Euphoric reopening of countries was ill-timed as it occurred at the Delta variant was beginning to run riot
Your chance of being crushed in bed tonight by a falling satellite is minuscule. It is also non-zero. Ronald Howard, a Stanford engineering professor and founder of a discipline called decision analysis, made a point of noting the latter, the risk of splat. Perhaps best known for studying questions of...
Report: 13.5 million people in Africa projected to fall into poverty by 2050 due to climate change
Up to 13.5 million people across Africa’s Sahel region could fall into poverty due to climate change-related shocks by 2050, according to a new World Bank report. Sahelian countries need $33.16 billion for climate adaptation by 2030, the Country Climate and Development Report for the G5 Sahel region, released September...
Doctors now doubt accuracy of BMI as prime indicator of obesity and healthy living
In 1972, American physiologist Ancel Keys examined several height-weight indices and found that Quetelet’s was the best predictor of the thickness of body fat. He renamed it the body-mass index and proposed that it was a better indicator of healthy body size than were the height-weight tables commonly used at the time.
Revealed: Russia’s Storm-Z fighters is made up of drunkards derided as ‘meats’ deployed in Ukraine
Russian state-controlled media has reported that Storm-Z squads exist, that they took part in intense battles and some of their members received medals for bravery, but it has not disclosed how they are formed, or the losses they take.
Collective punishment: General sanctions are worsening humanitarian crisis in post-coup Niger
The World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that 7.3 million people may be driven from moderate to severe food insecurity as a result of the latest post-coup restrictions, which hit as the country was in its traditional “lean season” between harvests.
Biden’s top National Security Council advisor accused of serious misconduct at NSA and White House
In the first of a series of letters to the inspector general in advance of the 2015 report, Neuberger denied the allegations against her. “I strongly disagree with the tentative conclusions of the OIG inquiry (that I sometimes failed to exercise courtesy and respect in dealing with fellow workers),” she wrote. “I firmly believe that I treated everyone with the respect and courtesy they deserved.”
Ecuadorian cocaine barons exploit poorly policed banana export routes to traffic dugs to Europe
Drug traffickers’ infiltration of the industry that is responsible for about 30% of the world’s bananas has contributed to unprecedented violence across this once-peaceful nation. Shootings, homicides, kidnappings and extortions have become part of daily life, particularly in the Pacific port city and banana-shipping hub of Guayaquil.
Philanthropist Alycia Barnard shares experiences on how Ukraine war opened her eyes to plight of women, children in Africa
To make good her promise for humanitarian support Alycia, through Worldwide Inc, disbursed cucumbers seeds in first week of September to support agriculture in Uganda. “We’re sending 50 packs of [cucumber] seeds to Uganda.” Ordinarily, one packet contains 1,000 seeds – roughly enough to cover two acres of farmland.
Retracing how Zimbabwe’s president nicknamed The Crocodile ‘won’ an election he’d already stolen
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), capitalised on that discontent. In the run-up to the elections, it made the cost of living crisis a central plank in its campaign, blaming the ruling ZANU-PF – in power for more than four decades – for running down a once-thriving, agriculture-driven economy.
Amhara insurgency tests Ethiopian government’s mettle even before embers of Tigray rebellion die
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had set his sights on welcoming back foreign investors and kickstarting the economy. Instead, earlier this month, he found himself putting down yet another regional rebellion. Across Amhara, the Fano – a historical term in Amhara for “freedom fighter” – ambushed federal military units and took control of government buildings as civilian protesters blocked roads and hurled rocks.
