Photo: Getty Images/Unsplash+
In today’s edition: the United Nations adds 40 migratory species to a list ensuring greater protections, a growing number of women are holding political office across Africa, and new data suggests that artistic expression might have physical as well as psychological benefits.
Following a week of negotiations in Campo Grande, Brazil, countries within the UN have committed to working together on potential joint action plans to better protect migratory species. New additions to the list include cheetahs, snowy owls, giant otters, and hammerhead sharks.
Source: CBC
Women in the UK who have been convicted, and in some cases jailed, over illegal abortions are set to be pardoned after a historic vote in the House of Lords. The change came after a reported increase in prosecutions and a number of high-profile court cases that saw women in the dock.
Source: The Guardian
In November 2025, the European Court of Justice ruled that member states cannot refuse to recognise same-sex marriages lawfully conducted elsewhere in the EU. Now, Poland’s Supreme Court has confirmed that the Eastern European country will implement this law within its borders.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Thanks to extensive laws concerning family abuse, alongside crisis centres, hotlines and human rights defenders tackling challenges like sexual slavery, the Central Asian nation is fast becoming one of the most progressive countries when it comes to tangible support for domestic violence survivors.
Source: UN News
Although room for improvement still exists in terms of equal representation, the global per-country average is 27.5% of parliamentary seats held by women within the region. In many, it’s substantially higher: the gender makeup of Ethiopia’s parliament is approaching 50-50.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Without treatment one form of African trypanosomiasis – a parasitic disease also known as sleeping sickness – can progress from mild symptoms to death in a matter of weeks. Now, the first single-dose treatment called acoziborole could be in use by early next year.
Source: NPR
Almost 30 years after the intricate web of nerves inside the penis was plotted out, the same mapping has finally been completed for one of the least-studied organs in the human body – the clitoris. The work could help prevent women who have pelvic operations from ending up with poorer sexual function.
Source: The Guardian
Declared a National Historic Site in 2021, the late footballer’s house in Villa Fiorito, a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, is now home to a soup kitchen that feeds hundreds of local residents every week.
Source: Reuters
The banana groves are cultivated by quilombola communities and traditional farmers are part of the designated Pedra Branca state park conservation area. There, the banana growing tradition guarantees more than financial and food security for these communities.
Source: The Guardian
Art therapy has long been known to have tangible benefits for practitioners’ mental health, but what about their physical health? New data suggests that artistic expression such as dance, painting and music can have a positive impact on overall wellbeing – now, hospitals are putting in-house artists on the payroll.
Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful
