insert_link Africa Tunisia’s El Kef city is rich in heritage: centuries of cultural mixing give it a distinct identity By Majdi Faleh, Nottingham Trent University; Asma Gharbi, Université de Carthage, and Nourchen Ben Fatma, Université de Carthage El Kef is a city built into the southern face of Jebel Dyr mountain, which is linked to the High Atlas mountains in the north-western region of Tunisia that borders on Algeria. The breeze that sweeps off the mountain and through the city’s streets offers relief from the hot […] todayApril 9, 2024 29
insert_link World Rebuilding Gaza was seen as a ‘Herculean’ task before Oct. 7; six months of bombing has led to crises that will long outlive the war Palestinians look for survivors after a Israeli strike in Gaza on Oct. 31, 2023. AP Photo/Doaa AlBaz Dima Nazzal, Georgia Institute of Technology Over a decade ago, a United Nations report described the Gaza Strip as virtually unlivable, adding that it would require “Herculean efforts” to change that. Today, after six months of bombardment, mass displacement and siege by Israel, the task of rebuilding Gaza seems practically unimaginable. I’m a […] todayApril 9, 2024 21
insert_link World Australia suggests it could recognise Palestinian state Australia on Tuesday became the latest country to advocate formal recognition of a further shattering a long-standing diplomatic taboo in the West. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that recognising a state of Palestine could restart the moribund Middle East peace process and undermine extremist forces in the Middle East. "Recognising a Palestinian state -- one that can only exist side by side with a secure Israel -- doesn't […] todayApril 9, 2024 26
insert_link Africa Children born of rape: the devastating legacy of sexual violence in post-genocide Rwanda By Myriam Denov, McGill University Trigger warning: this article contains accounts of sexual violence. The 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi led to the murder of more than 800,000 people, an estimated 70% of the country’s Tutsi population. The unprecedented violence and mass killings of Tutsi and non-extremist Hutu were carried out over 100 days between April and July 1994. An estimated 250,000–500,000 women and girls were […] todayApril 9, 2024 6
insert_link Africa Rwanda’s genocide could have been prevented: 3 things the international community should have done – expert By Walter Dorn, Royal Military College of Canada As the world marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda, it is important to understand what the international community could have done to prevent it. In one hundred days an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 Rwandans were killed. The Tutsi were targeted primarily due to long-standing ethnic tensions between the Tutsi minority […] todayApril 9, 2024 6
insert_link Africa Africa‘s most populous countries eye private investors to tackle housing challenge By Conrad Onyango, bird story agency A wave of government housing policies is set to change the urban landscape across the continent, in line with a report from the African Development Bank (AfDB). “The public sector is recognizing the link between housing and economic growth, and that not only can good housing contribute to the twin goals of economic growth and poverty alleviation, but that the opposite […] todayApril 9, 2024 14
insert_link World Egyptian Activists Show Solidarity With Gazans, but the Price Can Be Jail By Fatma Khaled Hundreds of Egyptians are pressuring their government to let them form an international civilian convoy to escort lifesaving humanitarian aid into Gaza after six months of deprivation has pushed many to the brink of starvation if not famine. In a related rare challenge to the Egyptian government — a protest in solidarity with Gaza on April 3 by dozens of activists — the regime responded […] todayApril 9, 2024 26
Science & Technology We saw one of the most powerful magnets in the Universe come to life – and our theories can’t quite explain it Artist’s impression of a magnetar. Carl Knox, OzGrav/Swinburne University of Technology Marcus Lower, CSIRO; Gregory Desvignes, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, and Patrick Weltevrede, University of Manchester After a decade of silence, one of the most powerful magnets in the universe suddenly burst back to life in late 2018. The reawakening of this “magnetar”, a city-sized star named XTE J1810-197 born from a supernova explosion, was an incredibly violent […] todayApril 9, 2024 21
insert_link Business / Economics World Bank’s IFC under fire over alleged abuses at Liberian plantation it funded An investigation into the International Finance Corporation’s handling of human rights abuses at a project it financed in Liberia, the Salala Rubber Corporation, is expected to severely incriminate the World Bank’s private lending arm. The World Bank’s Compliance Advisory Ombudsman investigated whether the IFC did enough to address allegations of gender-based violence, land grabbing and unfair compensation by its client, Socfin, between 2008 and 2020. It’s anticipated that […] todayApril 8, 2024 35