Thursday, October 2nd 2025
When the gates of Syria’s notorious Sednaya prison opened soon after the fall of the Assad regime last December, graffiti scrawled on the walls offered a frightening glimpse into what was widely known as the “human slaughterhouse”. “First day, severe beating,” one prisoner wrote.
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Thursday, October 2nd 2025
UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday warned that civilians in Sudan’s El Fasher face the imminent risk of large-scale atrocities, as fighting intensifies around the regional capital of North Darfur, besieged for more than 500 days by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.
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By Jaco Greeff, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria
Television nature programmes and scientific papers tend to celebrate the perfection of evolved traits. But the father of evolution through natural selection, Charles Darwin, warned that evolution would produce quirks and “blunders” that reflect a lineage’s history.
Our recent study from the Kruger National Park in South Africa shows how true…
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By Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria
All that’s left of a famous settlement called the Old Location in Windhoek, Namibia, is a graveyard and a monument to remember the residents who were killed while protesting their forced removal in 1959.
But a new open source book documents how the spirit and culture that drove resistance are kept alive by those who lived there.
After the Old Location massacre the national liberation movement Swapo…
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By Jonas Cromwell, Lecturer in Food Security in the School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds
Tanzania’s avocado boom wastes 30%-50% of produce, hitting smallholder farmers hardest. Better training, fair prices, quality standards and storage can cut losses.
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By Brooks Marmon, Post-doctoral Scholar, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, The Ohio State University
Edson Sithole was born in what was then Southern Rhodesia in 1935. He was the first black person in southern Africa to obtain a Doctor of Laws degree. He was the second black person in the country (which became Zimbabwe in 1980) to qualify as a lawyer, and co-founded Rhodesia’s African Bar Association in 1973.
Sithole was an anti-colonial nationalist. He was “disappeared” alongside his secretary, Miriam Mhlanga, in downtown Salisbury (present-day Harare) 50…
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By Timothy R. Holbrook, Professor of Law, University of Denver
The constitutionality of a Colorado law that bans so-called “conversion therapy” is scheduled to go before the Supreme Court on Oct. 7, 2025. The question at the center of the case, Chiles v. Salazar, is whether a therapist who uses talk therapy to try to convince minors to change their sexual orientation or gender identity is protected by a First Amendment right to free speech.
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By Morgan Marietta, Professor of American Civics, University of Tennessee
With partisan advantage, clashing perceptions of reality and revolutionary readings of the Constitution all in play, the Supreme Court’s cases this year reach far into American politics and culture.
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By Christina Faraday, Research Fellow in History of Art, University of Cambridge
A new book examines art made for the royal court and increasing numbers of ‘middling’ professionals, who embraced art and material objects to mark their new-found status in society.
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By Dipa Kamdar, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University
Digestive discomfort – whether it’s bloating after a heavy meal or the occasional bout of indigestion – can make anyone miserable.
While modern medicine offers effective treatments, there’s renewed interest in natural ways to support gut health. For centuries, herbs and spices have been used in traditional medicine for their digestive benefits, and modern science is beginning to back up some of these age-old remedies.
These five herbs and spices have been linked to better digestion. Here’s…
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