By Anwen Elias, Reader in Politics, Aberystwyth University
Wales is going to the polls on May 7 to elect members to the Senedd (Welsh parliament). And the results could bring big change to the country. The polls are suggesting that this election will result in the biggest shake-up to the political landscape since the creation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999.
Labour looks likely to lose significant electoral support, with Plaid Cymru and Reform vying to replace it as the largest party in the Senedd. The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are hoping…
(Full Story)
|
By Irene Appeaning Addo, Associate Professor of African Architecture, University of Ghana
Lloyd G. Adu Amoah, Scholar of Political Science, University of Ghana
Mjiba Frehiwot, Research Fellow-African Studies, University of Ghana
The call to prayer echoes across the neighbourhood as people congregate under the sweeping domes and tall minarets of Ghana’s National Mosque in Accra. For many, it is a place of faith, community and national pride. Yet, few pause to consider that this landmark – now firmly part of Accra’s skyline – was funded and built by Turkey.
This detail points to a bigger story. Some of Ghana’s most important public buildings are shaped by global relationships as much as local needs. And those relationships are not just economic;…
(Full Story)
|
By Thulasizwe Mkhabela, Research Fellow and Ad Hoc Lecturer, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Thousands of hectares of communal land set aside for smallholder farmers’ use in South Africa are lying fallow because of collapsed government irrigation systems.
(Full Story)
|
By Olayinka Ajala, Associate professor in Politics and International Relations, Leeds Beckett University
Darrin Patrick McDonald, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Leeds Beckett University
The precarious security situation in Mali took a turn for the worse in late April 2026. Well coordinated attacks targeted several cities and claimed the lives of the defence minister, Sadio Camara, and several Malian soldiers.
The events are a culmination of increased attacks over the past few years on the military and state institutions in Mali.
We have been…
(Full Story)
|
By Sam Jones, Senior Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations University
Economic conditions for ordinary Mozambicans are deteriorating. Poverty has risen, public services are unreliable and there are few decent job opportunities.
(Full Story)
|
By Heather Ellis, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, School of Education, University of Sheffield
The UK government has launched its first review of school food standards in over a decade, alongside plans to extend free school meals to an additional 500,000 children in families receiving universal credit.
Much of the coverage has focused on specific menu changes, including the possible removal of sugary desserts such as steamed sponge. The focus on such changes might be reflective of how school…
(Full Story)
|
By Berenice Langdon, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant, St George's, University of London
The probiotic industry is worth US$112 billion. But if you knew what was actually inside that capsule, would you still buy it?
(Full Story)
|
By Chee Meng Tan, Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham
Europe’s wind turbines have become part of a wider struggle over energy security, industrial power and the west’s dependence on China.
European wind power capacity has surged dramatically in recent years. Wind energy now supplies 17% of EU electricity up from 13% in 2019. Offshore wind has expanded particularly rapidly, with installed capacity growing strongly over the past decade.
But…
(Full Story)
|
By Chris Perry, Professor in Tropical Coastal Geoscience, University of Exeter
Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip, Professor of Marine Ecology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
For decades, coral reefs throughout the Caribbean have been suffering from disease, pollution, overfishing and rising sea temperatures, yet most have continued to grow – until now.
In 2023 and 2024, surface temperatures climbed to record highs in the world’s oceans, and a marine heatwave of unprecedented length and intensity spread across the tropics. Satellites from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detected heat stress that could cause corals to bleach across more than 80% of the
(Full Story)
|
By Thomas George Evans, Principal Investigator, Freie Universität Berlin
Biological invasions can severely harm the welfare of animals, causing them to suffer. AWICIS is a new framework that can be used to assess the severity of these impacts.
(Full Story)
|