
Strangers twice as kind as we think, study suggests
Strangers are about twice as kind as people think, a study looking at happiness across the globe suggests.This year's World Happiness Report - released on Thursday - measured trust in strangers by deliberately losing wallets, seeing how many were returned and comparing that with how many people thought would be handed in.The rate of wallets returned was almost twice as high as people predicted and the study, which gathered evidence from around the world, found belief in the kindness of others was more closely tied to happiness than previously thought. The report ranked Finland as the world's happiest country for the eighth year running, with the US and UK slipping down the list.
John F. Helliwell, an economist at the University of British Columbia and a founding editor of the report, said the wallet experiment data showed "people are much happier living where they think people care about each other".He added the study showed people were "everywhere too pessimistic", with wallets much more likely to be returned than predicted.The 13th annual World Happiness Report, released to mark the UN's International Day of Happiness, ranks the world's happiest countries by asking people to evaluate their lives.Finland again took top spot with an average score of 7.736 out of 10, while Costa Rica and Mexico have entered the top 10 for the first time.Both the UK and the US slipped down the list to 23rd and 24th respectively - the lowest-ever position for the latter.The study, published by the University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre, asked people to rate their own lives on a scale of 0-10 - zero being the worst possible life and 10 being the best possible life.Country rankings are based on a three-year average of those scores.
The 2025 World Happiness Report also found:declining happiness and social trust in the US and parts of Europe combined to explain the rise and direction of political polarisation;sharing meals with others was strongly linked with wellbeing across the globe;household size was closely linked to happiness, with four to five people living together enjoying the highest levels of happiness in Mexico and Europe
Jeffrey D. Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, said the findings reconfirmed "happiness is rooted in trust, kindness, and social connection". "It is up to us as virtuous individuals and citizens to translate this vital truth into positive action, thereby fostering peace, civility, and wellbeing in communities worldwide," he said.Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre, added: "In this era of social isolation and political polarisation we need to find ways to bring people around the table again - doing so is critical for our individual and collective wellbeing."
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BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Ocean damage 'unspeakably awful', Attenborough tells William
Sir David Attenborough has told Prince William he is "appalled" by the damage certain fishing methods are wreaking on the world's Prince of Wales interviewed the TV naturalist ahead of a key UN Oceans conference which kicks off on world's countries are gathering for the first time in three years to discuss how to better protect the oceans, which are facing growing threats from plastic pollution, climate change and UN's key aim is to get the High Seas Treaty - an agreement signed two years ago to put 30% of the ocean into protected areas - ratified by 60 countries to bring it into force. "What we have done to the deep ocean floor is just unspeakably awful," said Sir David."If you did anything remotely like it on land, everybody would be up in arms," he said in the interview released on Saturday. It was conducted at the premiere of his new documentary, Ocean, last documentary draws attention to the potential damage from some fishing practices, like bottom trawling, for marine life and the ability of the ocean to lock up planet-warming charities and scientists will come together at the UN Oceans Conference (UNOC) in Nice to try and agree how to accelerate action on the issues most affecting the world's David said he hopes the leaders gathering for the UN conference will "realise how much the oceans matter to all of us, the citizens of the world". Planetary life support system The ocean is crucial for the survival of all organisms on the planet - it is the largest ecosystem, is estimated to contribute $2.5 trillion to world economies and provides up to 80% of the oxygen we breath. The key aim for the UN is to galvanise enough support to bring the High Seas Treaty into force - including commitment from the years ago countries agreed to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, across national and international waters - or high seas - are a common resource with no ruling country so nations signed the High Seas Treaty in 2023 agreeing to work together to put a third of them into Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Since then only 32 countries have ratified the treaty - 60 are needed to bring it into force. But many scientists and NGOs are worried MPAs will not be effective whilst practices like bottom trawling are still allowed within them. "Our ocean is 99% of our living space on the globe, we have huge dependency on the ocean in every possible way, but bottom trawling does a lot of damage," Dr Amanda Vincent, Professor in Marine Conservation at The University of British Columbia told BBC's Inside trawling or dredging is currently allowed in 90% of the UK's MPAs, according to environmental campaigners Oceana, and the Environment Audit Committee (EAC) has called for a ban on it within them. What is the UN High Seas Treaty and why is it needed?But some fishing communities have pushed back on the assertion that certain fishing practices need to be banned in these areas. "Bottom trawling is only a destructive process if it's taking place in the wrong place, otherwise, it is an efficient way to produce food from our seas," Elspeth Macdonald, CEO of Scottish Fisherman's Association told the point to evidence that restricting the practice in some areas allows fish stocks to recover and be better in the long term for the industry. The conference had been called after concern by the UN that oceans were facing irreparable damage, particularly from climate change. The oceans are a crucial buffer against the worst impacts of a warming planet, absorbing excess heat and greenhouse gases, said Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of Exeter."If the sea had not absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat that has been added to the planet as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, then the world wouldn't just be one and a half degrees warmer it would be about 36 degrees warmer."Those of us who were left would be struggling with Death Valley temperatures everywhere," he excess heat is having significant impacts on marine life, warn scientists. "Coral reefs, for the past 20 years, have been subject to mass bleaching and mass mortality and that is due to extreme temperatures," said Dr Jean-Pierre Gattuso, senior research scientist at Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche and co-chair of the One Ocean Science Congress (OOSC). "This really is the first marine ecosystem and perhaps the first ecosystem which is potentially subject to disappearance."The OOSC is a gathering of 2,000 of the world's scientists, prior to the UN conference, where the latest data on ocean health is assessed and recommendations put forward to efforts on climate change the scientists recommended an end to deep sea activities. The most controversial issue to be discussed is perhaps deep sea more than a decade countries have been trying to agree how deep sea mining in international waters could work - how resources could be shared and environmental damage could be in April President Trump bypassed those discussions and signed an executive order saying he would permit mining within international and France called it a breach of international law, although no formal legal proceedings have yet been have warned that too little is understood about the ecosystems in the deep sea and therefore no commercial activities should go forward without more research."Deep sea biology is the most threatened of global biology, and of what we know the least. We must act with precaution where we don't have the science," said Prof Peter Haugan, Co-chair of the International Science Council Expert Group on the Ocean. Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.


