Exclusive: Beijing, Delhi, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro among worst affected, with demand close to exceeding supply
Half the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with 39 of these sitting in regions of “extremely high water stress”, new analysis and mapping has shown.
Water stress means that water withdrawals for public water supply and industry are close to exceeding available supplies, often caused by poor management of water resources exacerbated by climate breakdown.
Manual for building design aims to encourage low-carbon construction as alternative to steel and concrete
An airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it’s time we took it seriously as a building material, too.
This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be “bamboo-ready” as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and position bamboo as a proper alternative to steel and concrete.
It’s not just Tunbridge Wells – a country famous around the world for its rain is in danger of self-imposed drought
You get up and go to the loo, only to find the flush doesn’t work. You try the shower, except nothing comes out. You want a glass of water, but on turning the tap there is not a drop. Your day stumbles on, stripped of its essentials: no washing hands, no cleaning up the baby, neither tea nor coffee, no easy way to do the dishes or the laundry. Dirt accumulates; tempers fray.
The water company texts: we are so sorry; colleagues are working to restore connection; everything should soon be normal. You want to believe them, but the more it’s repeated, the more it becomes a kind of hold music. There’s no supply the next day, and the day after, and the day after that. Each morning brings with it the same chest-tightening question: what will happen today? Buckets and bottles don’t stop you feeling grubby and smelly, or from noticing the taint on your family and friends and neighbours. You’re not quite the people you thought you were and nothing feels normal.
The Gangs of London star returned to the stage alongside Ben Whishaw in a 2024 production of Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece. In this diary of the first preview, he describes passing the point of no return
I step into the wings and the state of it all hits me. The hum of a packed, expectant crowd ready for a show. I inch my way down along the short passage and there, standing in the cubbyhole space backstage like a beautiful lost waif, is Ben Whishaw. It hits me how different he looks in full costume. We lock eyes and hug. We hold each other for a few moments, trying to breathe in sync and to connect. We can both feel the adrenaline pumping and rushing through each other. A final squeeze and I turn away and walk back to the edge of the wings where we are to make our entrance.
My breathing is steady, but my heart is pump-pump-pumping. This is as close as I get to full-on nervous. I am not afraid though. It’s excitement; anticipation; a sexy, knowing thrill. I know there will be a split second of sheer terror when the call comes though. The moment you know you’re past the point of no return. That thought-memory passes through with the next inhale-exhale. It’s as if I can feel the giddy heat coming off the crowd even back here in the wings, behind the soon-gone shelter of a curtain, feet away from where Vladimir and Estragon will come to life. It’s new and familiar all at once.
In 1978, Soviet scientists stumbled upon a family living in a remote part of Russia. They hadn’t interacted with outsiders for decades. Almost half a century later, one of them is still there
In the summer of 1978, a team of geologists exploring southern Siberia found something rarer than diamonds. While searching for a helicopter landing site amid the steep hills and forested canyons of the western Sayan mountains, their pilot caught sight of what appeared to be a garden, 150 miles from the nearest settlement. Hovering as low as he could, he saw a house. No people were visible, but someone was clearly tending the garden. He and his geologist passengers were shocked to find a dwelling in an area long considered too remote for human habitation.
When the four geologists set up camp 10 miles away, it was the mysterious homestead that was first in their mind. Who could live here? Were the inhabitants the last Mohicans of the Brezhnev era? The geologists ventured to the settlement bearing gifts – and a pistol, just in case. They were greeted by a disheveled old man dressed in patched-up sacking cloth. This was Karp Osipovich Lykov, the patriarch of the family. Inside a tiny, dark cabin, the geologists found Karp’s two adult daughters, Natalia and Agafia, weeping and praying. Four miles away, by the riverside, lived Karp’s two middle-aged sons, Savin and Dmitry. It soon became apparent that none of the members of this ageing family had interacted with outsiders in decades.
Trump’s tariff retreat should lull nobody into dropping their guard. The EU must join forces with Canada, Japan and other like-minded countries
EU leaders would do well to meditate on the seminal lesson that the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, delivered at this year’s World Economic Forum.
