Putin and Xi: Beijing Belt and Road meeting highlighted Russia’s role as China’s junior partner: The third Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing recently attracted fewer heads of state or senior officials than the previous forums in 2017 and 2019. There were 11 European presidents and prime ministers at the 2019 forum. But last …
COVID has highlighted the connection between spirituality and vaccine scepticism: In the two and a half years since the first COVID vaccines were administered, anti-vaccination sentiment has grown exponentially. Scepticism about vaccines has been voiced, in particular, in religious communities across the world, from South Korea and New Zealand to South Africa, the UK and …
How the 2022 World Cup has highlighted the complexities of corporate activism: Mix and Match Studio/Shutterstock Nations and players, and even a number of French cities have criticised Fifa’s decision to award the 2022 men’s football World Cup hosting duties to Qatar. But when a company does the same, it can run the risk of …
How lockdown highlighted educational inequality in Ireland – new research: Ostanina Anna/Shutterstock Children in Ireland experienced one of the longest school closures among rich countries during the first wave of the pandemic. School children lost 141 days of face-to-face instruction during the 2019-2020 academic year. I and other researchers have been tracking the impact of …
How coronavirus has highlighted the need for better rural transport: Joe Dunckley/Shutterstock We are now approaching a full year of living with COVID-19 and the restrictive conditions of lockdown. Its impact on travel networks, particularly public transport, has prompted plenty of discussion, but much of the emphasis has been on cities, with less attention given …
South Africa in the news: Uncertainty surrounding resource programmes highlighted: With South Africa needing to ramp up its potential power supply in the medium and long terms, engineering and design firm WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff Africa comments that the biggest challenge impeding ramp-up of power generation and electrification from …: “South Africa” – BingNews Boks attacking fluency …