Public debt to grow by nine per cent of gross domestic product worldwide
Global government spending to combat Covid-19 and its economic fallout – $11.7 trillion just in the first six months of the pandemic according to the International Monetary Fund – means public debt will grow by nine per cent of gross domestic product on average this year worldwide. In the United...
Lockdown: Fewer cars on roads, but number of fatal accidents spikes
Although there are fewer cars on America’s roads since the pandemic began, the number of fatal car crashes has increased. Early nationwide data support this counterintuitive finding: Even as daily trips from households fell significantly, preliminary data show that 28,190 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes during the first...
China’s five-year plan focuses on scientific self-reliance
Scientific and technological self-reliance takes centre stage in China’s latest five-year plan — a result of recent tensions with the United States and other Western nations spilling over into the realm of science, say researchers. The 14th five-year plan, which sets out China’s vision for social and economic development over...
Kenya: US copyright law, fake Gmail accounts used to censor gambling story
On February 4, Emmanuel Dogbevi turned to Twitter with a plea for help. He tagged press freedom groups and colleagues in a series of tweets, lamenting how allegations that he violated US copyright law had prompted his news website to be taken offline. Dogbevi told CPJ via phone that Ghana...
Press Freedom: Sixty-five journalists killed last year in the line of duty
The number of journalists killed last year in the line of duty rose by 17 to stand at 65 compared to 2019’s 49, bringing further to the fore questions about the safety of media professionals as well as the right of the public to access information, and Press Freedom. The...
Despair: Some African countries can’t afford shots outside the Covax system
Most African countries are almost entirely reliant on Covax – the initiative backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the vaccine alliance Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations that offers vaccines cheaply to developing countries. Covax began distributing vaccines to countries such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast...
Africa holds key to keeping the world free from a pandemic that’s on the rise
As the rest of the world prepares for a vaccine-driven return to normal over the next few months, at her community health centre in a poor, working class neighbourhood of Cape Town, Andrea Mendelsohn is dreading the arrival of April and May – that’s when the weather will get cooler...
Scientists celebrate Perseverance Rover’s daring touchdown into Mars’ Jezero Crater
Humanity has just been given a front-row seat to a Mars landing, thanks to a high-resolution, full-colour video that NASA released of its Perseverance Rover descending into Jezero Crater on 18 February. The video shows the drama of the spacecraft’s final descent, from the 21.5-metre-wide parachute billowing overhead to slow...
Big Tech: A trade union is a strong counterweight for workers who want to speak up
Seeta Gangadharan, the cofounder of Our Data Bodies and a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has proposed that tech workers need to be taught how to be whistle-blowers. Ms Gangadharan envisions summer schools for computer science graduates that would arm them with the resources for...
US health agency will invest $1 billion in ‘long Covid’ research
The United States has announced that it will spend big on research into ‘long Covid’ – the long-lasting health effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The funding comes as the scientific community is just starting to recognise the impact of the condition and unravel why it occurs. On 23 February, the...