In an incisive analysis of the new age of predatory great powers, where might is increasingly asserted as right, Carney not only accurately defined the coarsening of international relations as “a rupture, not a transition”. He also outlined how liberal democratic “middle powers” such as Canada – but also European countries – must build coalitions to counter coercion and defend as much as possible of the principles of territorial integrity, the rule of law, free trade, climate action and human rights. He spelled out a hedging strategy that Canada is already pursuing, diversifying its trade and supply chains and even opening its market to Chinese electric vehicles to counter Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian-made automobiles.
Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre
Carnage, exploding supermodels, Isabella Rossellini … forget the disastrous All’s Fair – Ryan Murphy is back at his best with this tale of a lethal sexually transmitted virus which also makes people beautiful
Ryan Murphy’s last screen offering was the existentially terrible All’s Fair. It was critically panned, as any show that contains the lines: “He owns, like, all of cosmetics”, “You’re the best lawyers in town – maybe the country!” and a fruit basket “lightly brushed with salmonella and faecal matter”, while somehow managing to bypass humour, camp and brio, deserves to be. It got an unprecedented zero rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a no-stars review here on the grounds that it was so-bad-it-was-bad, and has duly been commissioned for a second series.
By that measure, Murphy’s new show is a triumph. The Beauty has a plot, structure, characters that often act, react and speak as real human beings might, a sense of what it’s doing and where it’s going and – whisper it – even a touch of commentary on the state of society today. It’s almost like old American anthology days, when Murphy threw the likes of The People v OJ Simpson, Feud and The Assassination of Gianni Versace at us one after the other; leasing new lives to Sarah Paulson, Jessica Lange and assorted other glorious figures, and having us believe the good times would roll for ever.
When Stuart Green’s wife, an environmental rights lawyer, was shot dead in a car in front of her children in the Philippines, he found books on grief little help. So he wrote his own
The dreaded school run is a daily battle for most parents. Even once out of the door and at the school gates, feigned smiles and small talk with other haggard parents can be a mass performance. For Stuart Green, who spent years wrestling his young twins out of car seats and into coats, all the while keeping an eye on his eldest daughter, it was the small talk he dreaded.
“Is Mummy at work?” someone might ask. Green’s response would be a half truth: “I’m a single parent.” The full story could not be explained in a 15-second conversation on the street.
After Spudulike closed in 2024, the reign of the jacket potato seemed over in the UK. But now the favourite is back, piled with new toppings, sold by new companies and promoted all over social media by potato influencers
They were once a lunch option that inspired little excitement – but the jacket potato’s time has finally come. After decades in epicurean exile, the humble spud has made a roaring comeback in the UK and piqued the interest of foodies across the world. A-listers, tourists and trend-hopping teenagers are queueing for hours to get their hands on them. For Jacob Nelson, who sells loaded spuds that have gone super-viral on social media, this was all part of the plan. “We thought: how can we make the jacket potato sexy again?” he says.
The 30-year-old, who runs SpudBros with his brother Harley and dad Tony, was among the first crop of social-media savvy spud vendors to give the jacket potato a much-needed makeover. After a slow start in lockdown, the brothers spoke to some youngsters in Preston Flag Market, where they had set up shop, to find out why they were shunning spuds. “It was an absolute ghost town,” says Harley. “We spoke to one student walking past us. He said to get on social media.” The pair listened, filming their interactions with customers while showing off their mouthwatering loaded spuds, and subsequently went stratospheric on TikTok in 2023.
This ancient Scottish tavern was a raucous, cross-generational hangout where everyone – young and old, locals and tourists – sang themselves hoarse to Fairytale of New York
This is said to be one of Scotland’s most haunted pubs, but for me it’s haunted with happy memories, the ghosts of hazy nights out, the spectre of my younger self, and of course the cantankerous clergyman who stalks its walls from beyond the grave.
Development charity’s new co-chairs signal shift from controversial sponsor a child scheme launched in 1972 to long-term grassroots funding
Child sponsorship schemes that allow donors to handpick children to support in poor countries can carry racialised, paternalistic undertones and need to be transformed, the newly appointed co-chief executives of ActionAid UK said as they set out to “decolonise” the organisation’s work.
