By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor, The Conversation
This is the text from The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up here to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.
The five-day deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz handed to Iran by Donald Trump on Monday expires some time tomorrow and the Islamic Republic needs to “get serious before it is too late” – or so the US president has announced on his TruthSocial platform.
You’ll recall that…
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By Quynh Hoang, Lecturer in Marketing and Consumption, Department of Marketing and Strategy, University of Leicester
A Los Angeles jury has delivered a landmark verdict: Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design and operation of their platforms, causing a young woman known in court documents as Kaley, or KGM, to become addicted to social media.
The tech giants must now pay her a total of US$6 million in damages – $3 million compensatory and $3 million punitive.
She claimed the platforms’ design features got her addicted to the technology and…
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By Murat Ungor, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Otago
As prices surge, the Middle East crisis highlights New Zealand’s exposure to global oil – and the need to accelerate more resilient alternatives.
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By Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark
Trumpism isn’t dead, as the roaring MAGA-merched crowds at CPAC make clear. But Trump is struggling through a political winter that could signal the early stages of his MAGA movement’s decline.
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By Amnesty International
Reacting to the news that the family and lawyer of Nikita Zhuravel, who was sentenced in 2024 to 14 years’ imprisonment for “high treason”, “insulting religious feelings” and “hooliganism committed with religious hatred,” have raised concerns about his disappearance while being transferred to a penal colony, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia […] The post Russia: Authorities must immediately disclose Nikita Zhuravel’s whereabouts appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A protest against the transgender rights bill passed in Parliament, in Mumbai, India, March 25, 2026. © 2026 AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool India’s parliament passed a bill this week that changes how transgender people are legally recognized and removes their right to self-identification. If the bill becomes law, it will be a major reversal of the hard-won rights of transgender people in India.“These politicians are making laws for us when they don’t even have basic concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality,” said Akkai Padmashali, a trans rights activist. “This new bill…
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By Guest Contributor
What we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign by Herder terrorists and bandits, which ... is worsening every year.
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By Sadaf Mehrabi, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University
Lauren Keira Marie Smith, Postdoctoral Fellow, Environment & Sustainability, Royal Roads University
Every March, the United Nations marks World Water Day to raise awareness about water scarcity and inequality. This year’s theme — water and gender — focuses on how women and girls often face the brunt of water inequities.
Highlighting how unequal access to water impacts women and girls is essential, but even when issues of leadership and participation are acknowledged, the dominant narrative remains incomplete.
Gender inequity is still framed primarily as a problem of access and representation. It’s…
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By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation
Scott Pace, the head of the National Space Council during the first Trump administration, talks to The Conversation Weekly podcast about the launch of Artemis II crewed mission round the Moon.
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By Rodwell Makombe, Professor of English Literary and Cultural Studies, North-West University
South-African born writer and world literature scholar Elleke Boehmer’s sixth novel, Ice Shock, is a breathtaking story about two lovers who, soon after they meet, find themselves separated to pursue different career choices in different parts of the world.
Niall Lawrence spends 14 months at a polar institute in Antarctica while Leah Nash pursues a writing career in London. This relationship,…
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