Angola’s ruling party faces united opposition in upcoming poll. But it’s pushing back: President João Lourenço is campaigning for a second term. Gilson Lázaro The election of Angolan President João Lourenço in 2017 raised hopes of a shift from the authoritarian and corrupt era of his predecessor. This was thanks to the new, more open …
Children’s physical activity dropped during COVID lockdowns but didn’t bounce back – new UK research: matimix/Shutterstock During the COVID pandemic, lockdowns and school closures brought about significant changes to children’s opportunities to be active. While the precise rules varied around the world, most countries experienced some level of restrictions for a time. Unsurprisingly, when everything …
Elon Musk could roll back social media moderation – just as we’re learning how it can stop misinformation: The US$ 44 billion (£36 billion) purchase of Twitter by “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk has many people worried. The concern is the site will start moderating content less and spreading misinformation more, especially after his announcement …
Philippines election: how the Marcos clan might be heading back to power: The upcoming election in the Philippines presents the country with a stark choice to set its political course for the next six years. Outgoing authoritarian president Rodrigo Duterte leaves behind a country much damaged by his time in office. Economic decline, a brutal …
How Chad’s involvement in peace missions held back democracy back home: Chadian soldiers benefited from foreign aids and training. Troop contributions to international interventions by authoritarian states pose a puzzle. On the one hand, participation in such interventions indicates support for a liberal-cosmopolitan order that entails the protection of human rights at an international level. …
Africa faces hard knocks as rich countries take manufacturing back home: Getty Images The global economic crisis triggered by the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February this year has intensified the risk of declining trade integration between countries. A process referred to as the deglobalisation of trade. …
National service in Britain: why men who served don’t think we should bring it back: National Service recruits in the RAF. Imperial War Museum / Non Commercial License Ukraine compelling all men aged 18-60 to stay in the country and fight the Russian invasion is a reminder of the reality of military conscription in many …
Most distant star to date spotted – but how much further back in time could we see?: Hubble's view of Earendel. Science: NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI); Image processing: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI) The Hubble Space Telescope has observed the most distant star ever seen – Earendel, meaning morning star. Even …
A history of shopping: how pop-ups, home delivery and fast fashion go back as far as the 1800s – podcast: Image of shoppers at the self-service fresh meat cabinets in a Southampton branch of Sainsbury’s in 1954. Donald S. Herbert/Sainsbury archive, CC BY-NC-ND This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast tells how …
Putin’s Russia: how the ex-KGB strongman has gradually turned the clock back to Soviet repression: Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova faces up to ten years in prison after interrupting a broadcast on popular state-owned Russian TV network Channel One with a sign reading: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you …
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Why we shouldn’t worry about COVID spilling back from animals into human populations: Human physiological uniqueness made possible our colonisation of the world. Since our ancestors emerged from the African savanna tens of thousands of years ago, we’ve migrated and established residence in more or less every region on the planet, regardless of how hot …
The pandemic nearly killed theatre – the creative way it fought back could leave it stronger: When the UK went into lockdown in 2020, its multibillion-pound theatre industry could have ceased to exist. However, the vacuum caused by this physical shutdown served in many cases as a spurring force for increased creativity and resourcefulness. Productions did …
How anarchist architecture could help us build back better after COVID: Spaces built collaboratively, close to nature. Shutterstock/kasyanovart Architecture and anarchy may not seem like the most obvious pairing. But since anarchism emerged as a distinct kind of politics in the second half of the 19th-century, it has inspired countless alternative communities. Christiania in Copenhagen, …
Five life-affirming words we should bring back into use: The Oxford English Dictionary tries to include all words in English (particularly British and American English) from 1200 onwards. dollar gill | unsplash, FAL Lexicographer and TV personality Susie Dent recently embarked on a curious, self-appointed mission. She is determined to bring the word “respair”, last …
How to back your open source project's stack: On GivingTuesday, the Mautic project—an open source marketing automation platform—shared its intention to allocate part of its budget each year to financially support the other open source projects on which it depends, as part of the Back Your Stack initiative. read more: Opensource.com rcheesley Supporting Open Source. …
Plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, hybodonts: looking back at three prehistoric predators of the Jurassic seas: The Liopleurodon was a pliosaur of the Jurassic period. SciePro/Shutterstock The fossilised remains of a gigantic ichthyosaur, colloquially known as a “sea dragon”, were recently uncovered at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve in the UK. Measuring at least ten metres in length …
Why haven’t petrol prices gone back down yet? A new business model might explain why: Petrol prices reflect lots of elements not just crude oil wholesale cost. Tomas K/Shutterstock Across the UK the cost of filling up cars shot up in November when wholesale oil prices rose. But when crude oil prices went down again, …