Beatrice Tridimas

A new film, "Ocean," by naturalist David Attenborough features never-before-seen footage of bottom trawling - a fishing practice criticised as destructive and wasteful in which heavy nets are dragged across the seabed.

The film was released ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference starting on June 9 in Nice, France, where scientists and conservationists warn that governments must accelerate efforts to fulfil their marine protection promises.

After days at sea making the risky crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands, migrants typically face hours of questioning by Spanish authorities trying to identify - and detain - the drivers of the boats they came on.

But those drivers usually are neither the ringleaders nor profiteers, and they are being wrongfully charged under European Union counter-smuggling rules, non-governmental organisations say.

European lawmakers have proposed changes to the safe third country (STC) concept to make it easier for asylum seekers to be transferred to a country other than the one where they made their application for protection.

The review, part of the EU's overhaul of its immigration rules, proposes scrapping the requirement that an asylum seeker have a connection to a safe third country in order to be sent there.

Underinvestment in staff means Europe's fire services are overstretched as climate change raises the risk of deadly blazes, firefighter unions in the world's fastest warming-region have warned.

Wildfires fuelled by hotter, drier weather and household fires, which unions say are sometimes caused by uncertified installations of solar technology, are straining fire services across the bloc.

The United States has signed a deal with Ukraine for preferential access to its critical minerals, with Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy mending relations after months of tense negotiations.

With Trump working to secure a peace settlement in Russia's three-year war in Ukraine, the United States will also fund investment in Ukraine's reconstruction while providing no debt obligations under the agreement.

Hundreds of non-British citizens have reported problems with accessing a new online system for verifying their immigration status. 

From entire system outages, to people experiencing problems with their online UK Visas and Immigration account set-up, issues have bedevilled the scheme at every stage. 

Britain has failed to resolve years-old issues with its eVisa system ahead of the phase-out of physical immigration documents, jeopardising the rights of around 4 million people living legally in Britain, rights groups say.

Hundreds of people have struggled to access new electronic records of their immigration status, making it hard to apply for welfare payments and prove their right to work or rent property.

New British legislation designed to crack down on smuggling gangs blamed by the government for a surge in the number of people crossing the Channel in flimsy inflatable boats will fail to deter people from trying, experts say.

The Border Security and Asylum Immigration bill, due to be debated in parliament this month, includes measures to rein in organised crime gangs the interior minister, Yvette Cooper, has said are behind the often-deadly Channel crossings.

Women farmers, land defenders and critical mineral miners are disproportionately exposed to effects of a warming world, but a growing body of evidence has also linked climate change to an increase in gender-based violence at work and at home.

This new threat comes on top of women's greater exposure to displacement, water scarcity and ill health, all as a result of climate change.

Global humanitarian aid continued to decline in 2024 with a funding shortfall stuck at a record high as new and existing conflicts and multiplying climate disasters left more than 320 million people in need of aid.

In 2024, $21.2 billion was raised to help dedicated country programmes, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) figures.