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‘Every Breath You Take’: Air Pollution Stifles Europe’s Health Targets 

Pollution rises from the BASF chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP)
Pollution rises from the BASF chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP)
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‘Every Breath You Take’: Air Pollution Stifles Europe’s Health Targets 

Pollution rises from the BASF chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP)
Pollution rises from the BASF chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP)

Air quality in Europe is improving but still poses high risks, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Thursday, as fine particles exposure led to at least 238,000 premature deaths in the 27-nation EU in 2020.  

"Air pollution is still the largest environmental health risk in Europe," the EEA said. "While emissions of key air pollutants and their concentrations in ambient air have fallen significantly over the past two decades in Europe, air quality remains poor in many areas."  

Between 2005 and 2020, the number of early deaths from exposure to fine particulate matter fell by 45% in the European Union, in line with the bloc's zero pollution action plan target of a 55% cut in premature deaths by 2030.  

However, 96% of the EU's urban population was still exposed in 2020 to concentrations of fine particles that were above the World Health Organization's guideline level of 5 micrograms per cubic meter.  

Air pollution aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, with heart disease and stroke cited as the most common causes of related early deaths.  

"Further efforts will be needed to meet the zero pollution vision for 2050 of reducing air pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health," the EEA said.  

The European Commission proposed in October to set stricter thresholds for air pollution but also to enhance the right of citizens to clean air. This could include provisions to claim compensation for health damage in case of quality standards breaches.  

But air pollution does not only damage health.  

According to the EEA, 59% of forested areas were exposed to harmful ground-level ozone in the European Economic Area, damaging vegetation and reducing biodiversity.  

In 2020, critical levels of nitrogen deposition were found in 75% of the ecosystem of the 27 member states. This represents a fall of 12% since 2005, against the EU objective for a 25% decline by 2030. 

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Varieties

Two Holy Mosques Exhibition Welcomes Visitors for Founding Day Celebrations

The exhibition is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m - SPA
The exhibition is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m - SPA
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Two Holy Mosques Exhibition Welcomes Visitors for Founding Day Celebrations

The exhibition is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m - SPA
The exhibition is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m - SPA

In celebration of the Kingdom’s Founding Day, the Exhibition of the Two Holy Mosques Architecture in Makkah is welcoming visitors to explore a comprehensive historical journey.

The exhibition presents the evolution of the Two Holy Mosques through rare artifacts, historical photographs, and documentation of successive Saudi expansions, according to SPA.

The halls highlight the Kingdom’s long-standing dedication to serving the Two Holy Mosques. They combine heritage and modern technology to present the architectural development of Islam’s holiest sites.

The exhibition is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.

Varieties

Photos Show Filming of Ramadan TV Drama Series on the War-scarred Streets of Syria's Aleppo

Extras stand by as a television crew films an episode of the TV series “Al-Souriyoun al-Aada” (“The Syrian Enemies”), based on a novel of the same name that was banned under Bashar Assad, along a transformed street in central Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Extras stand by as a television crew films an episode of the TV series “Al-Souriyoun al-Aada” (“The Syrian Enemies”), based on a novel of the same name that was banned under Bashar Assad, along a transformed street in central Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
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Photos Show Filming of Ramadan TV Drama Series on the War-scarred Streets of Syria's Aleppo

Extras stand by as a television crew films an episode of the TV series “Al-Souriyoun al-Aada” (“The Syrian Enemies”), based on a novel of the same name that was banned under Bashar Assad, along a transformed street in central Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Extras stand by as a television crew films an episode of the TV series “Al-Souriyoun al-Aada” (“The Syrian Enemies”), based on a novel of the same name that was banned under Bashar Assad, along a transformed street in central Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Ramadan in the Arab world is a month of fasting and prayer by day — and television by night. For decades, families have gathered after the iftar, the evening meal that breaks the daytime fast, to follow the season’s highly anticipated drama series, produced specially to air during the Islamic holy month.

In the week before Ramadan, a television crew in central Aleppo was busy preparing one of those productions, with a battered street in the historic city transformed into a scene from decades past.

Lamees Al-Ali, an extra in the series, poses for a photograph during the filming of an episode of the TV series “Al-Souriyoun al-Aada” (“The Syrian Enemies”), based on a novel of the same name that was banned under Bashar Assad, along a transformed street in central Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Classic 1970s cars lined the curb. A horse-drawn cart rolled through the frame. A vendor in a red tarboush, a brimless cone-shaped hat, stood beside steaming pots of sahlep — a sweet, thickened milk drink flavored with spices and associated with winter evenings.

Just outside the camera’s view stood a stark reminder of Syria's more recent history. Collapsed buildings and damaged facades testified to Aleppo’s role as a major battleground during the country's civil war. However, with costumes, props and careful framing, the production temporarily carried the street back to what it portrays as a more innocent era, according to The AP news.

A television crew films an episode of the TV series “Al-Souriyoun al-Aada” (“The Syrian Enemies”), based on a novel of the same name that was banned under Bashar Assad, along a transformed street in central Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

The series being filmed — “Al-Souriyoun al-Aada,” or “The Syrian Enemies” — is based on a novel that was banned during the rule of former President Bashar Assad. The story examines painful chapters of Syria’s past, including the 1982 events in Hama, when government forces crushed an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing or disappearing an estimated 10,000 to 40,000 people and leaving the city in ruins.

As filming continues into Ramadan, the production reflects both a cherished seasonal tradition and Syria’s complex, layered history.

Varieties

How Bomb Cyclones Form and Create Dangerous Conditions 

A man works in a snowstorm, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in New York. (AP)
A man works in a snowstorm, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in New York. (AP)
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How Bomb Cyclones Form and Create Dangerous Conditions 

A man works in a snowstorm, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in New York. (AP)
A man works in a snowstorm, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in New York. (AP)

When turbulent weather with whipping winds and heavy snow is in the forecast, meteorologists sometimes warn that a storm could “bomb out” or become a bomb cyclone. But what exactly does this mean?

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, certain storms undergo bombogenesis, which happens when a storm’s central pressure drops at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. These storms are sometimes called bomb cyclones. Storm intensity is measured by central pressure, so the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

Such rapidly strengthening storms are capable of producing heavy rain, blizzard conditions and intense winds that can create dangerous conditions such as downed trees and power outages.

“If you’re watching TV at night and the weather report comes on and you’re hearing ‘bomb cyclone’ being used, that usually means there’s quite a bit of active weather going on,” said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

Bomb cyclones can happen in any season, but mainly occur during fall and winter when frigid air from the Arctic can creep south and clash with warmer air masses.

“It’s really the clash of those air masses that really kind of helps to generate the areas of low pressure in the first place,” said Orrison.

Regions in North America that are prone to seeing bomb cyclones include Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes region.