Plus: Saudi Arabia's secret rehabilitation 'prisons' for disobedient women
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Editor's note
Last year, the number of internally displaced people around the world reached 83.4 million, the highest figure ever recorded. It’s a statistic that might make an occasional headline but the reality behind the numbers is an extraordinary level of individual suffering – people whose whole lives are disrupted beyond recognition.

Women and men, elderly people and children: all have been forced out of their homes in 2024 as a result of conflict, violence or natural disasters.

Last week we spoke to three people – Rosmira Campos in Colombia, Baby Begum in Bangladesh and Mubarak Ibrahim in Sudan – for whom “internal displacement” meant an upheaval that continues to define their lives.

Such huge numbers can be dehumanising, so we fervently believe it is important to hear their experiences, just as it was crucial for a parliamentary debate in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad last week to hear Senator Naseema Ehsan talk about her own experiences of being married off as a child. She spoke up as the city moved to ban underage wedlock – a bill which was later passed, marking a small but important victory in a world that seems very bleak for all human rights.

But there is always hope even in the most troubling stories. In our Under Fire series, three journalists working in conflict zones talk about following their passion for their craft despite the threats and risk they and their families face for simply recording facts. It’s inspiring and humbling – and such accounts make a mockery of those entitled people we all know who so casually decry “the media” while scrolling through the latest social media made-up fakery on their expensive mobile phones.

Tracy McVeigh, editor, Global development
Spotlight
Under fire  
‘They told me that they’d hunt me down’: journalists on how they survive working in war zones
‘They told me that they’d hunt me down’: journalists on how they survive working in war zones
Top picks
Health  
World agrees pandemic accord for tackling outbreaks of disease
World agrees pandemic accord for tackling outbreaks of disease
Uganda  
Country accused of ‘state bigotry’ and attacks on LGBTQ+ people
Country accused of ‘state bigotry’ and attacks on LGBTQ+ people
Wildfires  
‘Global red alert’: forest loss hits record high – and Latin America is the heart of the inferno
‘Global red alert’: forest loss hits record high – and Latin America is the heart of the inferno
Yemen  
‘Nothing left to bomb’: civilians bear brunt of US airstrikes on Houthis
‘Nothing left to bomb’: civilians bear brunt of US airstrikes on Houthis
 
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Rights and freedom
Revealed: the secretive rehabilitation ‘prisons’ for disobedient women
Saudi Arabia  
Revealed: the secretive rehabilitation ‘prisons’ for disobedient women
Girls and young women describe facing flogging and abuse in so-called ‘care homes’ after arguing with their fathers or husbands
Reproductive rights  
Argentina used as a ‘testing ground’ for eroding abortion rights, warns Amnesty
Southern frontlines
Draining cities dry: the giant tech companies queueing up to build datacentres in drought-hit Latin America
Climate justice  
Draining cities dry: the giant tech companies queueing up to build datacentres in drought-hit Latin America
In Brazil, the Chinese social media giant TikTok is said to be the latest company planning a supercomputer warehouse that will use vast amounts of water and energy
Supply chains  
‘We are witnessing ecocide’: Santander accused of funding vast deforestation
Global health
‘The fans just circulate hot air’: how indoor heat is making life unbearable in India’s sweltering cities
Heat and health  
‘The fans just circulate hot air’: how indoor heat is making life unbearable in India’s sweltering cities
As the mercury soars, people have been told to shelter inside. But for those in poor housing in places like Bengalaru, there is no respite
Opinion
It’s time to stop the great food heist powered by big business. That means taxation, regulation and healthy school meals
Stuart Gillespie
It’s time to stop the great food heist powered by big business. That means taxation, regulation and healthy school meals
Reduce immigration to the west? We don’t want to come anyway, Mr Starmer
Hanifa Safia Adan
In pictures
‘I photographed the world’: a career in pictures
Sebastião Salgado 1944-2025  
‘I photographed the world’: a career in pictures
The Brazilian photographer has died at 81, leaving behind a career filled with striking images taken around the world. ‘Through the lens of his camera, Sebastião tirelessly fought for a more just, humane and ecological world,’ a statement from his family read.
What we're reading
Adichie's latest novel tells the story of four women in turn: Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer living in America; Zikora, her lawyer best friend; Omelogor, Chiamaka’s outspoken cousin; and Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s family housekeeper. In reflecting on their lives and experiences, the novel questions very nature of love itself.
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  
Adichie's latest novel tells the story of four women in turn: Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer living in America; Zikora, her lawyer best friend; Omelogor, Chiamaka’s outspoken cousin; and Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s family housekeeper. In reflecting on their lives and experiences, the novel questions very nature of love itself.
The Guardian Bookshop
What we're watching
If you are in the UK or visiting any time soon, head to the Turner Contemporary in Margate to admire the work of artist Cassi Namoda. Namoda, who was born in Mapoto and whose pieces draw on her Mozambican roots, has transformed the gallery's floor to ceiling windows, which overlook the beach, with her latest installation.
What are you doing by my sea? by Cassi Namoda  
If you are in the UK or visiting any time soon, head to the Turner Contemporary in Margate to admire the work of artist Cassi Namoda. Namoda, who was born in Mapoto and whose pieces draw on her Mozambican roots, has transformed the gallery's floor to ceiling windows, which overlook the beach, with her latest installation.
And finally
Koyo Kouoh 1967-2025  
‘Ensuring the door remains wide open for those who come next’
‘Ensuring the door remains wide open for those who come next’
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