By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Relatives of a person who went missing after a migrant boat sank on February 26 on the beach near where the shipwreck took place off the coast of Steccato di Cutro, near Crotone, in Calabria in southern Italy. March 7, 2023. © 2023 Alfonso Di Vincenzo/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images In the early morning hours of February 26, 2023, the Summer Love shipwrecked off the coast of Calabria, Italy. At least 94 people, including 35 children, died in what is known as the Cutro shipwreck. According to survivors, the boat was carrying up to 250 people, most from…
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By Yohannes Gedamu, Senior Lecturer of Political Science, Georgia Gwinnett College
The histories of Eritrea and Ethiopia have long been closely intertwined. Once part of Ethiopia, Eritrea launched an armed struggle for independence in 1961 that resulted in its secession in 1993 following a referendum. But since Eritrea’s independence, relations between the two countries have evolved through many ups and downs, which include a devastating war from 1998 to 2000, followed by two decades of mutual isolationism.
The two countries appeared…
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By Pauline Maclaran, Professor of Marketing & Consumer Research, Royal Holloway, University of London
The royal family appear to have navigated their responses to the potential tarnishing of the monarchy in both official and unofficial ways.
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By Sanam Mahoozi, Research Associate, City St George's, University of London
The US military buildup in the Middle East is now sufficient for Trump to order military action against Iran at any moment.
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By Amnesty International
Responding at the conclusion of the five-day AI Impact Summit that took place in New Delhi, India, Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director of Research, Advocacy Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, said: “It is unfortunate that the rhetoric of the AI impact Summit stood in stark contrast with the realities of harmful deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in India, where these systems are powering a state-led agenda of authoritarian practices that is entrenching state and corporate control. The civic space is shrinking at an unprecedented speed and marginalized communities impacted by AI systems face…
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By Amnesty International
Responding to the release of the Belarusian opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich, detained since 2020, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said: “Our relief at Mikalai Statkevich’s release is tempered by our indignation at the profound injustice and personal injury he has suffered during years behind bars serving an unfounded prison sentence, […] The post Belarus: Prisoner of conscience Mikalai Statkevich’s release after a stroke highlights need for justice for human rights violations appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Catherine Wheatley, Lecturer in Film Studies, King's College London
Mona Fastvold’s film about Ann Lee – the founder of the Shaker religious movement – is raw, intense and deeply physical. If you were to consult the leading critics of Christianity in film they would probably tell you that the best films in this genre are not like The Testament of Ann Lee at all.
These thinkers save their…
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By Lionel Smith, Horticulture lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University
Amid the wet and grey gloom of February, gardeners across the UK are reporting that crocuses are pushing through their lawns and borders weeks ahead of schedule. This phenomenon is no quirk of nature. Crocuses flowering early in 2026 is a sign of shifting seasons, driven by a unique combination of biological triggers and record-breaking UK weather patterns.
Crocuses are thermoperiodic plants, which means they rely on temperature cues rather than day length to dictate their lifecycle. Their corms…
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By Anna Drury, PhD Candidate in History, Lancaster University
Much has been done, by way of interviews and Instagram reels, to market Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights as a tale of ferocious passion and untameable desire. The question of precisely whose passion we see play out onscreen is a crucial one.
Fennel says the film reflects her personal reading of Emily Brontë’s arresting tale of generational trauma, possession and violence. I had a different experience when I first read Wuthering Heights. I became immersed in a decidedly unsexy story of abuse, and had “bad…
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By Matt Jacobsen, Senior Lecturer in Film History in the School of Society and Environment, Queen Mary University of London
Rose Byrne won a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar for her performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. It’s a film about frayed mother Linda (Byrne) coping with her daughter’s strange, unspecified feeding disorder.
In director Mary Bronstein’s words, the film is “a surreal, horrifying, blackly funny portrait of a mother simultaneously kicking against and coming to terms with her maternal instincts”. Bronstein has drawn from her…
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