Powerful legal and financial service industries are enabling kleptocracy and corrupt elites to operate with relative impunity, a new study shows.

Despite humanity’s scientific achievements and globalized economy, malnutrition remains a global issue. The United Nations estimated that 2.33 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2023.

A 240-year-old drug called digoxin could save the National Health Service (NHS) at least £100 million each year when treating older patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure. This was compared to usual treatment with a beta-blocker according to a new study published in the journal Heart from the University of Birmingham, the city where digoxin was first used in 1785.

The study found that the rates of patients leaving before medically advised increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 721 million emergency department visits from 2016 to 2021, of which 194 million (26.9  percent) occurred after March 2020. Patients left before medically advised in 5.9 million emergency department visits during the study period—especially in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020 and fourth quarter of 2021—for a 53.6 percent increase over pre-pandemic levels. The researchers noted that the increase could be the result of concern about COVID-19 infection and dissatisfaction with longer waiting times and other factors triggered by the surge in pandemic-related demands on hospitals.