Sunday, May 10, 2026

'David Attenborough Effect': Meet the wildlife artists inspired by the legendary broadcaster

By Liam Gilliver

Published on 07/05/2026 -

As David Attenborough turns 100, Euronews Earth explores the real-life impacts of his extraordinary career.

Sir David Attenborough will likely go down in history as the most treasured wildlife broadcaster on planet Earth – and tomorrow, he turns 100

Starting his TV career as a trainee producer for the BBC in 1952, Attenborough oversaw the first-ever colour broadcast in Europe, and quickly became the leading voice of the world’s most popular nature documentaries.

To date, he has written, presented or narrated more than 100 films, including the award-winning ‘Life’ series which tracks the “extraordinary ends” to which animals and plants go in order to survive.

Alongside his melodic storytelling and clear passion for the natural world, Attenborough has ended up inspiring a new generation of conservationists, animal-lovers, and environmental activists.

The ‘David Attenborough Effect’

Attenborough’s work is so persuasive that fans have coined the term ‘the David Attenborough Effect’, demonstrating how the issues he highlights in his work have brought about real change.

A 2019 poll by GlobalWebIndex, which surveyed 3,833 people in the US and the UK, found that when Attenborough issued a call to action to combat plastic waste in the second series of Planet Earth, searches for “plastic recycling” spiked by 55 per cent in the UK.

In the wake of the documentary, survey participants reported a 53 per cent drop in their single-use plastic consumption.

But it isn’t just ordinary people sitting at home watching TV who have been inspired by Attenborough’s work.

Following galvanising footage of bottom trawling in ‘Ocean’ – where boats drag heavy, weighted nets across the seabed to catch fish and kill everything in their wake – a ban on deep-sea fishing in parts of the Atlantic rich with marine life was upheld by the EU’s General Court.

David Attenborough is a ‘constant source of inspiration’

Artists Skip and Katherine Khangurra lives were changed by the David Attenborough effect. They set up their company Libra Fine Arts after watching the broadcaster’s shows.

“We both grew up watching Attenborough’s programmes on TV, captured by his remarkable voiceovers,” Katherine, 42, tells Euronews Earth.

“Skip, 57, is often inspired to draw after watching a series – whether it’s penguins from ‘Frozen Planet’ or gorillas from ‘Gorillas Revisited’. The filmmaking in these programmes is extraordinary, revealing incredible detail in every scene, sometimes even down to the individual hairs of each animal.

Katherine (left) and Skip (right) Supplied by Libra Fine Arts

The couple, who live in Windsor, England, say Attenborough’s work has been a “constant source of inspiration” for them, as it has been for many other artists around the world.

They once gifted Attenborough some of their wildlife cards, and received a “beautiful” handwritten note in response. “The time and care he put into writing to us personally really touched us,” Katherine says.

The next generation learning about wildlife

Now, Katherine and Skip use their art as a learning resource for families – helping parents to teach their children the names of different species and their traits and “connect” with wildlife.

“It’s wonderful to watch those moments of curiosity and connection, and especially lovely to see the next generation learning about animals and building that connection for the future,” Katherine says.

Skip drawing a giraffe. Supplied by Libra Fine Arts.

A 2022 study of 842 primary school students, which was published in the science journal Global Ecology and Conservation, found that children's willingness to conserve wild animals was positively associated with both direct (time spent outdoors) and indirect (watching nature programmes or reading nature books) nature contact frequency, their knowledge of species, and their likeability of species.

“Children's knowledge and likeability of species were also positively associated with nature contact frequency (direct and indirect forms),” the study states.

“Therefore, wildlife conservation would benefit from environmental education and child care policies that enable children to spend time outdoors and learn about nature in multiple ways.”

Round-the-clock renewables: New report says clean energy now challenges fossil fuels on price

By Craig Saueurs

Published on 08/05/2026 - EURONEWS

The cost of battery storage has dropped more than 90 per cent since 2010, bringing the cost of renewable energy down with it.

Clean energy can provide reliable, around-the-clock electricity at prices that rival fossil fuels, as the war on Iran forces Europe to re-think its reliance.

A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found that when solar and wind power are combined with battery storage, they can already compete with new coal plants on cost. In many parts of the world, this mix of renewables and storage can even undercut new gas power.

The findings challenge one of the fossil fuel industry’s longest-running arguments against renewables: that they cannot provide reliable, 24/7 electricity when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

Can renewables now outcompete fossil fuels?

According to IRENA, the answer is yes.

