There are suspended strikes, delayed strikes, strikes that go ahead. There are apparent negotiations, then no negotiations, and two countries saying different things.

Sometimes it even leaves me lost.

I cover the Middle East conflict almost every day, so I have broken down the main characters are things that have happened in the past week or so.

It is worth noting that the Middle East is a very complex region, with a lot of history that contributes to what is going on now (that I have not mentioned). This break-down is very surface level, and brief.

Understanding what is going on in the region right now is so important, it truly impacts everywhere else in the world.

The Guardian: ‘Free up the ganja’: Rastafarians in Kenya fight to decriminalise marijuana

This feature written by Nairobi based journalist Carlos Mureithi, looks not only at the fight to decriminalise marijuana, but the history and culture around Rastafarian culture.

It’s a culture that is rarely, if at all, covered in the media, but the history behind it is incredibly interesting.

Rastafarians see Marijuana as a sacrament in their faith, and believe consuming it puts them in a meditative state that helps them connect more deeply with the divine, Mureithi explained.

“Free up the herb. Free up the ganja seed,” Ras Masinde, a follower, said.

I was left thinking about this piece hours after I read it, not only because of the topic, but because of the storytelling. It is truly a story that will suck you in and make you feel like you’re right in the room surrounded by music, singing, and culture.

The Intercept: Trump’s Truth Social API is a blatantly corrupt favour to Wall Street

The fact that Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, is selling $100,000 a month early-access to important posts has been all over the news recently.

However, this piece by Dylan Gyauch-Lewis at The Intercept is a brilliant explainer of what is going on, with a little bit of perspective as well.

“That’s an expedited lane to access statements and data from the president of the United States and other government officials, which have significant potential to move financial markets, ahead of us suckers in the general public,” she writes.

She explains how Truth Social has become a route for official announcements to be made by high-ranking government officials, rather than going through traditional press offices. Ultimately, “blurring the lines between his [Trump’s] communications as a public official and a private citizen”.

This was one of those pieces that shocks you, leaves you concerned, but also wondering how something like this was allowed to happen. And from someone who often finds financial and tech news hard to understand, this piece was wonderfully explained.

I would highly recommend you having a look at the full article.

Grist: Here’s what supercharged the monster wildfires in Spain and France

Monster wildfires have hit Spain and France hard in what has been one of Europe’s most destructive wildfire seasons on record. It has led to the evacuation of people on the continent since World War II, which was a statistic that I was never aware of before.

This piece by Grist explains the actual science behind why these fires were “supercharged” and how they actually got so big.

Reporter Sachi Kitajima Mulkey explained that in months leading up to the wildfires, Western Europe had been scorched by back-to-back heat waves and extended drought. Ultimately dried out trees, shrubs, and farmland turned the area into a “tinderbox”.

She also found that a rainier than usual winter at the beginning of this year caused a burst of vegetation growth, which then dried up, and became fuel for these fires - or “weather whiplash”.

This piece continues to get into the nitty gritty around the aspects that made this fire as destructive as it was. For someone who often finds science and climate news hard to digest, this piece was incredibly easy to follow and understand.

Al Jazeera: Mapping Israeli settler violence in the West Bank

There have been widespread escalations of Israeli settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, with mosques being set on fire, people killed, and homes destroyed.

This piece by Alia Chughtai and Marium Ali, looks at all the violence that has occurred, and breaks it down - including who Israeli settlers are, and the rough number of attacks per area.

The article states that according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, from January 2025 to January 2026 there were at least 3033 settler attacks - an average of six per day.

Chughtai and Ali break down 2026 settler attacks, and how they are happening more frequently than in 2025. They also cover Israeli settlement expansion, and how many Palestinians have been displaced due to settler attacks.

For those really wanting to understand what is going on, where, and why I’d check out the rest of this article.

The Independent: Inside the worst places on earth to give birth

This piece published today is some of the best on-the-ground reporting I have seen in a long time.

Chief international correspondent Bel Trew, travelled across the Central African Republic and Nigeria, to speak with women who were risking their lives to give birth, and the findings are grave.

Trew not only speaks with women at risk, but also doctors in the area. She also looks at the cuts to funding and loss of access to services that have happened in recent times.

