World

Return of a body under the ceasefire exposes the fragility of a hard-won pause The slow handover of a single body from Gaza to Israeli custody this week read like a terse footnote in an unfolding diplomatic script — yet it carries disproportionate moral and political weight. Israeli military spokespeople confirmed to the Red Cross that a coffin containing the remains of a hostage was being transferred back to Israeli forces, part of commitments tied to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan. Hamas, meanwhile, said it had…

Prince Andrew’s Fall from Grace: A Royal Reckoning in an Age of Accountability For a monarchy that has long prized continuity and poise, the decision by Prince Andrew to relinquish the dukedom of York marks an unmistakable rupture. It is not merely a change in a title; it is a public acknowledgement that reputational damage — amplified by decades of media scrutiny, legal settlements and the enduring shadow of Jeffrey Epstein — can no longer be contained behind palace walls. From privilege to pariah The move, framed in…

A new blood test for dozens of cancers promises earlier answers — but raises big questions The headlines Last week’s presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology in Berlin put a new-generation blood test back in the headlines: Galleri, a so‑called multi‑cancer early detection (MCED) assay developed by Grail, correctly identified a cancer signal and the likely tissue of origin in a large real‑world cohort and — crucially — picked up many tumours at an early, more treatable stage. The Pathfinder 2 study followed…

Bodies, borders and a bitter ceasefire: what the recent exchanges reveal about Gaza’s fragile pause The exchange of bodies and a single identified Israeli remains a grim marker of a ceasefire that is at once fragile and consequential. Over recent days, Israeli forces and Hamas have overseen the handover of human remains in a transaction that follows the contours of a wider, uneasy truce — one that has temporarily halted the fiercest fighting but has not ended the humanitarian catastrophe or the political tectonics that…

Apple’s European renewables push raises familiar questions about power, place and purpose Apple on Tuesday unveiled plans for a cluster of large-scale solar and wind projects across Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Romania, saying the new developments — together with a solar array in Spain that has already begun feeding the grid — will add roughly 650 megawatts of renewable capacity in Europe. The company estimates those projects will generate more than 1 million megawatt-hours of clean electricity on its behalf by 2030,…

Madagascar’s coup marks a bitter victory for youth protest — and a risky detour from democracy When Colonel Michael Randrianirina announced that he would soon be sworn in as Madagascar’s president, he presented the move as an answer to months of public fury. For young protesters who began taking to the streets in late September demanding water and power, the military intervention felt like a breakthrough. For many outside observers, it looked like a familiar, worrying rewind: a military hand placing itself at the centre of…

New frontier or dangerous spectacle? The Enhanced Games is forcing sport to ask what it values Las Vegas next Memorial Day weekend may host something more than another flashy sporting weekend. The Enhanced Games — a proposed, privately funded competition that invites athletes to use performance‑enhancing substances under medical supervision — has touched a raw nerve in the world of elite sport, exposing fault lines that run from athlete pay and personal autonomy to public health and the meaning of fair play. What the…

"Genuine peace must be the product of many nations..." "Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process." — John F. Kennedy Ireland, UNIFIL and the hard calculus of stabilising Gaza When nations talk about “stabilisation” today, they are describing an uneasy, long-term business: dismantling armed networks, reconstituting local policing, protecting aid corridors and — crucially — building…

International stabilisation force for Gaza is being sketched — but will it work? Plans are under way to assemble an international stabilisation force for Gaza — a concept pushed hard in President Donald Trump’s 20-point proposal for the battered Palestinian territory. U.S. advisers say Washington will back the effort and provide as many as 200 troops in an oversight and coordination role, with roughly two dozen already staged in the region to help assemble partners. On paper, it looks like a pragmatic answer to a collapsing…

A cult British comedy may be coming back: rights unlocked, creators plotting More than a decade after school corridors went quiet and the crush of pub humiliation subsided, fans of The Inbetweeners are being given reason to hope. Banijay UK and Fudge Park Productions — the production company set up by the show's creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley — have struck a deal that the companies say has "unlocked" the rights to the title, opening the door to new material across film, television and even the stage. The…