'This morning a fine idea came to me.' 'Lets hear it.' 'I thought of making myself a beautiful wooden Marionette. It must be wonderful, one that will be able to dance, fence, and turn somersaults. With it I intend to go around the world, to earn my...

I arrived in Ukraine at the end of January 2022, nearly a month before the Russian soldiers arrived. The city lay under a blanket of snow, and it appeared peaceful, but there was something else in the air, too. The 'All for Victory tent' in the ...

In April 2019 the world looked on in horror as the roof of Notre Dame de Paris, one of the most famous churches in the world, went up in flames. It was a stark reminder that fires, which have plagued European cities throughout the ages, can still do ...

After almost a year of intense fighting following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, thousands of soldiers and other militia have been taken prisoner on both sides. Despite regular exchanges of Prisoners of War (POWs), thousands are being held in prison camps...

The white-tiled floor of Togo's largest trauma unit is awash with the blood of motorcycle riders. The patients' limbs are fractured, their scalps gashed and feet grotesquely twisted. Every day is the same, a relentless production line of injury which the...

In Cape Town, South Africa, atiny biotech startup is taking on Big Pharma as it looks to create an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine and share the technology with the world for free. If the plan succeeds, it could radically alter the entireglobal system of vaccine ...

'GAYROPA' is a word often used by Russian authorities to refer to Europe. It is meant to signify both Russia's lack of acceptance of LGBT+ people and to distinguish between the values of East and West, particularly when it comes to the rights of sexual ...

Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad has become a geopolitical headache for both western and Russian politicians following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Until 1945 the city was known by its ...

The history of indigenous populations in Brazil is a history of struggle and resistance. When the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century, the indigenous population in Amazonia numbered 3 million people. Over the past five centuries, these indigenous...

Launched in 2012 by The Mediae Company, Shamba Shape Up is East Africas most watched and longest running agricultural TV series, broadcasted in both English and Swahili on Kenyan, Ugandan, Zambian and Tanzanian national TV as well as streamed on social ...

In Brazil there are still 1 million people who are not connected to the electricity grid. For them, the federal government has launched the 'Mais Luz para a Amazonia' (More Light for the Amazon), a program that seeks to provide electric power to ...

Under the cover of darkness on the night of March 27, 2017, housing activists snuck past the guards of two government-owned buildings in central Cape Town - a derelict hospital and an abandoned nursing home - and took up residence inside. The activists, ...

In May 2022, Dutch forensics expert Andro Vos launched the Wildlife Crime Forensics Academy, a first-of-its-kind institution that seeks to equip rangers and other environmental law enforcement officers with the skills needed to collect the vital forensic...

I have been working as a photojournalist in Colombia for over 15 years. In 2010, I documented the brutal civil war that pitched government forces, paramilitaries, revolutionaries and crime syndicates against one another for more than half a century. Over...

Jakarta is sinking, struggling to keep the sea from invading the streets and neighbourhoods. Forty percent of the city is technically below sea level and decades of pumping groundwater out to sea on a massive scale have made the subsidence worse. Some...

The caves surrounding the village of Gbentu in northern Sierra Leone are held sacred in local culture. Kings have been laid to rest here, and tributes stowed within the crevasses. On this occasion, however, it is a dozen or so Sierra Leonean scientists ...

'On my last trip to Ukraine, I spent several weeks along the eastern front, crisscrossing the areas 'de-occupied' by the Ukrainian counter-offensive and reporting on the consequences of the Russian invasion and the on-going war. While much of the ...

In 2015 the United Nations declared access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy as one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with an ambition for this to be achieved by 2030. Energy access is widely recognised as one of the ...

By the second half of this century, Africa is projected to be the global epicentre of observant Christianity, with two fifth of all Christians expected to be living in sub-Saharan Africa. Within the Christian communion it is Pentecostal Evangelicals and ...

War is a man's game; at least that's how it would appear, looking at armies around the world where only a handful of countries oblige their women to serve. In the majority of armed forces, men make up the vast majority of service personnel. Israel has ...

There was a time when the Colorado River snaked its way across the western United States and Mexico for over 2,000 kilometres from the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. Since the 1980s, however, the river has been ...

The Darien Gap - a steamy expanse of roadless jungle swamp on the border between Colombia and Panama - is known simply as 'hel' to those who survive it. The passage involves steep mountain passes patrolled by drug traffickers and armed bandits, ...

The death of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest serving monarch and arguably the most famous woman in the world, brought huge crowds of people onto the streets of British towns and cities, wanting to express their sadness and experience this historic ...

The Ecole des mousses is France's premier naval college that takes in around 240 young men and women every year and trains them to be the future sailors of the Marine nationale. Founded in 1856 by Napoleon III and based at a boarding school at the ...

The Damodar river darkens as it snakes through lush forest, tall maize fields and thatched villages. The rain water that falls on the Chota Nagpur Plateau in central India has turned a viscous black by the time it is scooped up into Tuklal Mahto's ...

'If we lived in gardens, religion would not have been possible. Its absence has driven us to long for paradise. The space without flowers and trees impels the eyes to look to heaven and reminds mortals that their first ancestor made a brief stop in ...

Metro Manila is one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. Around a third of its 20 million inhabitants lives in slum areas with limited access to sanitation, healthcare and education. Ulingan community in Malabon is one of the...

Norway, a country of pristine fjords, mountains and endless pine forests, derives 98% of the energy coursing through its grid from renewable sources. Near the town of Kvalsund in the far North of the country Nussir, a local mining company, is hoping to ...

In the patchwork of peoples, cultures and religions that makes up the Caucasus region, no conflict has proved more intractable and painful than the struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous part of western Azerbaijan whose population has historically...

20 years after the end of its bitter, long-running civil war, Angola remains one of the most heavily mined nations on earth. De-mining organisations have so far found and destroyed more than 100,000 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines from across the ...

A low English sun is creeping in through Tudor windows high up in an ancient York pub, where groaning floorboards that have carried 400 years of life slope precariously at 40 degrees. In a corner where the last of the evening light almost fails to reach ...

Manual sewage clearing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, but it is widespread among India's 'untouchable' caste. The stench is overwhelming as the two slight figures wrestle the lid away from the concrete drain, but the pair hardly ...

In March 2019, following the surprise resignation of President Nazarbayev who had ruled Kazakhstan for 30 years, the capital he built, formerly known as Astana, was renamed Nursultan, his first name, in his honour. In September 2022 Nazarbayev's ...

Back in the dark days of Covid 19 it seemed to be my work that was dying around me as commissions and foreign assignments dried up. With more time on my hands I took on an allotment and enjoyed watching plants grow. As the year marched on and plants ...

When Juscelino Kubitschek was elected 21st president of Brazil in 1955 he immediately fulfilled his promise to build a brand new centrally located capital city. The utopian model city was to become the symbol of a modern nation and help economically ...

The axolotl is an unusual creature. Technically a salamander, it doesn't undergo metamorphosis to reach adulthood. Instead, it remains in the water and retains its gills. It is native to Lake Xochimilco, a now largely drained lake in the southern part of...