This article covers so many stories of women who have faced this issue first-hand. And even looks at the only dedicated paediatric hospital in the whole of the Centtal African Republic, which has some of the highest maternal and early infant mortality rates in the world.

This piece is also accompanied by a 20 minute documentary, so is definitely worth a read and a watch.

Each week I usually break down the top headlines you may have missed, and stories that have been buried beneath the week’s top news. But as I went to write this weeks round-up, I realised there was something much more important that needed to be spoken about.

On July 24, US President Donald Trump delivered a roughly hour-long speech at the White House, during the Correspondents Association Dinner.

The speech as a whole targeted members of the media, but specifically CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

“I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award, though it was all about me and, in my opinion, a fake award,” Trump began.

“She’s a young attractive woman. She never smiles. I said ‘Kaitlan do you ever smile?’, smile,” he carried on.

“You have a nice position, you’re at CNN fake news, you should be a happy person, so smile Kaitlan,” he said. “Just smile”.

The audience sat mostly in silence while listening to Trump harass Collins from the stage, heckling at her to “smile”. He went on to compare her to transgender actor and influencer Dylan Mulvaney, with The Independent pointing out that despite them both being young women, they have no resemblance to each other.

Critics have been quick to jump on Trump for his remarks and defend Collins. Trump’s former White House spokeswoman condemned the president for the “misogynistic attacks”, and Collins’ colleague Anderson Cooper came out and said “that doesn’t happen to men”.

“That’s the president of the United States, a nearly 80-year-old man who has no problem commenting on her physical appearance and telling her she needs to smile,” Cooper said on CNN.

Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta also wrote on X saying that the dinner was a “disgrace”.

“Trump’s rambling, unhinged speech is full of hate and spite. Just spewing nastiness at his usual targets. Let’s not sanitise how truly ugly it was,” he continued.

It’s important to note that this is far from the first time a female journalist has been targeted in a public setting. And it feels like the reactions to this incident are as though this is the first time it has ever happened.

Reports to police of online violence against women journalists have doubled since 2020, according to a report from UN Women. For years women have been sexually abused, assaulted, harassed and threatened.

So why is this still happening?

“Quiet piggy”, “tits out”, “ugly”

This is not the first time Trump has targeted a female journalist.

On November 14, 2025 he told Bloomberg’s White House correspondent Catherine Lucey to be “quiet piggy”. On January 30, 3036 he told ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers that she was “very loud”. And has also told New York Times reporter Katie Rogers that she is “ugly both inside and out”.

He has also targeted Collins in the past, calling her “stupid and nasty”.

Female journalists have long been singled out by others, from being propositioned during live interviews, harassed with sexist jokes, asked about their sex lives on radio and told to get their “tits out”. They have received rape and death treats, and been sent sexualised deepfakes from strangers.

And it’s not just occurring in America.

The National Union of Somali Journalists documented 79 cases of sexual and gender-based violence against women journalists in Somalia between 2023 and 2025. The cases included unwanted physical contacts and requests for sexual favours from male colleagues in exchange for job security or career advancement.

Five days ago the Bulgarian News Agency reported that women journalists in Bulgaria were working under insecure conditions, sexism, and harassment.

And in the United Kingdom, hundreds of journalists have anonymously disclosed increasing nervousness over their security. Female journalists have faced the brunt of this abuse, from sexualised harassment, explicit threats, inappropriate messages and online comments focused on appearance.

Perhaps one of the most haunting stories dates back to 2011, when CBS news correspondent Lara Logan was assaulted, beaten, and raped by an Egyptian crowd.

She was covering the celebration of President Hosni Mubarak stepping down in Cairo for 60 Minutes and was separated from her camera crew in a mob. She was then continually assaulted by a mob of men, until a group of women and 20 Egyptian soldiers got her out.

Another incident occurred in 2012, when France 24 journalist Sonia Dridi was filming live protests in Cairo and was attacked and groped by a group of men.

The Guardian reported that by the time she made it to a shop to seek cover, she noticed her shirt was opened and was grateful for a “tight thick belt” she was wearing, that she said prevented the worst happening.