The report examined so-called “firm” renewable systems – combinations of solar panels, wind farms and battery storage capable of providing round-the-clock electricity.

In regions with strong sunlight and wind resources, solar power paired with batteries now costs between about €50 and €75 per megawatt-hour, the report found.

That compares with about €60 to €75 per megawatt-hour for new coal plants in China and more than €88 globally for new gas power.

A steep drop in battery prices has helped drive the change. Since 2010, the cost of battery storage has fallen by 93 per cent, according to IRENA, while solar panel costs dropped by 87 per cent and onshore wind costs by 55 per cent.

The agency says combining wind, solar and batteries can also reduce exposure to geopolitical shocks, such as Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital fossil fuel chokepoint that carries around one fifth (I think) of global oil supplies.

Europe is already seeing the impact

The report comes at a particularly relevant moment. Europe is still facing fossil fuel price shocks linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and renewed instability around the US-Israel conflict in the Middle East.

Advocacy group Positive Money recently found that renewables helped cut electricity prices in some European countries by almost 25 per cent between 2023 and 2025.

Another report revealed that consumers in Denmark, Finland, France, Sweden and Slovakia could save up to €8.5 billion on energy bills this year because of their cleaner electricity mixes, while countries still more reliant on fossil fuels face significantly higher costs.

Solar alone saved Europe €3 billion in March by reducing its gas imports. An analysis by SolarPower EUrope says total savings could exceed €67 billion if gas prices remain high,

The renewables argument is changing

For years, critics argued that solar and wind power could never fully replace fossil fuels because they depend on weather conditions.

According to IRENA, battery storage is changing that calculus.

Batteries can store electricity generated during sunny or windy periods and release it later when demand rises or supply drops, reducing the need for backup plants run on fossil fuels.

IRENA says their costs will continue falling over the next decade, too, potentially making round-the-clock renewable power far more attractive for energy-hungry industries such as AI and data centres.

By 2035, some large-scale solar-and-battery projects could deliver continuous electricity for less than €45 per megawatt-hour in the best-performing regions.

“The long-standing argument that renewables lack reliability no longer holds,” Francesco La Camera, director general of IRENA, said in a statement.

White House lashes out at ‘sick’ Star Wars actor Mark Hamill for AI post of dead Donald Trump

By David Mouriquand

Published on 08/05/2026 - EURONEWS

The White House has called Mark Hamill a “sick individual” after the Star Wars actor posted an image of Donald Trump in a grave on social media.

The Trump administration has lashed out at Star Wars actor Mark Hamill for posting an image on social media of Trump dead in a grave.

The White House claims that the image and rhetoric inspire security threats.

“Mark Hamill is one sick individual,” the White House wrote in a post on X. “These Radical Left lunatics just can’t help themselves. This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President.”

The Luke Skywalker actor posted what appeared to be an AI image of Trump on Bluesky, featuring the president in an open grave. The image included the caption “If Only” and a headstone showing his date of death as 2024.

“If Only - He should live long enough to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms, be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption, impeached, convicted & humiliated for his countless crimes,” Hamill wrote in an accompanying post. “Long enough to realize he'll be disgraced in the history books, forevermore. #don_TheCON.”

Hamill deleted the image and issued further clarification: “Accurate Edit for Clarity: ‘He should live long enough to... be held accountable for his... crimes,’” Hamill wrote on Bluesky. “Actually, I was wishing him the opposite of dead, but apologize if you found the image inappropriate.”

The image comes after a man was charged with the attempted assassination of Trump in a shooting at the White House Correspondent’s Association dinner last month.

Days after the shooting, Melania Trump demanded that talk show host Jimmy Kimmel be fired, as the comedian joked days prior to the incident that the first lady had a "glow like an expectant widow".

Kimmel responded to criticism of his joke by saying it was merely a reference to the couple's age difference.

Melania Trump’s comments massively backfired online, with many accusing her of hypocrisy and pointing out a massive double standard, as Trump frequently lashes out with violent rhetoric and images aimed at his opponents.

Recently, during the course of the Iran war, he posted an image of himself holding a machine gun and threatened that a “whole civilization will die” unless Tehran agrees to his demands.

Last year, he shared an AI-generated video of himself bombing No Kings protestors and an AI image riffing on the war film Apocalypse Now.

Elsewhere, and Star Wars related, Trump posted another unsual image on May 4 – Star Wars day.

The White House shared an image of Trump as the Mandalorian (with Grogu in tow, looking like he wants to be anywhere else). Trump holds an American flag in one hand (which notably has only 11 red and white stripes as opposed to 13) and is pictured without the Mandalorian helmet on his head (a big no-no in the Mandalorian code, if Trump knew anything about the cultural references he was riffing on).

