insert_link Uncategorized US Supreme Court declines to stop nitrogen gas execution in Alabama The US Supreme Court says it will not intervene to halt the execution of a convicted murderer in Alabama who is due to become the first inmate to be put to death with nitrogen gas. Kenneth Smith is due to be executed on Thursday, after an earlier attempt to put him to death was botched in 2022. Our US Correspondent Simon Marks reports. todayJanuary 25, 2024 7
insert_link Environment Conservationists aim to save South America’s super tiny wild cat, the guina Image courtesy of Jerry Laker/Fauna Australis. By Petro Kotzé via MongaBay For more than 200 million years, the ancient Valdivian Temperate Forest in southwestern Chile has been a refuge for plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth. This global biodiversity hotspot is home to monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana), the endangered chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), threatened southern pudu (Pudu puda) — the world’s smallest deer — and two critically endangered species: the […] todayJanuary 23, 2024 38
insert_link Uncategorized Atletico defeat Real Madrid, Barca scrape past third-tier rivals in Copa Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo Riquelme's extra-time strikes earned Atletico Madrid a 4-2 win over rivals Real Madrid and passage to the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on Thursday. Earlier Barcelona secured an unconvincing 3-1 win at third-tier Unionistas de Salamanca to scrape through their last 16 tie. Atletico edged an entertaining battle at the Rojiblancos' Metropolitano stadium, the second of three Madrid derbies in under a month, to inflict Los […] todayJanuary 19, 2024
insert_link Uncategorized Premier League Preview: Mac Allister wants Liverpool to make their mark, Arsenal eye revival Liverpool can strengthen their position on top of the Premier League when they travel to Bournemouth on Sunday. Spluttering Arsenal will hope for a slip from the Reds as they look to get their title challenge back on track against Crystal Palace. At the other end of the table, Brentford's Ivan Toney is expected to return against fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest. Three talking points ahead of this weekend's action: […] todayJanuary 19, 2024 3
insert_link Uncategorized New bill to try to enforce clean drinking water A boy on his way home with a drum filled with water from a private borehole. Behind him are empty reservoirs meant to supply homes in Mazista, Kgetlengrivier Municipality. Archive photo: Steve Kretzmann By By Steve Kretzmann via GroundUp Almost two-thirds of water-supplying municipalities (94 of 144) were failing to provide clean drinking water to residents in 2022. In 61 municipalities water treatment and supply was in “a critical state” according to the […] todayJanuary 18, 2024 7
insert_link Health / Medical Kush: what is this dangerous new west African drug that supposedly contains human bones? DeanP/Shutterstock Michael Cole, Anglia Ruskin University A new drug called kush is wreaking havoc in west Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone where it is estimated to kill around a dozen people each week and hospitalise thousands. The drug, taken mostly by men aged 18 to 25, causes people to fall asleep while walking, to fall over, to bang their heads against hard surfaces and to walk into moving traffic. Kush […] todayJanuary 17, 2024 18
insert_link Uncategorized India bans foreign donations to leading think tank India has blocked foreign funding to a leading think tank, the latest among several foreign charities, rights watchdogs and other civil society groups similarly targeted after commentary critical of government decisions. The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) is one of the country's most highly regarded public policy forums. Its staffers are prominent talking heads and columnists who have been rare dissenting voices in the media on sensitive political issues, […] todayJanuary 17, 2024 8
insert_link Uncategorized Africa’s 10 ‘most open’ countries for travel By Conrad Onyango, via bird story agency In the past eight years, 35 countries have improved their visa policies and, since 2016, five countries have abolished all visa requirements for African travellers. As a result, citizens of at least five countries can now enjoy visa-free travel in 42 different countries, compared to just three in 2020. According to the Africa Development Bank's Africa Visa Openness Report 2023, most countries […] todayJanuary 17, 2024 2
insert_link Uncategorized Colonialism shaped modern universities in Africa – how they can become truly African One of the roles of an African university is to produce critical and democratic thinkers. Vieriu Adrian/Getty Images Saleem Badat, University of the Free State Colonialism profoundly shaped modern universities in Africa. It implanted institutions on African soil that were largely replicas of European universities rather than organically African. For historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe, one problem of universities in Africa “is that they are ‘Westernised”. He describes them […] todayJanuary 16, 2024 6
