Sure, he’s not perfect, but on libraries, childcare and potholes, he’s getting the job done. Why can’t more politicians give a damn?

Some people buy a motorbike when they have a midlife crisis. Others take up a hobby like pottery. I, meanwhile, have channelled all my perimenopausal rage and existential angst into regularly calling government officials in Philadelphia and complaining about the city’s trash problem. Sometimes I also offer helpful suggestions as to how they can improve things, but these never seem well received. However, the last time I called the mayor’s office the woman who picked up did say: “You’ve called here before, haven’t you?” Which led me to believe that 1) not many people with English accents are calling the Philadelphia mayor’s office to offer unsolicited advice on urban sanitation; and 2) I should probably seek help with my trash obsession.

Since I seem to be airing all my unresolved psychological issues, I should probably add that I have recently diagnosed myself with a condition called Mamdani Mayoral Envy (MME). Depending on your location, you may suffer from it too. Symptoms include reading about New York and wondering why your city can’t be led by someone who actually seems to give a damn the way Zohran Mamdani does.

A rare strain, conflict and aid cuts make this outbreak more dangerous than ever. In the interconnected world we live in, the west can’t afford to turn away

• Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

At the weekend the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a “public health emergency of international concern”. This designation is the highest alarm level the WHO has to notify its member states about a health crisis that is considered extraordinary, has multi-country risk and requires a coordinated international response. Usually, the director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, would convene a meeting of international health experts to discuss whether an outbreak meets the legal criteria, but for the first time in the agency’s history, he went ahead and declared it after consulting the governments of the DRC and Uganda, and analysing the data presented.

So what is happening now and why are health experts so concerned? We recently learned that there are several hundred suspected cases and 131 suspected deaths from Ebola in the eastern part of the DRC and possibly neighbouring Uganda. Ebola is one of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases, with symptoms progressing from fever and vomiting to internal bleeding and organ failure.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, and the author of How Not to Die (Too Soon)

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

50eme Festival du Film, Cannes 97

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Al jaren loopt Nederland achter op de rest van Europa wat de spelregels rondom lobbyen betreft. Een ‘lobbyregister’ moet nu een inhaalslag bewerkstelligen. „Wat ik bizar vind van onze democratie, is dat alles tot in de puntjes is geregeld, behalve het lobbyen.”

TILBURG (ANP) - Bij een actie in Brabant waaraan bijna tweehonderd agenten meewerkten zijn dinsdagochtend negen aanhoudingen verricht, meldt de politie. De personen worden verdacht van het overtreden van de Opiumwet en zijn tussen de 21 en 29 jaar oud. Ze zijn aangehouden bij invallen in panden in de Brabantse plaatsen Tilburg en Oisterwijk.

De politie heeft de binnengevallen panden doorzocht op spullen die mogelijk als bewijsmateriaal kunnen dienen. Daarbij zijn meerdere goederen in beslag genomen, aldus de politie. Op beelden van Omroep Brabant is te zien dat agenten een kastje meenemen. De omroep schrijft ook dat er auto's in beslag zijn genomen. Een politiewoordvoerder wil dat niet bevestigen.

De woordvoerder wil niet zeggen op welke manier de aangehouden personen de Opiumwet zouden hebben overtreden en ook over hun geslacht wil zij niets bekendmaken.