SOUTH AFRICA CAN’T CRACK THE INEQUALITY CURSE. WHY, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE

  Alexandra township is situated next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton, laying bare post-apartheid South Africa’s vast gulf between wealth and poverty. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Sun 24 September 2023: South Africa is ranked one of the most unequal societies in the world. The Conversation Africa spoke to Imraan Valodia, the Director of the Southern […]

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NATIONALIST, POPULIST, FAR-RIGHT PARTIES EYE RISING SUPPORT ACROSS EUROPE

  Slovakia’s former Prime Minister and leader of Smer party Robert Fico attends the party’s election campaign rally. Sun 24 September 2023: Riding waves of fear and anger emanating from Russia’s war in Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, nationalist, populist and far-right parties are eyeing rising support across Europe. Polls have suggested […]

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KENYANS DON’T TRUST THE COURTS – THE MAIN FACTORS BEHIND THIS TREND

Sat 23 September 2023: The international reputation of the Kenyan judiciary is running high following a raft of judicial reforms brought on by the 2010 constitution. The reforms, displays of judicial independence, and largely positive personal experiences might lead one to expect that public trust in the courts has increased. But among the Kenyan public it has […]

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RUSSELL BRAND ALLEGATIONS ARE LEADING TO RENEWED SCRUTINY OF THE ENDEMIC BULLYING AND HARASSMENT IN THE TV INDUSTRY

Fri 22 September 2023: The presenter, comedian and actor Russell Brand is at the centre of a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches, which has reported allegations of abuse made against him by four women, which include emotional abuse, sexual assault and rape. Brand has denied these allegations, saying his relationships have […]

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CORRUPTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: WOULD PAYING WHISTLEBLOWERS HELP?

  Whistleblower Athol Williams, a former partner at Bain SA, testifies at the State Capture Commission in 2021. Papi Morake/Gallo Images via Getty Images Thu 21 September 2023: Whistleblowing is an important tool in fighting corruption. In South Africa, the commission of inquiry into state capture recommended that the government should provide financial rewards for whistleblowers who report […]

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INDIA’S HINDU CHILDREN ARE BEING RADICALISED – WILL THE COUNTRY SPEAK UP?

Mon 18 September 2023: It’s happening in schools and homes. And while Modi’s BJP might gain, generations of India’s Hindus will lose. A Muslim friend from a town in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh recently called, seeking counsel. His young daughter had told him the previous day that her friends refused to play with […]

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PRESIDENT HASSAN IS THE FACE OF TANZANIA’S REFORM AGENDA. BUT SHE NEEDS TO CARRY THE COUNTRY WITH HER

Sun 17 September 2023: After two years in power, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has consolidated her political base, opened up the media space and increased the number of women in public appointments. But Tanzania is not yet out of the woods. Years of failed accountability created the conditions for the rise of authoritarianism and the worrying absence […]

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AFTER 20 YEARS, DR AAFIA SIDDIQUI ‘WAS A LIVING CORPSE, SHE LOOKED DRAINED AND SCALDED, AND IN SO MUCH PAIN’

Fri 15  September 2023: Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three, Aafia Siddiqui, was abducted from Pakistan in 2003; activists believe she was held by the US in the notorious Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan and tortured because of her alleged links to Al-Qaeda, links her family says she does not have and claims which she says […]

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OPINION: CHINA’S ‘BEAUTIFUL XINJIANG’ CONTINUES TO OPPRESS UIGHURS

Thu 14  September 2023: As Beijing tries to convince the world that the Xinjiang region has moved on, its Uighur residents continue to suffer. During his visit to the Chinese province of Xinjiang on August 26,  Chinese President Xi Jinping asserted that the predominantly Muslim Uighur region is enjoying some “hard-won social stability”, and that it is […]

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