"In a galaxy that demands strength - America stands ready," the White House wrote. "This is the way. May the 4th be with you."

The post was met with backlash, with Star Wars fans blasting Trump.

"This has caused a major disturbance in the force today. Yikes," someone wrote online, while another said: "Please tell me there will be a lawsuit."

This wasn’t the first time the White House shared Star Wars-inspired imagery of Trump. Last year, they posted an image of a distressingly muscular Trump holding a red lightsaber.

"Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion - you’re the Empire," the caption read.

Once more, Trump and his administration failed to fully grasp the cultural implications of the image, as red is the chosen colour of the villainous Sith Lords. Star Wars creator George Lucas once said regarding lightsaber colours: “Good guys are green and blue, bad guys are red.”

Hardly rocket science.

As one X user pointed out: “The lack of self awareness and hypocrisy by calling the left ‘the empire’ while showing trump with a Sith lightsaber.”

Franciscan order owning several Madrid flats evicts elderly resident amid protests

By Jesús Maturana

Published on 09/05/2026 - EURONEWS

On 7 May, the Venerable Third Order of Saint Francis carried out a fifth eviction attempt against 67‑year‑old pensioner Mariano Ordaz, who had lived all his life in the same flat in Madrid’s Embajadores district. The case has sparked protests and reignited the housing debate.

Mariano Ordaz, a 67-year-old pensioner, was finally evicted last Thursday from the home where he had lived all his life in the Embajadores neighbourhood, in Madrid’s central district, when the fifth eviction order was carried out. On four previous occasions, pressure from local residents had managed to halt the process; this time it was not possible.

From early in the morning, a large deployment of National Police cordoned off the area with up to eight vans and four patrol cars. The spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, Carolina Vilariño, summed it up bluntly: far too many officers to throw a pensioner out of his home.

Ordaz now does not know what he is going to do. He thinks he will be able to go to a shelter for a few weeks and a friend has offered him a room for around 400 euros. He has no other housing option.

A landlord with vows of poverty and more than 300 flats

The owner of the building is the Venerable Third Order of Saint Francis of Assisi (VOT), a religious institution which, according to its critics, manages its assets according to a logic closer to that of an investment fund than to that of a religious congregation. The order owns more than 300 flats in central Madrid alone.

Several tenants in VOT properties point to its peculiarities as a landlord: they were offered a rent slightly below market price in exchange for refurbishing the flat themselves, because the properties were in a very poor state. Maintenance of the communal areas was a mess: leaks, broken windows, lights that did not work, pipes full of rust.

Ordaz’s story fits that pattern. After the pandemic, he lost his job and could not afford the rent increases. When he was told he had to pay 800 euros a month plus an accumulated debt of 15,000 euros, it was clear to him it was impossible. He still had to eat and pay for electricity and water.

The order justifies the eviction by claiming that work is needed because of the deterioration of the building. But the Tenants’ Union takes the opposite view: it says the “deplorable state” of the property is due to the owners’ own lack of maintenance, and that they have used that deterioration as a pretext to carry out the eviction and empty the building.

The organisation argues that the Franciscan order is not a small landlord, but a body with vast, tax-exempt property holdings which also manages healthcare centres such as the VOT San Francisco de Asís Hospital.

No moratorium and the door open to thousands of evictions

Mariano’s case cannot be understood without the political context surrounding it. The anti-eviction moratorium lapsed in Congress on 26 February after right-wing parties voted against it. With its repeal, the Tenants’ Union warns that people like Mariano have lost one of the few tools they had to defend themselves.

The Union warns that this case opens the door to a wave of up to 60,000 evictions of vulnerable families across the country. Tenants’ organisations hold several tiers of government responsible: the Government Delegation, the central government for failing to repeal the Gag Law, the Housing Minister, the Community of Madrid and Madrid City Council.

A demonstration has been called in Madrid on 24 May under the slogan “Housing is costing us our lives. Let’s bring prices down”, starting from Atocha at 12:00.

Madrid, the most strained housing market in Spain

Mariano’s eviction is not an isolated case; according to neighbourhood organisations, it is a symptom of a broken market. The rental market has seen 44 consecutive months of year-on-year increases, a streak that began in March 2022. Since then, prices have soared by 33%, pushing more and more families out of the market.

