Yemen’s people are forced to find their food in garbage heaps.

• The three year war in Yemen, which has now claimed the lives of thousands of people has left many desperately rummaging through garbage mounds looking for food to feed their families. Famine, cholera and a coalition lead by Saudi Arabia has crippled the country, pushing many to the brink of death. In a last resort attempt to survive a brutal reality, many Yemeni families have taken to inhabiting landfills, finding shelter and food in the rubbish of others.

#Yemen is dying a slow death.

3 cities have run out of clean water. People are eating trash to survive.

— Nura (@dontforgetyemen) December 30, 2017

The world’s oldest human remains have been found in Israel.

• What’s being hailed as the world’s oldest remains of a Homo Sapien ever discovered outside of Africa has been found in Misliya cave in Israel. Estimated at between 100,000-194,000 years old, the fossil of a jawbone indicates that modern humans may have left the African continent nearly twice as long ago than previously thought.

"We had so many new pieces of evidence and we didn't know where they fitted," said Prof Hershkovitz.

"Now..all the pieces fall into place – an exodus possibly as early as 250,000 years ago, which is the date of the tools found in the Misliya Cave." https://t.co/FSMULJ92QT

— daniel korenblum (@katchwreck) January 25, 2018

Sara Khan has been appointed new lead for commission of counter-extremism.

• UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd has this week announced the appointment of human rights activist Sara Khan as the new lead counter-extremism tsar. The Home Office has called on Khan’s campaigning experience to tackle counter-extremism in the UK as part of an initiative announced by Theresa May in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombings last year. The decision has been met with criticism from UK organisations MEND and the Muslim Council of Britain, who are among many now calling for Sara Khan to step down after citing her lack of experience and credibility for the position appointed. Khan is due to take up her role next month for a period of three years.

Our CEO @DrShazadAmin questions the need for a Commission for Countering #Extremism and states why @ukhomeoffice should reverse the appointment of #SaraKhan due to her lack of relevant expertise and credibility in Muslim communities. @wewillinspire is not an independent org pic.twitter.com/hMwpm4QLyA

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) January 25, 2018

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A storm has just thrust a huge pile of rubbish onto Lebanon’s shores

• Lebanon’s capital of Beirut is facing a waste crisis after a storm has washed ashore a huge garbage mound onto one of its closest beaches, Zouq Mosbeh. An alarming amount of rotting food and plastic waste polluting the world’s oceans are catching up with us as the pile completely covers the beach in Lebanon, forcing Prime Minister Saad Hariri to more urgently address the issue of waste pollution that’s been plaguing the country for some time. Images circulating on social media have helped to put the spotlight back on an issue that has been causing outrage to environmentalists and protesters alike, especially since the 2015 government closing of Beirut’s main landfill.

The #garbagecrisis is back. It's always been there, now it's visible again. #Lebanon https://t.co/I7wa3mNK8q

— Diana Beck (@dna_beck) January 23, 2018

 Violent protests have broken out over release of ‘Padmaavat’ film in India

• The film, which was released in Cinemas on 25 January has since sparked violent clashes and protests across India over Bollywood star Deepika Padukone’s role as venerated Hindu Queen Padmavaati. Rumours of an intimate scene between the Queen and a Muslim King in the lead up to the film’s initial release last year sparked outrage from far-right Hindu organisations, who threatened to behead Padukone and the film’s director should the film be released. After having having cleared the film for release yesterday, violence on the streets have forced some schools to shut down after a children’s school bus was attacked during protests.

Attacking a school bus and children is an all time low for our democracy. Such people should be punished most harshly. We cannot be held at ransom like this. For me its #Padmavati Not #Padmaavat.

— Heena SIDHU (@HeenaSidhu10) January 25, 2018