Contributed, Author at Future Media News

Migrating animals face collapsing numbers – major new UN report

By Joseph Ogutu, University of Hohenheim The world’s travelling animals – marine turtles, whales, sharks, elephants, reptiles, wild cats, birds, and even insects – have entered a period of sharp decline, new research has found. The first ever State of the World’s Migratory Species report, released today by the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, showed that the conservation status of […]

13 February, 2024

Africa

The San people of southern Africa: where ethics codes for researching indigenous people could fail them

By Stasja Koot, Wageningen University There is a long and often complicated history of researchers studying Indigenous people. In 1999, the education scholar Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, in her book Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, emphasised the colonial character of much research. She warned that it brings with it a new wave of exploration, discovery, exploitation and appropriation. Well into the 20th century, researchers depicted groups like the […]

13 February, 2024

Lifestyle

University rankings are unscientific and bad for education: experts point out the flaws

By Sharon Fonn, University of the Witwatersrand We rank almost everything. The top 10 restaurants in our vicinity, the best cities to visit, the best movies to watch. To understand whether the rankings were any good you’d want know who was doing the ranking. And what it was they were looking for. These are exactly the same questions that are worth asking when looking at the international ranking […]

13 February, 2024

Africa

Kenya’s sex workers have solutions to their problems, but international NGOs aren’t hearing them

By Lise Woensdregt, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam In Kenya, rights organisations run by sex workers have gone into numerous partnerships with international organisations over the past decade. In recent research, I set out to understand whether these relationships worked in favour of the sex workers and their organisations. My research focused on an organisation in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, that supports male sex workers. Kenya’s laws punish activities related to […]

13 February, 2024

Entertainment

100 years of radio in Africa: from propaganda to people’s power

By Sisanda Nkoala, University of the Western Cape; Christina Chan-Meetoo, University of Mauritius; Jacinta Mwende Maweu, University of Nairobi; Marissa J. Moorman, Indiana University; Modestus Fosu, Ghana Institute of Journalism, and Stanley Tsarwe, University of Namibia Radio is thriving across Africa. Exact figures are difficult to come by because audience research differs across countries. But studies estimate radio listenership to be between 60% and 80% of the continent’s […]

13 February, 2024

Africa

Black rhinos moved to Kenya’s Loisaba Conservancy as species recovers

A black rhino in Loisaba Conservancy. Image courtesy of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. By Graeme Green via Mongabay Twenty-one critically endangered black rhinos have been safely delivered to Loisaba Conservancy in northern Kenya from other parts of the country, part of a wider mission to secure the long-term future of the species in Kenya. “It’s been a massive operation,” says Tom Silvester, CEO of Loisaba Conservancy, who oversaw the […]

13 February, 2024

Health / Medical

GoFundMe Has Become a Health Care Utility

In its early years, GoFundMe funded honeymoon trips, graduation gifts, and church missions to overseas hospitals in need. Now it has become a go-to platform for patients trying to escape medical billing nightmares. (ERIC HARKLEROAD/KFF HEALTH NEWS) By Elisabeth Rosenthal via KFF Health News GoFundMe started as a crowdfunding site for underwriting “ideas and dreams,” and, as GoFundMe’s co-founders, Andrew Ballester and Brad Damphousse, once put it, “for life’s important moments.” […]

13 February, 2024

World

Senegalese urged to turn out to oppose presidential election delay

By Alice CHANCELLOR and Soule DIA Dakar, Feb 9, 2024 (AFP) - Senegalese were urged on Friday to turn out and show their opposition to a last-minute delay of presidential polls, in a test of the balance of power between President Macky Sall and opponents. On Monday parliament backed Sall's sudden decision to postpone the February 25 election by 10 months, sparking a fierce opposition backlash and international concern. […]

9 February, 2024

Namibia

Namibia International Energy Conference taking place in April

The Namibia International Energy Conference (NIEC) is scheduled to take place in Windhoek from 23 to 25 April 2024. It is expected to unite government officials, private companies, investors, and thought leaders from across the globe to unlock the full potential of Namibia’s energy industry, a statement issued by BopheleCommunications said. The conference will take place under the patronage of Minister of Mines and Energy Tom Alweendo and […]

9 February, 2024