Life & Society

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online The world’s rivers experienced another year of severe disruption in 2025, with large areas recording below-normal flows and global freshwater reserves continuing to come under pressure, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s latest assessment of the planet’s water resources. The report points to an increasingly unstable global water cycle in which drought and flooding are occurring with greater...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Fiji has declared a national HIV emergency after a sharp increase in infections raised concerns about the country’s ability to contain a rapidly changing epidemic. The Pacific island nation, home to fewer than one million people, is facing one of the fastest increases in new HIV infections recorded globally, according to UNAIDS. The emergency declaration was announced by...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Turkish authorities have expanded a nationwide investigation targeting LGBTQ+ organisations, activists and associated venues, with dozens of people detained or placed in pre-trial custody and journalists also caught up in the crackdown. The operation, which began with coordinated raids in several Turkish cities, has triggered street protests, the use of tear gas by police and growing criticism from...

Published: 16 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes, Coral and BetMGM, is preparing to cut around 400 customer-care jobs in the UK, just weeks after the gambling group reported stronger-than-expected financial performance for the first half of 2026. The company has begun a consultation process that could affect roughly one in five of its 2,000 customer-care positions. The proposed reductions come...

Published: 16 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Young people across Britain face sharply different employment prospects depending on where they live, with a new analysis highlighting a sixfold gap in the number of online job vacancies available relative to the local youth population. The research, produced by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), places Rotherham at the bottom of its Local Youth Opportunity Index,...

Published: 16 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online A Michelin-starred restaurant in Seoul has been fined after serving customers a dessert topped with ants that had not been approved for use as a food ingredient under South Korean regulations. The Seoul Western District Court on Wednesday fined the company operating the restaurant 10 million won and its chief executive 15 million won after finding them guilty...

Published: 16 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Iranian security forces operated through a coordinated system of repression during the nationwide protests of 2022, involving unlawful killings, torture, sexual violence and arbitrary detention, according to a new investigation by Amnesty International based on leaked state documents, testimonies and other evidence. The findings shed further light on the scale and organisation of the crackdown that followed the...

Published: 16 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Federal prosecutors in Texas have charged seven noncitizens in a series of cases involving alleged illegal voting in federal elections or false claims of US citizenship, as the Trump administration intensifies its focus on election eligibility ahead of the country's next federal elections. The cases were announced by Ryan Raybould, the US attorney for the Northern District of...

Published: 16 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Mayors and other local political leaders could be given greater powers to oversee water companies under proposals being considered by the UK government, potentially giving regional authorities a stronger role in decisions about investment, customer bills and environmental performance. The proposals form part of a wider debate about how the water industry should be governed and regulated, following...

Published: 16 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has stepped up pressure on social media companies over online abuse, intimidation and the publication of private information, saying stronger action is needed to protect people who are targeted because of their work. Nandy criticised Elon Musk’s social media platform X after it did not attend a meeting she hosted with social media...