In Madrid, the central district has seen a 21% rise in rents in just one year, with prices rarely falling below 2,000 euros a month. That a religious order with hundreds of flats in that same city centre chooses to raise rents until they become unaffordable, and then turns to the courts to carry out evictions, gives the case a significance that goes far beyond a dispute between landlord and tenant.

The rise in rents and house prices is pushing many Spaniards out of the housing market, despite the recent economic upswing. Wages have not grown at the same pace and, according to analysts, the boom in tourism and population growth in the cities, driven by immigration, have tightened supply even further.

Cattle theft in Germany: organised gangs target farms

By Nela Heidner

Published on 09/05/2026 - EURONEWS

Livestock theft is becoming a problem in German agriculture, with entire herds disappearing overnight in some cases. In addition to financial losses, the offences also have an emotional impact on farmers. Investigators believe that organised gangs from abroad are involved.

A farmer from Raddusch in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district reported to the police on Friday morning that his herd of 48 cattle had been stolen from the pasture. The loss is estimated at around 75,000 euros.

Just 14 days earlier, unknown perpetrators had stolen 74 cattle near Herzberg in the Elbe-Elster district of Brandenburg. Lorry tracks were found at the scene.

In April, there was a case in Falkenberg, also in the Elbe-Elster district, in which 69 calves disappeared from a breeding farm. The perpetrators apparently used a remote access road to drive a large lorry onto the premises, which investigators believe was probably a 40-tonne articulated lorry, and drove directly up to the barn door. Inside, they specifically selected female calves aged between three and six months, and finally herded 69 animals onto the lorry.

Police suspect organised groups of offenders

The theft of livestock in Germany – sheep, cattle, geese and even bee colonies – is increasingly becoming a serious problem.

According to current findings, there has been a growing number of cases, particularly in eastern Germany, in which larger herds are apparently targeted and stolen by organised groups of offenders. Brandenburg is currently considered a particular hotspot.

Investigators believe that these are often professionally organised gangs. The perpetrators strike at night. To conceal the animals’ origin, ear tags are removed or replaced with forged identifiers.

In some cases there are indications that sedatives are used so that the animals remain calm while they are being loaded.

“Farm crime” is becoming an increasing burden for farmers

The rise in rural crime is now often summed up under the term “farm crime”. In addition to livestock theft, expensive agricultural machinery and GPS systems from tractors are increasingly coming into criminals’ sights.

While some federal states such as Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are recording rising numbers of cases, other regions such as Schleswig-Holstein have recently reported a slight decline – albeit from a high level. In November last year, NDR broadcast a report entitled “Tatort Bauernhof: Diebstahl auf dem Land” (“Crime scene farm: theft in the countryside”). It stated that well over half of farmers in northern Germany had been affected by theft, with not only animals but also harvests and agricultural machinery being stolen.

Farmers unsettled

Many farms are now responding with additional security measures. These include video surveillance, better lighting of barns and digital warning networks among farmers, for example via regional WhatsApp groups. The aim is to share suspicious observations more quickly and to prevent thefts as early as possible.

Because livestock in Germany is centrally registered, the police suspect that many of the stolen animals are taken to Eastern European countries or to states outside the EU. In principle, animal transports must be checked when crossing borders. It is possible that the animals are smuggled across the border in closed lorries that are not licensed for livestock transport.

In fact, according to the federal government there is no official statistical record of all cases and crime scenes relating to the theft of farm animals. The reason is that, because animals are legally regarded as “property” in Germany, such offences are recorded in crime statistics under theft of “objects”.

COMMENT: Iran war’s geopolitical risks alone is not enough to cause a global recession

War has sent geopolitical risks up, but that on its own is not necessarily enough to cause a global recession. Despite the outbreak of a fresh war and energy crisis, stock markets have been relatively unaffected and the slow down in global growth relatively modest. / bne IntelliNews

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By Ben Aris in Berlin May 6, 2026

The geopolitical shocks of the Gulf war are dominating headlines and investor sentiment, but these shocks rarely act as the primary engine of global economic downturns, according to a note by Ben May, director of global macro research at Oxford Economics.

“Heightened geopolitical risk doesn’t inevitably translate into economic volatility or cyclical downturns,” says May. “But historical experience shows that heightened geopolitical risk doesn’t inevitably translate into economic volatility or cyclical downturns.”

The recent surge in the Geopolitical Risk (GPR) index has reinforced the perception that the global economy has entered a more dangerous phase. Yet, as May notes, “the upward shift since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks similar to the step jump after the September 11 attacks — and that period was followed by an upswing in global growth.” In other words, while geopolitical tensions have intensified since the start of Operation Epic Fury on February 28 and clearly this is “the worst energy disruption in history” according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the crisis has not yet moved into uncharted territory.