In 2020, almost three quarters (73%) of the 901 female journalists interviewed globally for an UNESCO report had experienced online violence, threats, harassment and abuse.

In 2025, 75% of women journalists surveyed for the UN Women study reported experiencing online violence.

Hearing about all of these incidents, the ones that were reported, makes you wonder if there has been any progress at all. Violence and sexism against female journalists has been occurring for decades, and despite claims or hopes that we have made progress - this is a clear remind that we have not.

It’s not okay, but why is it still happening?

That’s a question I cannot answer

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FIFA opens investigation after Argentina players hold up political banner

On July 15, Argentina and England played each other in the FIFA World Cup semi-final. Argentina went on to win, with two last-minute goals, however it was what happened after the victory that stirred the pot.

After the win, Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez and substitute Giovani Lo Celso went onto the pitch and held up a large white banner with the words “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, or in English, “the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) belong to Argentina”.

The day after, British Business Minister Peter Kyle called on FIFA to investigate what he said were violations of FIFA rules.

“The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” Al Jazeera reported a UK spokesperson shortly after.

The Falklands are a British overseas territory according to the BBC, but have been a source of dispute between the UK and Argentina for some time. In 1982 Argentina invaded the islands, and the UK responded by sending a naval force. It resulted in 74 days of fighting and the deaths of 649 Argentines and 255 Brits. The UK regained control.

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The US will start testing military service members’ testosterone levels

This week US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the US would start annual testosterone-deficiency screening for service members aged 30 and over, according to Reuters.

Hegseth said it would maintain military readiness, and ensure troops have the “right testosterone levels to operate at their absolute best,” Reuters stated.

He said that testing would then be accompanied by advice, so that soldiers could make decisions about treatment, which would be voluntary.

“This is initiative, it’s not about artificial enhancement, it’s about restoring and optimising your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight,” Hegseth said in a video to service members.

Watch Hegseth’s full video on Instagram here.

Deadly bird flu threatens to wipe out bird species in New Zealand

This one hits especially close to home (NZ), as the deadly H5N1 bird flu was confirmed in the country for the very first time this week. There are concerns that it could wipe out some of NZ’s vulnerable native birds.

The deadly bird flu started in Asia and has been spreading across the Americas since 2021. It arrived in Antarctica during the summer of 2023-24 and Australia recorded its first confirmed cases in early July, according to Eva Corlett from The Guardian.

Around 80% of native birds in NZ are already endangered. And this virus has killed millions of birds across the world, according to Corlett it has reduced bird populations in some areas by 75%.

The Ministry of Primary Industries in NZ have received 157 notifications of dead or sick birds so far as of Saturday. There was just one or two reports a week before that, according to Stuff.

Young people in China are “escaping Beijing”

This week Al Jazeera reported that young people in China were leaving Beijing in their masses, with posts under the hashtag “escaping Beijing” circulating on Chinese social media.

Katrina Yu’s piece explored how a real estate crisis, a tightening job market, and lack of spending were pushing young people out of the city that was once an attractive place for young people to go. It’s something that is happening all over the world, but in Beijing it is a relatively new concept.

One young person from Beijing said there was a stigma attached to leaving Beijing that implied failure, but that the mindset was changing - especially around China’s “996” work culture where people work 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

Young people in China are rejecting the culture of sacrificing to get ahead. Read the full piece here.

Pensioners in Russia dying in queues, brawling for fuel

Antonia Langford of The Telegraph this week reported that queues in Russia at petrol stations have been growing longer for months. So much so, that people are sleeping in cars, pitching tents and brawling over pumps.

Two people have died so far, one 80-year-old man from heart failure while he was waiting to fill his tank, and a 75-year-old man who was also waiting to refuel.

Strikes on oil facilities from Ukraine have hit all 11 of Russia’s biggest oil refineries, and are reducing the volume of oil they are refining, This has resulted in petrol prices spiking.

Restrictions are now in place for 56 of Russia’s 83 regions, which Langford said is often capped at 30 litres per car. She said one weekend recently, a man who tried to skip the fuel queue opened fire on another driver when he tried to intervene. In the far-east region people are queuing for 36 hours - sometimes for just 15 litres of gasoline.