Love blooms on a hostile colony world in As You Wake, Break the Shell - Scientific American

The finding comes in the 2026 update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford University, which measures overlapping hardship across health, education and standard of living. The 1.2 billion figure represents 51.5 million more people than in the 2025 update.  Of this number, more than half are children – 617 million – and 83 per cent live in rural areas. ‘This is unacceptable’  “The rise in poverty should be a wake-up call for the world,” said UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo. “Behind these figures are 1.2 billion people facing hardships that reinforce one another: hunger, missed schooling and a lack of clean water or electricity. This is unacceptable.” The index was developed in 2010 to measure poverty beyond what people earn. Overlapping deprivations It examines 10 indicators of health, education and standard of living, such as nutrition and child mortality, years of schooling, and access to electricity, drinking water and sanitation. A person is considered “multidimensionally poor” if they are deprived in one-third or more of the indicators.

(Screengrab from footage shared on social media)Apple's iPhone 18 smartphones are being advertised in Tehran at unusually low prices as “war booty”, with sellers claiming the devices were recovered from a cargo ship that sank near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran International reported on Saturday. The advertisements surfaced after a container ship reportedly sank near the strategic waterway on October 13. Videos circulating on social media purportedly showed shipping containers floating in the sea, with iPhones and expensive perfumes scattered in the water as people aboard small boats collected the goods. According to a report by Ynet News, footage circulated by media outlets across the Arab world on Thursday evening showed people retrieving objects from the water. One boat appeared to be carrying boxes of iPhones, with one report claiming that the devices were Apple's latest iPhone 18 models. The identities of those seen collecting the goods remain unclear. There has been no official confirmation of the incident. Iran's cyber police have warned prospective buyers against paying deposits or advance fees before inspecting the products and verifying sellers' identities.

Israeli settlers have attacked European diplomats, including a French mayor, near the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank. The delegation was visiting Palestinian olive harvesters on Saturday when the Israeli attackers confronted the group. The attack comes a day after settlers assaulted a US journalist north of Ramallah. In Saturday’s incident, the settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said. “A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged,” Prevot said, linking the attack to what he called Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and pledging to push for further European Union sanctions. French mayor Bernard Baudoux, who was assaulted, told the AFP news agency that the violence suggests that “there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government” towards settler violence. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said the settlers surrounded the diplomats’ vehicles, pelted them with stones and smashed their windows.