By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor, The Conversation
This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.
It would be wrong to say Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, four years ago this week, came out of the blue. For months there had been worrying reports of a huge build-up of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border. Through the winter of 2021/22, Moscow scoffed at suggestions…
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By Frédéric Dimanche, Professor and former Director (2015-2025), Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University
“Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous,” said the great Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner. Once again this year, events have proven him right. Harsh weather has triggered deadly avalanches around Lake Tahoe in California, as well as across the Alps in Europe.
According to figures from France’s National Mountain Safety Observation System (SNOSM), fatal accidents…
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By Amnesty International
Responding to a landmark judgement by an Athens court which found four individuals linked to spyware maker Intellexa, guilty of unlawful access to private communication systems and data, and of violating privacy and data protection laws, Rebecca White, Amnesty International’s Security Lab Researcher said: “Almost four years since the ‘Predatorgate’ scandal hit Greece, we are finally seeing consequences for those involved in the abuse of surveillance technology. “Amnesty International and other organizations have shown time and again that Intellexa’s products have […] The post Greece: Convictions…
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By Laura
After learning her now ex-husband arranged for her to be raped by 50 men while unconscious, Gisèle Pelicot wrote a memoir, documenting her struggle and current state of mind.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Two Ukrainian soldiers work in a drone workshop in an undisclosed location near the Russian border in the Kursk region, on June 12, 2025. © 2025 Florent Vergnes/AFP via Getty Images More than a year after Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, the men’s future remains undecided. Under the Third Geneva Convention applicable to the armed conflict in Ukraine, prisoners of war (POWs) may be held until the end of active hostilities, but they can be repatriated or transferred to a third country before then.These men, among the thousands…
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By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation
Demographer Stuart Gietel-Basten tells The Conversation Weekly podcast why South Korea’s birth rate is climbing, and what that means for the future.
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By Victor (Vik) Pérez, Associate Professor of Practice, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Hub, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
For most of human existence, listening was closely tied to moments that carried meaning, emotion or survival. Nature supplied the backdrop – wind, water, animals – and music surfaced in hunting rituals, healing ceremonies and communal celebrations.
That balance began to shift with the industrial revolution, and the arrival…
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By Kevin Zapata Celestino, LSE Fellow in the Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science
When we think about school bullying, we often focus on victims given the emotional toll they endure, the academic disruption they face and the long-term scars that follow them into adulthood.
Victim-centred research has been critical in shaping strategies to prevent bullying. But there’s a perspective that would help us understand bullying that is too often ignored: that of the aggressors themselves.
There is a growing body of research that explores how students themselves understand and explain…
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By Donald Amuah, Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, University of South Wales
Chibuzo Amadi, Lecturer in Accounting, University of South Wales
After 2008, tougher rules promised safer banking. Instead, they helped big lenders grow stronger, while choice on the high street shrank.
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By Elke Schwarz, Professor of Political Theory, Queen Mary University of London
Neil Renic, Lecturer in Ethics, University of New South Wales; Fellow of the Centre for Military Studies, University of Copenhagen
At the heart of this dispute is how Anthropic’s large language model Claude is being used in a military context.
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