ActionAid began in 1972 by finding sponsors for schoolchildren in India and Kenya, but Taahra Ghazi and Hannah Bond have launched their co-leadership this month with the goal of shifting narratives around aid from sympathy towards solidarity and partnership with global movements.
Reporters Without Borders said the ruling against the 26-year-old journalist showed a ‘blatant disregard for press freedom’ in the Southeast Asian nation
A young Filipino journalist who spent nearly six years in a crowded provincial prison was found guilty of terror financing on Thursday, in a case rights groups and a UN rapporteur labelled a “travesty of justice”.
Community journalist and radio broadcaster Frenchie Cumpio, 26, and former roommate Marielle Domequil broke down in tears and hugged each other as the guilty verdict was read and they were sentenced to 12-18 years in prison by judge Georgina Uy Perez of the Tacloban regional court.
Trump’s board of peace includes Putin, Netanyahu and Tony Blair. What on earth will it do? Julian Borger reports
Donald Trump promised to bring peace to Gaza. And part of that promise was the creation of a board of peace. For months it was unclear who would be on it, but now we know: Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside billionaire businessmen and Tony Blair.
Apart from how Putin and Netanyahu – who have been accused of war crimes – can bring peace, there are other questions. The charter of the board makes no mention of Gaza. And there is apparently a price tag – if you want to stay on the board for more than three years, you must pay $1bn.
Ten-time winner beats Italian qualifier 6-3 6-2 6-2 in second round
Serbian could face Botic van de Zandschulp next at Melbourne Park
Djokovic to serve first…
Cries of “Nole!” as the living legend strides out onto a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena. He unpacks his bags in front of a knot of Serbian fans and pulls on a white crocodilian hat. Maestrelli is wearing his baseball cap backwards, like a Steve Buscemi meme.
Nato chief Mark Rutte says there is ‘a lot of work to be done’, as some Danish MPs voice concern at Greenland apparently being sidelined in US president’s talks
Donald Trump’s announcement of a “framework of a future deal” that would settle the issue of Greenland after weeks of escalating threats has been met with profound scepticism from people in the Arctic territory, even as financial markets rebounded and European leaders welcomed a reprieve from further tariffs.
Just hours after the president used his speech at the World Economic Forum to insist he wanted Greenland, “including right, title and ownership,” but backed away from his more bellicose threats of military intervention – Trump took to social media to announce “the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” and withdrew the threat of tariffs against eight European countries. He later called it “a concept of a deal” when he spoke to business network CNBC soon after Wall Street closed.
Unclear if presidents will have anything to sign; Mark Rutte urges Nato to pour out their air defence stockpiles for Ukraine. What we know on day 1,429
Voldymyr Zelenskyy was reported on Wednesday evening to be bound for Davos after Donald Trump appeared to summon him to the World Economic Forum. The Ukrainian president had said a day earlier that he did not expect to attend the conference in Switzerland as Russian attacks had plunged Ukraine into an energy crisis: “Undoubtedly, I choose Ukraine in this case, rather than the economic forum, but everything can change at any moment.”
Trump’s announcement of the meeting appeared to be at short notice, since he said it would take place on Wednesday, when his Ukrainian counterpart was not even in the same country. After Trump spoke, officials clarified that their meeting would be on Thursday. Zelenskyy previously said: “Meetings with America should always end with concrete results to strengthen Ukraine or to move closer to ending the war. And if the documents are ready, we will meet.” Talks between senior Ukrainian representatives and Trump’s envoys have been continuing since Saturday, including in Davos, but late on Wednesday it was unclear whether there would be any documents to sign.
Top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said he had met US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Davos. Umerov repeated the familiar refrain that their talks focused on security guarantees and postwar recovery. Umerov said a Ukrainian delegation also met representatives of the US investment firm Blackrock about rebuilding plans.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, meanwhile said that he would meet on Thursday with Witkoff and Kushner, who were headed from Davos to Moscow. Interestingly, Putin, quoted by Russian news agencies, said he would discuss with the US envoys the possible use of frozen Russian assets. The EU has been wrangling with how to mobilise Belgian-held Russian assets, about €300bn ($350bn) worth, to help Ukraine defend itself and rebuild. Putin appeared to be attempting to head off the European effort, reportedly saying he wanted to use such funding to restore “[territories] damaged during military actions”. He did not say whether those would be Ukrainian, Russian or Russian-held areas.
