Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
‘I would be more happy in Moria than in this place’
After the notorious refugee camp on the island of Lesbos burnt down in September, a replacement has now been built. But with no shower facilities, clean toilets, water system, power or sufficient food, Moria 2.0 is even worse than its predecessor. BETHANY RIELLY reports
Refugees gather outside the new camp in Kara Tepe, where residents have described inhumane conditions with no running water or sanitation facilities, as they wait to be transferred to mainland Greece
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
AS Yasser watched Moria collapse in an orange haze, he saw a flicker of hope in the flames.
After more than a year in the notorious refugee camp on Lesbos, he thought that now, surely, Europe would have to give them a dignified home.
Four weeks on and the young refugee tells me he no longer puts hope in anyone but himself.
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With most of recorded history dominated by the voices of men, LYNNE WALSH encourages sisters to read the memoirs of women – and to write their own too
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