Rohingya crisis: Outspoken women are abused, intimidated for being educated
A climate of fear has spread across Bangladesh’s sprawling Rohingya camps as militant groups and criminal gangs compete for control, refugees and humanitarians warn. Community leaders and female Rohingya in particular are threatened and intimidated for being educated or outspoken about women’s rights, stretching conservative norms to a level of...
Gold rush: Why even Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter in human history, cannot outpace a house cat
In the past three weeks or so, the fastest sprinters on the planet came together at the Tokyo Olympics to compete for the gold in the 100-metre dash. Lamont Marcell Jacobs crossed the finish line in 9.80 seconds to bring Italy its first gold in the event. In the women’s...
Ethiopian army accused of mass killings, bodies washed downstream Tigray rivers into Sudan
Ethiopia’s nine-month-old war in Tigray is spilling across regional boundaries to new parts of the country, triggering growing fears of starvation and atrocities as fresh reports emerge of another possible massacre. Tigrayan forces have advanced deeper into the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions in recent days, passing through the outskirts...
Biden terms social media public enemies that kill people, subvert democracy and invade privacy
The federal government’s campaign to reform internet platforms dramatically escalated this week. The Surgeon General cited disinformation as a public health menace. The White House press secretary called on Facebook to remove 12 accounts that may be responsible for as much as 65 per cent of the Covid disinformation on...
Caste barriers scientists from ‘Untouchables’ in India’s top universities must confront every day
In the summer of 1976, 26-year-old Raosaheb Kale entered the School of Life Sciences at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, alongside about 34 other incoming doctoral students. At the time, a committee of teachers at the school would review the students’ records and assign each to a PhD supervisor to...
Unplayed Kenyan derby in 100 years turns searchlight on deep-seated rot in country’s football
The graft-infested Federation Kenya Football has worked itself into an intractable strait after its president Nick Mwendwa slapped hefty punishments on the East African nation’s most successful clubs – AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia – for boycotting a league match to protest non-settlement or delayed payment of prize money. Hours...
Media blackout: Burkina Faso official said ‘women request sex because their husbands had been killed’
Some displaced people in Burkina Faso have expressed fear of sexual abuse and exploitation will be further ignored and marginalised after the national government banned journalists from visiting and reporting on situation in displacement camps. Aid workers say the ban, effective from around last October, was stems from reports in...
Is there really a link between obesity and health problems? Question asked more regularly today
Rising obesity rates have set off alarm bells for years. In 2018, 42 per cent of US adults were obese, up from about 30 per cent two decades earlier, and prevalence is climbing rapidly in other countries, as well. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines obesity...
How confusing government messaging landed displaced Burkinabe women into hands of sex predators
Metsi Makhetha, the UN’s highest ranking official in Burkina Faso says the refugee situation in the West African is “getting more complex” and that aid agencies “simply must and will do more” to protect women and girls from sexual exploitation. A senior aid official, whose name is being withheld as...
Scientists discover fungus and bacteria that can ‘eat’ up and break down plastics
Samantha Jenkins was studying a number of types of fungus in a research project for her company, when one of the fungi made a bid for freedom. “Imagine a jar full of grain with a kind of lump of mushroom coming out of the top,” says the lead biotech engineer...
