🪖 Ukraine Civilian Deaths in July Hit Three-Year High
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission recorded at least 437 civilians killed and 2,610 injured in Ukraine in July — the highest monthly death toll since May 2022.
Kyiv was among the hardest-hit cities during the month.
The figures mark a sharp deterioration in civilian protection more than three years into Russia's full-scale invasion, underlining the ongoing human cost of the conflict.
🇮🇱 Gaza Cancer Deaths Double as Israel Blocks Treatment Travel
Gaza cancer patients are dying at two to three times the pre-war rate, doctors say, as Israel blocks many from travelling abroad for treatment while no local specialist facility remains.
Israel destroyed Gaza's only dedicated cancer hospital last year, saying troops found a Hamas tunnel beneath it. Around 17,000 Gazans with cancer now have no access to chemotherapy or other advanced therapy inside the territory.
🌍 Taliban Detain Six Rights Workers in Enforced Disappearance
Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have forcibly disappeared six staff members of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF), holding them incommunicado for nearly a month with no information provided to families or lawyers.
The six men were arrested in Kabul on July 18, 2026, after being summoned to collect confiscated devices following a June 21 office raid. Taliban officials have disclosed nothing about their whereabouts, condition, or charges. "The Taliban seems to consider any effort to assist women and girls a threat to their abusive rule," said Human Rights Watch women's rights director Macarena Sáez, demanding their immediate release.
The UN in August 2025 flagged a "disturbing surge" in enforced disappearances in Afghanistan. The arrests come as the EU hosted a Taliban delegation in Brussels on June 22 to discuss migration — the first such meeting — drawing criticism that governments are failing to press the Taliban on rights abuses.
🌍 Half of Afghan Women Leave Home Once or Twice a Month — UN
Half of Afghan women now leave their homes only once or twice a month as Taliban-imposed restrictions severely curtail freedom of movement and public life, U.N. Women reported Wednesday.
The data was released as the Taliban approach the fifth anniversary of their return to power. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world to ban girls from secondary education and women from attending university, according to the U.N. agency.
🇨🇳 China's Economic Reformer Zhu Rongji Dies at 97
Zhu Rongji, the former Chinese premier credited with modernising China's economy, has died at the age of 97.
Zhu served as premier from 1998 to 2003, leading a sweeping overhaul of state-owned enterprises, cracking down on corruption, and playing a central role in securing China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. His reforms helped transform China from a struggling post-Soviet-era holdout into an emerging global superpower.
Born in 1928 in Changsha, Hunan province, he graduated from Tsinghua University before rising through the party ranks to become one of the most consequential economic architects of modern China.