Coronavirus vaccine hesitancy starting to make ‘herd immunity’ a remote possibility
As Covid-19 vaccination rates pick up around the world, people have reasonably begun to ask: how much longer will this pandemic last? It’s an issue surrounded with uncertainties. But the once-popular idea that enough people will eventually gain immunity to Covid-19 to block most transmission – a ‘herd-immunity threshold’ –...
‘Unregulated efforts that create ‘trade-offs’ harmful to global afforestation’
Ongoing research shows that most deforestation is man-made and that an effective global policy response is needed to address the disappearance of the world’s forests. The main problem is that there are currently too many uncoordinated regulatory processes that are creating trade-offs, conflicts, leakage effects and loopholes resulting in complexity...
Social media: What would happen if users were rewarded for reliability and accuracy?
In 2020 alone, social-media shares, likes and similar interactions with misleading online news doubled to 17 per cent of all engagements. This staggering growth has consequences: polarisation, violent extremism, racism and resistance to climate action and vaccines. Social-media companies have taken some steps to combat misinformation by using warnings and...
When humanity destroys its forests, it cries about ‘big loss’, then cuts down more
Environmental organisations and the civil society have turned the spotlight on lack of effective regulations against wanton destruction of forests, warning that humanity faces serious self-destruction. Speaking at a virtual press conference ahead of the March 21 International Day of Forests 2021 and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030,...
Tales of ‘palace’ rivalry look to dominate Tanzania President Magufuli’s death
East Africa is bracing for the first female president following the death of Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli on Wednesday evening. For two weeks, the fallen president’s health and whereabouts have been the subject of speculation until Wednesday night, when a sombre Vice President Suluhu Samia Hassan appeared on national...
Angola’s $530m power project will grow renewable energy, regional connectivity
Angola will construct a 343km, 400kV central-south power line that will connect the north and south transmission grids in Angola and allow for the distribution of clean energy between the two regions. The project will be completed in 2023. The electricity transmission line will cost $530 million that has been...
Press Freedom bodies push for revisit of Mexican journalist’s assassination
Leading press freedom organisations in Mexican want federal authorities to re-open the case and bring the killers journalist Regina Martinez to justice. The demand follows new findings of an inquest that point to obstruction of justice by local authorities. The report, The Murder of Regina Martínez Pérez: An Opportunity for...
Memoirs: How different would Kenya be today had Mboya not been assassinated?
To Tom Wolf, a pollster who arrived in Kenya as a US Peace Corps Volunteer soon after independence in 1963, the current volatile political atmosphere in Kenya evokes memories of the lead up to the assassination of the astute minister for Economic Planning in founding President Jomo Kenyatta government, Tom...
Academic scientific workers experiencing chronic exhaustion
A year into the coronavirus pandemic, many in the academic scientific workforce are experiencing a state of chronic exhaustion known as burnout. Although it is not a medical condition and can occur in any workplace where there is stress, burnout is recognised by the World Health Organization as a syndrome....
US accuses Morocco of pervasive money laundering, terror financing
Morocco has been placed on a grey list for countries with pervasive money laundering or terrorist financing concerns. The remarkable designation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global intergovernmental money-laundering watchdog, puts Morocco in the same category with Syria, Yemen and Pakistan. Morocco’s FATF designation is a significant...