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portrait of a woman in the park

Big changes for this young Ukrainian in London

Ukraine

The UK has taken in more than 250,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The World follows up on the story of one of them: a young woman who fled to London alone in March of 2022.

A natural gas power plant of RWE AG in Lingen, Germany

Can heat pumps help bring peace to Ukraine?

Ukraine
São Sebastião Fort and Museum with statues of conquistadors São Tomé.

‘Born in Blackness’: A new book centers Africa in the expansive history of slavery

History
Angkor Wat is shown by a pond at sunrise.

‘World Heritage’ site selection is Eurocentric – and that shapes which historic places get love and money

Arts, Culture & Media
doner kebabs for all

The doner kebab, an unlikely symbol of European identity

Food
Members of parliament from a top-down view with a podium in the center

The claim that democracy fares better in the West than in Africa is a fallacy

Global Politics

Over the past two decades democracy has blossomed in Africa. But there is still a deep-rooted feeling among Western academics, policymakers and journalists that African democracies are not yet “the finished product.”

Firefighters blast water in Berlin in mid-August, providing relief from the heat. This is among the few ways to cool off in a city with little air conditioning.

It’s so hot in Berlin that people are cooling down in an old WWII bunker

Berlin doesn’t have many buildings with air-conditioning so people are looking for ways to cool off. One of the best is visiting an underground ruin from World War II.

French civil servants and students carry labor union flags and banners as they march in protest during a national day of strikes by public sector workers, in Paris, France, May 22

Changes to French public university admissions leaves more than 150,000 without a spot this fall

In France, the dropout rate at public universities is high — only 40 percent make it past the first year. That’s one reason the French government is overhauling its rules on higher education, but some say the changes “break the way universities work.”

People from different faiths wear kippas as they attend a demonstration on April 25th in front of a Jewish synagogue, to denounce an anti-Semitic attack on a young man wearing a kippa in Berlin earlier in the month.

In Germany, there are growing fears of a rise in anti-Semitism

Conflict

In Germany, some right-wing groups blame the recent arrival of Muslim asylum-seekers for an apparent rise in anti-Jewish incidents. But others say that’s only part of the story. They point out that anti-Semitism in 21st century Germany has been around for a while.

Messages are left at a memorial in Dublin to Savita Halappanava, who died from an infection after miscarrying her first child at an Irish hospital in 2012, one day after Irish voters took part in a national referendum to liberalize abortion laws on May 25

Ireland votes to repeal abortion restrictions, but there’s still a lot to talk about

Right up until the day of the referendum, pretty much everyone thought Ireland’s vote on abortion this past Friday was going to be close. It wasn’t. Two-thirds of voters said “yes” to repealing the country’s constitutional ban on abortion.