The distinction matters. Since 2022, the GPR index has recorded frequent spikes, bookended by the Russia-Ukraine war and the more recent US-Israel confrontation with Iran. But, as May points out, “global GDP growth has been remarkably stable despite these shocks.” The implication is clear: geopolitics alone is insufficient to derail the global economy.

The recent downgrade to global growth expectations reflects this more nuanced reality. Oxford Economics has cut its 2026 global GDP growth forecast by 0.6 percentage points and now expects the level of world GDP to be 0.8% lower than projected earlier in the year. But May is careful to stress that “while the war contributed to this, it wasn’t the only surprise.” Instead, the post-pandemic reopening, supply chain disruptions, and the subsequent inflation shock played decisive roles in tightening financial conditions and dragging on growth.

The true transmission mechanism from geopolitics to the real economy lies elsewhere. “The commodity and financial channels are the crucial shock spreaders,” he says. A useful rule-of-thumb is “a sustained $10 increase in oil prices reduces annual global GDP growth by around 0.1 percentage points.”

During the early phase of the Ukraine war, oil briefly rose from around $90 to $110 per barrel, before falling back to roughly $80 by the end of 2022. The impact, while meaningful, was temporary and limited at the global level.

Europe, however, felt a sharper blow after gas prices skyrocketed in the 2022 energy crisis, illustrating that the economic fallout of geopolitical shocks is often unevenly distributed.

“The surge in natural gas prices caused by Russia turning off the taps was far more concentrated than the oil shock,” May notes, underlining the importance of regional dynamics that are more affected, but don’t necessarily spread and have a global impact.

Nevertheless, the current Gulf War presents a potentially more serious risk, largely because of its implications for global energy supplies. “The Middle East conflict has the capacity to trigger a more substantial economic hit than the Russia-Ukraine war due to the sharper rise in oil prices everywhere,” May says.

Yet even here, Oxford Economics believes its baseline forecasts already incorporate a reasonable allowance for disruption. The greater danger would come from a prolonged interruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, rather than from a broader collapse in confidence.

And the delivery of oil out of the Persian Gulf is restricted, not stopped. About half of the oil that used to be exported via the Strait of Hormuz is still leaving, via Iran’s own unfettered exports, the the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)’s westward pipelines that terminate at the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, and Gulf of Oman oil terminals belonging to the UAE and Oman. At the same time the US has ramped up production and exports and new Venezuelan oil has come onto the market.

One of the more surprising findings is how broader economic uncertainty has remained. “Spikes in geopolitical risk don’t typically push economic uncertainty measures up sharply,” May observes. Forecast dispersion for US GDP and inflation has actually declined since 2022, suggesting that markets have not been gripped by systemic fear. Even historically significant events such as the Gulf War, 9/11, and the Iraq war generated only short-lived increases in uncertainty.

This resilience extends to financial markets. While equity prices initially dipped following geopolitical shocks, subsequent movements have been driven more by monetary policy than by conflict itself. “The tightening in financial conditions in 2022 was not predominantly down to the Russia-Ukraine war,” May argues, pointing instead to the role of rising interest rates and inflation expectations.

None of this is to say that geopolitics is irrelevant. The counterfactual — a world without recent conflicts — would almost certainly have delivered stronger growth. Oxford Economics estimates that global GDP growth in 2022 and 2023 fell short of expectations by around 0.7 percentage points, though only part of this can be attributed to geopolitical tensions.

More broadly, the persistence of elevated geopolitical risk may yet have longer-term consequences. “It will take time to assess whether spillover effects from heightened uncertainty will prove larger than expected,” May cautions. Investment decisions, in particular, tend to respond with a lag, meaning the full impact may not yet be visible.

As IntelliNews has reported, the peak pain from major crises tends to arrive with a long delay. The short-term pain to sectors like aviation and fertilisers are already very visible, but a food shock is on its way that will hit this autumn, and an inflation shock will follow that, spilling into 2027. Separately, the world is on course for a “super El Niño” this year that means all these problems will be exacerbated by what is likely to be the fourth hottest year of all-time and a fourth disaster season that could be as bad, or worse, than the preceding three seasons.

For now, however, the evidence points in a different direction. “Geopolitical shocks may unsettle markets, but they rarely act as the primary driver of global downturns,” May concludes. Instead, it is the secondary effects — higher energy prices, tighter financial conditions, and structural economic adjustments — that ultimately shape the trajectory of growth.

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