reached its capacity of 250 people on just the second day of the war.

“We’ve turned away more than 100 people in the last few days,” he says. “It’s a disaster.”

Mohammad says daily life has become increasingly difficult, particularly since the arrival of their son.

“We do not have enough clothes, especially now that the baby is growing. Also, my wife’s nutrition is not great. Sometimes she gets constipated, and then the baby becomes ill. We need more protein and vegetables. The diet is a huge concern.”

Living in crowded conditions, surrounded by uncertainty, has taken a toll on people’s mental wellbeing, Rufaida says.

“Because of the atmosphere and mental health problems, small problems become big ones. I said good morning to someone, and they didn’t like it. There are no big fights, but there is an underlying tension.”

Both say they understand why tempers sometimes fray. Many of those sheltering at the church have fled war, lost homes and spent months or years living with uncertainty.

Small problems become big ones.

by RUFAIDA, DISPLACED SUDANESE MOTHER

Their gratitude is rooted partly in what happened when Rufaida sought maternity care.

At Karatina Hospital, they say they were repeatedly overlooked by doctors in favour of Lebanese patients. “We were there to get papers so she could give birth in that hospital, but we were ignored, and Lebanese people were allowed into consultations first,” Mohammad says.

After waiting for three hours, a worker from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), who had accompanied them to the hospital, intervened and helped ensure they were seen.

Through support coordinated by JRS and partner organisations, the entire cost of Rufaida’s pregnancy was covered, including prenatal care, the cesarean delivery and Ahmad’s vaccinations.

“It gave me comfort and peace that I was able to deliver in a safe environment,” Rufaida says.

Their experience is increasingly common among Sudanese migrants in Lebanon, many of whom have found themselves uprooted more than once — first by war in Sudan and then by conflict in Lebanon.

Rufaida’s story is far from unique. According to figures published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in August 2025, there are 164,097 migrants living in Lebanon, of which 14,854 are Sudanese nationals.

That number represents only a small fraction of the 4.4 million Sudanese who have fled their country since the outbreak of civil war in April 2023.

Some, like Rufaida, arrived on tourist visas. Others found jobs as concierges or domestic workers, under Lebanon’s kafala sponsorship system, which ties a migrant worker’s legal residency to their employer.

Human Rights Watch has described the system as, at its worst, a form of modern slavery.

About 3,800 Sudanese have also found asylum in Lebanon as registered refugees with the UN Refugee Agency.

For refugees in Lebanon, a UNHCR registration card can mean far more than a piece of paper. It offers a measure of protection from detention or deportation, can unlock access to aid and education where services exist, and, for many, represents their best hope of one day being resettled in another country.

Among them is 30-year-old Roudaina Mustafa.