By Raffaele De Risi, Associate Professor in Civil Engineering, School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol
More than 500 people have been killed in Venezuela following powerful back-to-back earthquakes, with many more injured. Rescue teams have also been trying to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings.
Here, Raffaele De Risi, associate professor in civil engineering at the University of Bristol, answered our questions about the role building design may have played in the disaster.
Venezuela is in an active seismic zone. Why do you think there have been so many devastating building collapses?
Indeed, Venezuela is a seismically…
(Full Story)
|
By Tom Harper, Lecturer in International Relations, University of East London
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has called for a new Plaza accord to address what he sees as China’s unfair trade practices.
(Full Story)
|
By Conor Mckeown, Lecturer in Digital Media, University of Stirling
Artists are attempting to make the lives of forced migrants easier to relate to through the creation of video games.
(Full Story)
|
By Enrico Nichelatti, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Luxembourg
Abrams Tagem, Tax Research Specialist
Climate-related disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense across sub-Saharan Africa. Floods, droughts, heatwaves and storms are no longer isolated environmental events. They increasingly shape livelihoods, inequality, public trust and the relationship between citizens and the state.
Governments rely on taxes to finance schools, healthcare, infrastructure and climate adaptation policies. However, taxation depends on more than just enforcement: it depends on whether citizens believe…
(Full Story)
|
By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
The Liberal Party reminds one of that cumbersome machine, nicknamed Florence, that became stuck (twice) in a tunnel in the Snowy 2.0 project.
One time Florence bogged, opening up a sink hole. The second time she was wedged in rock.
Both problems beset the Liberals as two more polls published at the weekend document their strife.
While the main attention has been on a drop in One Nation’s support (and Labor’s rise), the equally important…
(Full Story)
|
By Shannon Bosch, Associate Professor (Law), Edith Cowan University
The report found evidence of children being deliberately targeted by Israeli Defense Forces. Such acts would amount to war crimes under international law.
(Full Story)
|
By Jack Janetzki, Lecturer in Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Adelaide University
The marketing hype promises better health for men, fewer colds and a more robust immune system. Here’s what the evidence says.
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A prison van believed to be carrying Jimmy Lai leaving West Kowloon Magistrates Courts where his sentencing took place in Hong Kong, February 9, 2025. © 2025 Vernon Yuen/NEXPHER/Sipa via AP Photo (Tokyo) – Beijing has restructured Hong Kong’s governance to answer to Party leadership rather than Hong Kong’s people six years after imposing the draconian National Security Law, Human Rights Watch said today.“Hong Kong’s highly repressive national security regime and bureaucracy have erased long-protected rights and cast a deeply troubling shadow over its future”…
(Full Story)
|
By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University
While the government strengthens its social media ban, a broader, more robust piece of legislation is waiting in the wings.
(Full Story)
|
By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Support for Labor and the Greens combined is up five points to 46% in Newspoll and four points to 44% in Redbridge.
(Full Story)
|