The wage increase will take place in two stages. First, it will be increased from €12.82 per hour to €13.90 at the beginning of 2026. It will then increase again by €0.70 a year later. This means German workers would typically earn close to €2,500, making it the second-highest minimum wage in the European Union after Luxembourg, which mandates a monthly minimum of €2,638.
The legal reforms in Vietnam ended the death penalty for eight crimes, including trying to overthrow the government, damaging state infrastructure, making and selling fake medicine, starting wars, spying, drug trafficking, embezzlement, and taking bribes. The new rules also say that anyone already sentenced to death for these crimes but not yet executed by July 1 will have their sentence changed to life in prison after a final decision by Vietnam’s highest court.
This year’s Out for America report from the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute showed an overall 2.4% increase in out LGBTQ+ representation between June 2024 and May 2025 and a 198% increase since the organization, which provides training and support for out candidates, first launched the report in 2017. While the majority of LGBTQ+ elected officials serve in state and local offices, 2025 saw a 33% increase in the number of out U.S. House representatives, bringing the total number to 12.
China has continued its reign as the undisputed global leader in renewable energy, with its solar capacity now surpassing a whopping 1 terawatt (TW). According to the Energy Information Administration, the total global electricity capacity in 2022 was less than 9 TW. From January to May, new solar installations totaled 197 GW, up 388% from the same period last year. In May alone, China added 92 GW of new capacity, a 105% increase from April and the highest monthly figure on record. China reached its first 1 GW of installed solar just 15 years ago in 2010.
Ireland has become the 15th coal-free country in Europe, having ended coal power generation at its 915 MW Moneypoint coal plant in County Clare. Initially commissioned in the mid-1980s by ESB, Moneypoint was intended to help Ireland offset the impact of the oil crises in the 1970s by providing a dependable source of energy. But with Ireland now generating a lot more renewable energy, coal burning is no longer such an urgent need.
More than £2.5bn of investment into fusion energy over the next five years has been announced as part of the British government’s Spending Review. It said the money would “cement” Oxfordshire’s role as a “world-leading hub” for the technology, while funds would also be invested into plans to build a fusion power plant in Nottinghamshire. Nuclear fusion is the same energy process that powers the stars, which scientists say has the potential of virtually unlimited supplies of low-carbon, low-radiation energy and is often called the “holy grail” of clean energy.
The massive new MPA in the South Pacific will cover the semi-autonomous French territory’s entire exclusive economic zone (EEZ), roughly 1.9 million square miles. It will include nearly 420,000 square miles of highly or fully protected ocean, an area twice the size of mainland France. Of this, some about 350,000 square miles will be fully protected. In these areas, no extractive fishing or mining will be allowed. About 72,000 square miles will be an artisanal fishing zone, only allowing traditional line fishing.
In the 90s, the Green Corridor, a 457,000-acre stretch of protected land that links Argentina’s Iguazú National Park and Brazil’s Iguaçu, was home to between 400 and 800 jaguars. By 2005, that number had dropped to 40. Today, thanks to coordinated conservation efforts between the two countries, the population has grown to at least 105. Women-led economic initiatives and formal institutional support, like “Jaguar Friendly” certification for the local airport, have proven vital to strengthening human-wildlife connections and bolstering conservation efforts.
Since 2018, children in England have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access them. Now, from the start of the 2026 school year, every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals. The major policy expansion is expected to offer free meals to an additional 500,000 children across, lift 100,000 children out of poverty, and put an extra £500 in parents’ pockets.
The Samoan government has enacted a law establishing a plan to sustainably manage 100% of its ocean by 2030. The plan creates nine new marine protected areas that cover 30% of Samoa’s ocean, an area roughly the size of Taiwan. The MPAs mean that Samoa meets its 2020 agreement to protect 30% of Earth’s land and ocean by 2030. They ban activities that harm marine life or habitats, including fishing, mining, and drilling.
