Can you trust climate information? How and why powerful players are misleading the public: Ten years ago, the world committed itself to keeping global warming well below 2°C (and preferably below 1.5°C) above the pre-industrial era. This would be done by reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2030 and ending all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions …
How seaweed is a powerful, yet surprising, climate solution: Picture a place at the centre of a global seaweed revolution. I’ll bet the small English seaside town of Paignton in south Devon is not what comes to mind. A decade ago, I moved from the edge of Dartmoor to the coast. It was about a …
Turkey is an incredibly powerful broker in the current world crisis, and a masterful negotiator: A Turkish military ship in the Bosphorus. Atakan Divitlioglu/Shutterstock While Turkey’s government is struggling to deal with mass protests at home (after Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was imprisoned), in foreign affairs it is in an increasingly strong position as a …
Kenya abductions: the powerful legal shields citizens and courts can use – expert: Kenya’s national human rights commission recorded 82 abductions or enforced disappearances between June and December 2024. Many of the people reported missing after the country’s anti-tax protests later resurfaced, but some have been found dead. Dozens of young Kenyans reported being snatched …
Why distrust in powerful politicians is part of a functioning democracy – podcast: Surveys suggest that in many western democracies, political trust is at rock bottom. Scandals, corruption, faltering economies, conspiracy theories and swirling disinformation are all playing their part. But is it really such a bad thing for people living in a democracy to …
Mozambique’s transgender history is on display in a powerful photo exhibition: A pioneering queer photo exhibition that was staged 20 years ago in Mozambique and South Africa has found new life and a new audience. Manas 2000-2024, by the Danish photographer Ditte Haarløv Johnsen, opened at the French-Mozambican Cultural Centre, in the capital Maputo, on …
Small but mighty, plankton are some of the most powerful creatures on Earth: Choksawatdikorn/Shutterstock If you go to the beach and dip a bucket in the sea, you might at first think it contains lifeless water. But examine that water under a microscope and you will see your bucket contains a universe of microscopic life, …
Making short films is a powerful way to learn job skills: 5 ways it prepares students for work: Making short films can change the way people learn. ASphotowed/iStock/Getty Plus The world of work is changing all the time. Technology is driving innovation and productivity, leading to the creation of new industries and employment opportunities. This …
Black Ghosts: Noo Saro-Wiwa’s new book is a powerful reflection on Africans in China: Noo Saro-Wiwa is a celebrated Nigerian-born travel writer. Her latest book is Black Ghosts. It explores, with candour and compassion, the lives of several African economic migrants living in China, a group of people who are key to trade between the …
AI is already being melded with robotics – one outcome could be powerful new weapons: USAF / Airman 1st Class Isaiah Pedrazzini Interest in the incorporation of robots into security, policing and military operations has been steadily increasing over the last few years. It’s an avenue already being explored in both North America and Europe. …
Trade unions in the UK and US have become more powerful despite political interference and falling memberships: In September 2023, Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to join strikers on a picket line. He told car workers that they “deserve a significant raise and other benefits”. Even more surprisingly perhaps, those same workers …
South Africa’s court system has been abused by powerful people: five ways to stop it: After a battle of about four years to secure the removal of South Africa’s public protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the country’s parliament finally delivered the coup de grace in early September. Parliamentarians voted to impeach her just a month before …
In Iran and beyond, arrests of singers and dancers show how music can be a powerful tool of resistance: Iranian women are prohibited from singing and dancing in public. Yet many are posting videos on social media dancing and singing along to singer Mehdi Yarrahi’s song Roosarito (Your Veil). The wave of videos comes after …
Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s powerful personal journey as a photographer in South Africa: Lindokuhle Sobekwa has been awarded South Africa’s 2023 FNB Art Prize. He becomes the first artist using documentary photography as his primary medium to win the prestigious competition. Born in Katlehong in 1995, Sobekwa began learning photography skills in 2012, through the Of Soul …
Rock Follies review: powerful new musical brings 1970s feminist TV sensation to the stage: Rock Follies was a groundbreaking television series about an all-female rock band that originally aired for two seasons in 1976 and 1977. It wove fantastical, trippy and campy rock-musical numbers together with the often less glamorous realities of show business. The …
Three powerful films about gay marriage to celebrate ten years of the Same-Sex Marriage Act: It’s now ten years since the UK passed the Same-Sex Marriage Act, which made same-sex marriage legal in England and Wales. Since then, there’s been an increase in LGBT+ characters onscreen, especially in television. But in film, this representation often …
Ukraine war: failed African peace mission underscores need for more powerful political and military pressure on Putin: African peace missions to Ukraine and Russia last week came up empty-handed. Led by South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, the delegation included leaders and senior officials from Congo-Brazzaville, Comoros, Egypt, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia. Their plan was based …
Milisuthando: a powerful documentary that will get South Africans talking about identity: A still from the documentary about growing up in South Africa. Milisuthando/Rob Pollock/Francis Burger Milisuthando is a debut feature length documentary film by Milisuthando Bongela. Taking the form of a personal essay, it’s an intimate story about family and ancestors, about “inside apartheid’s …