Alert: China’s diplomacy in Horn of Africa that’s anchored on firming ruling regimes protects its interest only
At the outset of the conflict in Tigray in November 2020, China worked with the Ethiopian military to evacuate 600 Chinese citizens from the massive Wolkaiyt sugar refinery near the frontlines and a water project near Mekelle run by the Gezhouba Group, one of China’s largest energy state-owned enterprises. In...
China’s parallel peace agenda in Horn of Africa questioned as it lures region toward the Communist Party
The launch of China’s Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa initiative in March 2022 to facilitate a Chinese-led peace process in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa highlights Beijing’s interest in the region that is grappling with humanitarian crises touched climate change and scramble for natural...
Food security: How scientists caught between swapping gasoline for ethanol, protection of grasslands and forests
Tyler Lark, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, grew up among farms, working on a neighbour’s dairy, vaguely aware of the tension between clearing land to grow food and preserving nature. As an engineering student working on water projects in Haiti, he saw an extreme version of that conflict:...
Lead from any chair: While everyone thinks of changing the world, no one thinks of changing himself
The second instalment on ‘human skills’ of remaining six of the 12 tools examines how to make feelings, actions, communications and thinking productive and rewarding in work places. The heuristics below have helped me transform Feelings, Actions, Communication and Thinking (F.A.C.T.) in myself, my colleagues and the thousands of people...
Despite strides made in medicine, age old dilemmas exist about booze as a stimulant or depressant
Alcohol as a depressant that affects the central nervous system, but initially and in small doses, it is also a stimulant. Research has shown that approximately 86 per cent of adults in the United States have consumed alcohol at some time. In 2019, nearly 26 per cent of American adults...
Finally, HIV cure? Bold efforts to treat patients with Crisper gene editing technology offers best prospects snipping killer virus
An experiment to test whether gene-editing technology can stop the HIV from replicating has given the highest hopes that humanity may be on the brink of the cure for virus. The Crisper gene-editing technology has demonstrated that HIV can be wiped out the infection, raising hopes for an HIV cure....
Black Panther: How immortal Jack Leslie was called up to England’s team, then dropped because he was Black
Jack Leslie’s three grand-daughters agreed the man himself might have frowned upon the delightful ceremony outside Home Park in Plymouth. “We lived with Grandad in East Ham,” explained Lesley. “It was our family home with seven of us in the house, a bit packed sometimes but it was a fun,...
How Taliban power grab in Afghanistan ushered in biting economic crises after donors pulled out
Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the country has faced spiralling economic and humanitarian crises. Some three quarters of the government budget was previously funded by international donors, and the loss of aid money – coupled with billions of dollars in assets frozen by foreign powers...
When Afghan women found light in school: ‘If I am killed, let it be in the name of education’
A dark shadow follows the hundreds of thousands of residents who call the West Kabul neighbourhood of Dasht-e Barchi home. Last Friday, on September 30, Barchi made international headlines after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a university testing centre, killing at least 53 students – mostly young women...
Medical scientists weigh possibility of ‘love hormone’ to healing diseased heart muscles
Medical researchers are exploring possibilities of using oxytocin – also known as the love hormone – to regenerate heart muscles. This follows a familiar pattern that shows heart diseases as the leading cause of death worldwide – almost 18.6 million people globally died from cardiovascular disease in 2019. The most...
