By Guest Contributor
In a patch of green on Damascus's edge, volunteers and farmers are bringing back the local seeds that war and climate crisis nearly erased.
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By Amarnath Amarasingam, Associate professor, school of religion, Queen's University, Ontario
The mass shooting at an Islamic centre in San Diego is the latest in a self-replicating network of far-right violence in which each attack is designed to inspire the next.
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By Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Adjunct Professor, IE School of Humanities, IE University; California State University San Marcos
On Monday, May 18, two assailants, a 17 and an 18 year old, attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego, the site of both a mosque and school, killing three adults. The assailants were wearing Nazi SS insignia, and had the words “race war” written on their weapons.
The attack underscores European history’s centrality to the global far right’s discourse and ideology. It was the latest deadly manifestation of the weaponisation of European history to justify violence…
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By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University
In this extract from his newly published essay collection, the author traces the imperial British origins of a quintessential Kiwi chore.
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By Amnesty International
In the occupied Gaza Strip, Palestinian healthcare workers have been facing unprecedented dangers, with many detained under conditions that violate international humanitarian law. Amnesty International continues to document these systemic abuses, including Israel’s widespread use of torture and other ill-treatment against Palestinian detainees, while demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained. […] The post ‘My only “crime” was being a doctor’: Dr. Ahmad Mhanna on his 22 months in Israeli detention appeared first on Amnesty International.…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A family collects water lilies from Boeung Tamok lake to sell at the market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, January 14, 2025. © 2025 Heng Sinith/AP Photo There is growing recognition that current economic metrics fail to capture much of what really matters. Gross domestic product (GDP), which measures total economic activity and is a cornerstone of economic decision-making, is blind to issues such as whether children have quality public schools, people have access to health care, or government institutions are accountable to the public they serve. When economic decision-making…
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By Lorenzo Feltrin, Postdoctoral research fellow, Ca' Foscari University of Venice; Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)
A labour and political ecology expert looks back at imperialistic logic and how chemical fertilisers have repeatedly served as strategic objectives and weapons, particularly in wartime.
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By Herkulaas MvE Combrink, Senior lecturer/ Co-Director, University of the Free State
Phelokazi Mkungeka, PhD candidate in Development Studies, University of the Free State
Misleading information online is often treated as a technical glitch, something that better algorithms or stricter moderation can fix. But research points to a more complex reality. That is, the rise of “misfluencers”, individuals who shape how information is interpreted, shared and trusted across digital platforms.
Whether acting deliberately or not, they tap into emotion, identity and community to amplify misleading claims in ways that feel credible and relatable. This human…
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By Catriona Macleod, Professor of Psychology, Rhodes University
Godfrey Kangaude, Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles
Nicola Jearey-Graham, Senior Researcher, Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction, Rhodes University
A series of conferences held in Entebbe, Uganda, between 2023 and 2025 have resulted in a draft African Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values. The meetings were organised by the Inter-parliamentary Network on African Sovereignty and Values, which organises continental conferences for African legislators and…
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By Abeer Elshater, Professor of Urban Morphology, Ain Shams University
Hisham Abusaada, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, Housing and Building National Research Center
Generative AI (GenAI) is a type of artificial intelligence that creates new content – like text, images, or ideas – by learning patterns from existing data. GenAI, particularly through large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek, is rapidly becoming part of everyday urban design research and practice.
The models can summarise literature in seconds, generate policy scenarios, and help draft complex narratives.
For urban designers and researchers working under pressure,…
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