The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, on Wednesday urged its military chiefs to press their national governments to get desperately needed air defence systems to Ukraine. “Please use your influence to help your political masters to do even more,” Rutte said in a video message to top brass as they met at Nato’s Brussels headquarters. “Look deep into your stockpiles to see what more you can give to Ukraine, particularly air defence interceptors. The time really is now.”
A Ukrainian drone strike set oil terminal tanks on fire at Volna in the southern Krasnodar region on Wednesday, Russian authorities said, claiming that three people were killed and eight injured. There was claim and counterclaim after a fire at residential buildings near the city of Krasnodar in Russia’s south-west. The region’s leader said it was a Ukrainian drone strike and 11 people were injured. The Ukrainian side said it was stray Russian air defence fire. The head of Ukraine’s anti-disinformation centre, Andriy Kovalenko: “A Russian air defence missile struck a residential building in the town of Afipsky [in the Adygea region].”
Record-breaking rains spark landslide at Mount Maunganui campsite, with helicopter teams retrieving families from rooftops and local states of emergency declared
Emergency services in New Zealand are searching for several people, including a child, believed missing after a landslide hit a campsite during storms that have caused widespread damage across the North Island.
Emergency minister Mark Mitchell told RNZ that parts of the east coast looked like “a war zone”, with helicopters deployed to rescue families sheltering on rooftops from flooding, and local states of emergency declared in five regions across Northland and the East Cape due to days of record-breaking torrential rain.
Former Men at Work frontman, who was born in Scotland and emigrated to Australia, tells anti-immigration protestors, ‘Go write your own song, leave mine alone’
Former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay has disavowed the use of the band’s 80s anthem Down Under by Australian anti-immigration protesters, saying the song “does not belong to those who attempt to sow xenophobia”.
In a post to his Facebook and Instagram accounts, the singer-songwriter singled out anti-immigration group March for Australia, who have organised marches around the country on 26 January under the slogan “Our national identity will not be erased”.
UK had highest relative increase of five countries in study, with 20-fold rise in proportion of women over 25 using it
The proportion of people in the UK on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication has tripled in the past decade, with a 20-fold increase among women aged 25 and over, a study shows.
Researchers led by the University of Oxford examined electronic health records from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to estimate the use of ADHD medication among adults and children aged three and above.
Reds’ success aided by Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa gigs
Real Madrid take top spot again with £1.4bn revenue
Liverpool were the English club with the highest revenue last season according to the annual Deloitte Football Money League – but for the first time in the report’s 29-year history no Premier League club made the top four.
Real Madrid again took top spot with €1.61bn (£1.4bn), far ahead of Barcelona, with €974m. Bayern Munich with €860m and Paris Saint-Germain with €837m were third and fourth respectively.
My phone zoom helped me see better. One man was on the footbridge. He was holding a gun. It was pointed towards me
• Warning: This article contains graphic content
Hanukah is called “the festival of light”. It is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, not biblically prescribed. There are no long synagogue services, no onerous prohibitions or requirements. Just candles, songs and doughnuts. This is probably part of why I always loved it.
There were four or five events in Sydney for the first night of Hanukah. In 2024 we went to an event at Dover Heights, but parking was a nightmare. We decide on Bondi (where parking is also a nightmare). Five of us – my mum, husband, son (3), daughter (one-and-a-half) and I pile into the car.
Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, who led Tiananmen Square vigils, accused of inciting subversion
The national security trial of three pro-democracy activists who organised an annual memorial in Hong Kong to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre opened on Thursday, in another landmark case brought under the Beijing-imposed law that has practically crushed protests in the semiautonomous Chinese city.
Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho are charged with inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law. Their trial is one of the most high-profile national security cases to be heard in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed the law in 2020. The defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted. The law has a near-100% conviction rate.
Researchers say event described as ‘major tipping point’ for clean energy in era of destabilised politics
Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union’s power generation last year, a report has found, in a “major tipping point” for clean energy.
Turbines spinning in the wind and photovoltaic panels lit up by the sun generated 30% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, according to an annual review. Power plants burning coal, oil and gas generated 29%.
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