The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Starving Palestinians fear being shot dead for a bag of lentils as Gaza aid points close
Starving Palestinians fear 'being killed while trying to get a bag of lentils', aid workers warned as the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) closed aid centres for the second time in a week. Aid agencies told The Independent that the GHF is already failing at providing aid to the enclave's starving population. The GHF, run by a private group of US military contractors and endorsed by the Israeli military, announced on Friday that all of its distribution centres in Gaza would close until further notice. The US-backed organisation had already urged Palestinians to stay away from all of its three centres for safety reasons following a series of deadly shootings earlier this week. Dozens of people were shot dead near the GHF's Rafah site over three consecutive days in scenes described as 'appalling' by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The GHF said that a reopening date would be announced later on Friday, with the closures sparking further concern that the organisation is ill-equipped to deal with the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave. The UN has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave ended last month. 'These are not humanitarians, they are people with guns,' said James Elder, a spokesperson for Unicef who arrived in Rafah two days ago. 'Without a doubt, [the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] is unsustainable because it's politicised and militarised.' Since he arrived in Gaza, he says 'nothing has been open', despite claims by the GHF that they fed an additional 1.4 million meals from two sites in the Tal Sultan and Saudi neighbourhoods in Rafah on Thursday. They say they have distributed more than eight million meals in total. When approached by The Independent over these claims, the GHF said it had delivered almost 8.5 million meals and would 'look at additional improvements' to its aid operation. Salma Altaweel, an aid worker for the Norwegian Refugee Council based in Gaza City in the north, where there are currently no GHF distribution centres, told The Independent she could 'see desperation on people's faces'. 'The food situation has reached a desperate point,' she says. 'The new distribution mechanism has failed to meet people's basic needs. 'People here talk about how they fear getting killed while trying to receive a bag of lentils. Here in the north, I have seen no aid come in, only more people displaced by Israel's repeated relocation orders.' On Thursday, the GHF said it was working on 'operational plans' to open additional distribution sites, including in northern Gaza. Mr Elder said he had spoken to one 23-year-old woman in hospital who had travelled miles to one of the distribution points earlier this week only to be nearly killed as the Israelis opened fire. She was squashed up against the wire fence running up to the aid area, cutting her leg and arm. The woman ended up leaving with no food. Asked if she would go back despite the dangers posed by the trip, Mr Elder said she replied quickly: 'Yes, because I have no food'. He said that with parents being forced to leave their children to go to these distribution centres, or face bringing them on round-trips that can be as long as a marathon and involve moving into combat zones where civilians are being killed, the GHF operations were adding 'another layer of risk'. 'I spoke to dozens of adults who said they would rather risk hunger than have their children die when they're not there,' he said, adding that the bombardment of Israeli missiles is 'as intense as ever'. The GHF had already been accused of lacking neutrality given its backing by the US and Israeli government. Under their plan, Palestinians must travel into militarized zones miles away from their homes to access vital aid. Jake Wood, the former head of the GHF, resigned two weeks ago after admitting the group would not be able to fulfil the principles of 'humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence'. Sara Hashash, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa, said the GHF is the 'wrong response' to the chronic food shortages in Gaza. 'Israel's newly established militarised humanitarian aid scheme, run by the GHF is the wrong response to Gaza's manmade humanitarian disaster,' she said. 'The scheme is gravely at odds with humanitarian imperatives and international humanitarian law. It actively puts the lives of Palestinians at risk and woefully fails to provide effective humanitarian relief.'


Sky News
3 days ago
- Sky News
Gaza marks start of Eid with outdoor prayers in rubble - as Israel warns of intensive new military operations
Israel has issued a fresh warning to civilians, saying its military is about to carry out intensive operations in northern Gaza. It comes after Israel said rockets were fired from the area. Palestinians across the war-ravaged Gaza Strip have marked the start of one of Islam's most important holidays, amid little hope the conflict will end any time soon. Much of Gaza lies in ruins, with men and children forced to hold the traditional Eid al Adha prayers in the open air, and as food supplies dwindle. 8:49 Food and aid were blocked from entering the Palestinian territory for more than two months, but a trickle of supplies has been allowed in over the last few weeks. The UN said it cannot distribute much of the aid, due to the risk of looters and restrictions on movement. "This is the worst feast that the Palestinian people have experienced because of the unjust war against the Palestinian people," said Kamel Emran after attending prayers in the southern city of Khan Younis. "There is no food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes, no mattresses... The conditions are very, very harsh." The Islamic holiday begins on the 10th day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhul-Hijja, during the Hajj season in Saudi Arabia. It is the second year Muslims in Gaza have been unable to travel to the country to perform the traditional pilgrimage. 2:50 The war broke out after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas -led militants. Some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were abducted and taken to Gaza. Hamas is still holding 56 hostages, with a third of them believed to be alive. The rest have been released in ceasefire agreements, with forces rescuing eight living hostages from Gaza and recovering dozens of bodies. 0:42 Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in its military campaign, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians or combatants in its figures.