Health / Medical Almost 50% of adult South Africans are overweight or obese. Poverty and poor nutrition are largely to blame By Thokozani Simelane, Human Sciences Research Council Malnutrition, in all its forms, includes undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight and obesity. South Africa has undergone a nutritional transition over the past 30 years characterised by the triple burden of malnutrition: households are simultaneously experiencing undernutrition, hidden hunger, and overweight or obesity due to nutrient-poor diets. Results of the first in-depth, nationwide study into food […] today18 March, 2024
insert_link Africa Undersea cables for Africa’s internet retrace history and leave digital gaps as they connect continents By Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah, University of Cape Town Large parts of west and central Africa, as well as some countries in the south of the continent, were left without internet services on 14 March because of failures on four of the fibre optic cables that run below the world’s oceans. Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso and South Africa were among the worst affected. By midday […] today18 March, 2024
insert_link World How conspiracy theories help to maintain Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in Russia By Gemma Ware, The Conversation As Russians head to the polls on March 15 for the presidential election, conspiracy theories are swirling everywhere. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to a disinformation expert about the central role these theories play in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. As soon as the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny in a Siberian penal colony was announced in February, […] today15 March, 2024
insert_link Environment Sewage leaks put South Africa’s freshwater at risk: how citizen scientists are helping clean up By Jim Taylor, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Mark Graham, University of KwaZulu-Natal Across South Africa, sewage systems are leaking and contaminating the country’s freshwater. Involving the affected communities can help prevent this pollution hazard, as a group of 15 citizen scientists in KwaZulu-Natal province have shown. Their community water monitoring programme, working with municipal authorities, has managed to prevent raw sewage from flooding into rivers. The young, unemployed […] today15 March, 2024
insert_link World UNRWA’s Money Woes May Be Easing as Some Donors Return, but US Is Unlikely Numerous donors are returning to fund UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works agency for Palestinians, reacting to preliminary results from a UN probe into Israeli accusations that agency staff participated in the Oct. 7 massacre. But it appears the United States will not be directing contributions to the organization this year. UNRWA is the main operation delivering food to Gaza, above. UNRWA/INSTAGRAM After weeks of deepening financial straits amid […] today15 March, 2024
insert_link Africa Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger hint at a new west African currency: what it’ll take for it to succeed By Thierno Thioune, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar On 11 February 2024, the head of Niger’s ruling military junta, General Abdourahmane Tiani, spoke of the possible creation of a common currency with Burkina Faso and Mali. “The currency is a first step toward breaking free from the legacy of colonisation,” he said on national TV, referring to the CFA franc inherited from French colonisation. Burkina Faso, […] today15 March, 2024
insert_link Africa Inflation in Nigeria is still climbing while it has slowed globally: here’s why By Stephen Onyeiwu, Allegheny College Just as Nigerians were gradually digging out from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were hit by high inflation. The Nigerian economy contracted by 6.1% at the peak of COVID in the second quarter of 2020. Unemployment rate rose from 27% in the second quarter of 2020 to 33% in the fourth quarter of the same year. The World Bank estimated […] today14 March, 2024
insert_link World Russian elections: despite fixing the opposition, Vladimir Putin wants lots of people to vote for him By Natasha Lindstaedt, University of Essex Russians head to the polls this week in a presidential election that will almost certainly result in Vladimir Putin decisively winning yet another six-year term. When he does, it will make him the longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin. Advance polling indicates he will earn 75% of the vote and face little or no meaningful opposition. His three main opponents are each […] today14 March, 2024
insert_link Science & Technology Should governments ban TikTok? Can they? A cybersecurity expert explains the risks the app poses and the challenges to blocking it Is a wildly popular social media app a threat to U.S. citizens? AP Photo/Michael Dwyer By Doug Jacobson, Iowa State University The U.S. House of Representatives voted 352-65 on March 13, 2024, to require TikTok’s parent company, China-based ByteDance, to sell the app or face a nationwide ban on TikTok. President Joe Biden said on March 8 that he would sign the legislation if it reached his […] today14 March, 2024