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Fur coats

Norway permanently closes all fur farms

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Once home to nearly 300 fur farms, the Scandinavian country has now phased out the industry entirely, with the last farmers shutting down operations ahead of a February 2025 deadline. The final decision to ban fur farming was made in 2018, with a phase-out period designed to help farmers transition to other livelihoods. Now, the country has officially made good on its promise, joining a growing list of nations that have decided fur farming belongs in the past.

Benin Bronzes

The Netherlands to return over 100 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

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The Benin Bronzes are a collection of thousands of metal plaques and sculptures that decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin. Created between the 14th and 16th centuries, British soldiers looted the Benin Bronzes from modern-day Nigeria in the 19th century. Of the looted statues taken during the Benin Expedition of 1897, two hundred were housed in the British Museum, with the rest spread across other European institutions. The Netherlands has now agreed to return its share.

High-speed train

Canada to build massive, fully electric, 185-mph inter-city rail network

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Canada is set to begin work on a high-speed inter-city rail network – the largest infrastructure project in the country’s history. Spanning 621 miles, the fully electric new rail network will serve 18 million people – nearly half of Canada’s population – across the Toronto-Quebec City corridor. It’s expected to serve 13 times more passengers annually than the current service. Canada is expected to invest nearly $3 billion USD over the next six years to bring the project to light.

Haida Gwaii cove

Haida celebrate title agreement that enshrines right to control their own destiny

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The Big Tide Haida Title Lands Agreement affirms that the Haida have Aboriginal title over all of the Haida Gwaii islands’ lands, beds of freshwater bodies, and foreshores to the low-tide mark. It will transition the Crown-title land owned by Canada to the Haida people, granting them an inherent legal right to the land. Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, president of the Council of the Haida Nation, said the agreement was the culmination of “well over 100 years of political mobilization by the Haida Nation.”

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More than 100,000 pounds of trash removed from the Arctic since 2021

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Over 50,000 pounds of trash have been removed from the Arctic in 2023 alone after a multilateral effort flooded critical northern ecosystems with volunteers. Working during the brief Arctic summer, clean-up operations were carried out in Alaska, Greenland, Norway, and Iceland. Nearly 2,000 volunteers were enlisted across the treaty nations of the Arctic Council, an inter-governmental panel on peaceful and sustainable use and protection of the Arctic zone formed by the nations that pierce its frozen bordersand the Indigenous peoples that call it home.

Illustration of the concept of nuclear fusion

France runs fusion reactor for record 22 minutes

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Achieving the dream of commercial fusion power is the Holy Grail of engineering and has been for 80 years. With a single gram of hydrogen isotopes yielding the energy equivalent of 11 tonnes of coal, a practical fusion reactor would hold the promise of unlimited, clean energy for humanity until the end of time. France has upped the ante in the quest for fusion power by maintaining a plasma reaction for over 22 minutes – 25% longer than the previous record set by China in January 2025.

Radiated tortoise

Wave of arrests as Madagascar shuts down tortoise trafficking network

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A crackdown on the illegal trade in Malagasy tortoises has led to a series of recent arrests. Following the arrest of a Tanzanian national with 800 tortoises in December 2024, officials said a major investigation had uncovered a major international trafficking network that led to the arrests of more than 20 people in Madagascar and Tanzania. Wildlife trade monitoring watchdog TRAFFIC says more than 30,000 trafficked radiated tortoises were seized between 2000 and 2021.

Traffic on freeway

Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

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To decarbonize road transport and achieve global climate goals, the world must move away from petrol and diesel cars and toward electric vehicles and other forms of low-carbon transport. Fortunately, this transition is already well underway, with global sales of combustion engine cars peaking in 2017 or 2018 and now falling. In 2018, global combustion engine cars peaked at more than 80 million. By 2023, sales had fallen below 65 million units as EV sales rose dramatically.

Indonesian children smiling

Nine Asian nations have cut child mortality by more than half since 2000

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Child mortality in Asia has fallen sharply, especially in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and Nepal, which have all seen a decline of at least 50% since 2000. This progress amounts to millions more children surviving through the crucial early years of life. Particularly noteworthy, India’s child mortality fell from 9% to 3% and China’s from 4% to just 1%. These huge strides have been made possible by improved nutrition, clean water, sanitation, vaccinations, and poverty reduction.

Two lions

Nearly 20,000 animals seized in global wildlife trafficking crackdown

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Big cats, birds, primates, and pangolins were among the nearly 20,000 animals rescued in a recent global operation against wildlife and forestry traffickers. Led by Interpol and the World Customs Organization, the campaign involved police, customs, border patrol, forestry, and wildlife officials from 138 countries. Six transnational criminal networks suspected of trafficking animals and plants were identified, with 365 arrests made.