Photo: Ulysse Pointcheval / Unsplash (CC0)
In today’s edition: France moves to cut student hardship with €1 meals for all, Afghanistan’s women’s football team gains official international status in a setback for the Taliban, and a simple system of flashing lights helps protect livestock while reducing human-wildlife conflict.
French universities have begun offering €1 (86p) meals to all students regardless of income in a measure designed to address financial hardship. Student unions have been pushing to extend the €1 rate – down from the usual €3.30 – for a three-course meal to all students, which was previously only available to those with low incomes or receiving financial aid.
Source: The Guardian
Global electricity output rose by about 850 terawatt hours between 2024 and 2025. Nearly all of that increase came from solar and wind, and although gas use edged up slightly, larger declines in coal and oil more than compensated, pushing overall fossil generation downward.
Source: Our World In Data
European lawmakers have approved a legal definition of rape based on the absence of active consent, a historic move aimed at strengthening protections for women and survivors of sexual violence across the EU.
Source: CNN
Barred from playing and forced into exile, Afghanistan’s women footballers have fought to reclaim their international standing. The newly restored recognition by FIFA is a symbolic defeat for the Taliban, the regime infamous for abuses against women.
Source: Deutsche Welle
The in-use test for tuberculosis is imprecise, cumbersome, and expensive in its reliance on a microscope. Advances in tongue swab testing in the pandemic have led to the development of a new screening method now shown to be faster and more accurate, as well as more affordable for rural clinics.
Source: NPR
Tidal marshes are vital nurseries for young Chinook salmon and central to efforts to revive the struggling species. The Stillaguamish Tribe is purchasing riverfront land in its traditional territory and removing levees, restoring former farmlands to wetlands in a bid to bring Chinook back from the brink.
Source: NPR
In a village in Jharkhand state, solar-powered devices are keeping the lights on during outages. The renewable energy project, led by a local teacher and mostly female students, is helping the community stay powered through frequent cuts.
Source: Deutsche Welle
1600 public refrigerators in Poland offer free food to, people in need and are also a place to leave food for people who have extra or just want to be generous.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Run by the nonprofit Fundación Santa en las Calles, Panabus travels to homeless encampments, offering medical care, hygiene support and social services. Built on the idea that those without homes are constantly on the move, the programme meets patients where they are – providing everything from checkups to clean clothes and a path toward community reintegration.
Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful
Human-wildlife conflict remains a challenge across Africa, threatening both predators and farmers’ livelihoods. Conservationist Dr. Paula Kahumbu of WildlifeDirect has found a simple solution: lights rigged to blink in sequence, mimicking human movement. To lions in the dark, it appears someone is patrolling – and the attacks stop.
Source: All Africa
