Daniel Cash, United Nations University; Aston University The formal launch of the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) has required considerable institutional commitment. It brings to fruition an effort that has been almost a decade in the making. In 2017, the African Union gave the African Peer Review Mechanism a mandate to support member
Ph. At a 2024 MIT Museum exhibit, visitors were asked to guess which videos were deepfakes. Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Travis N. Ridout, Washington State University; Erika Franklin Fowler, Wesleyan University, and Michael Franz, Bowdoin College The 2026 U.S. midterm campaigns are the first in which AI-generated political ads are
Josh Bland, University of Cambridge The Premier League has published the core findings of the independent commission investigating Manchester City Football Club. It finds the club guilty of all charges relating to serious financial breaches across nine seasons, from 2009-10 to 2017-18. Among its findings were that City used “sham” commercial arrangements to
Ph. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, seen here in 2006, was the court’s most prominent originalist. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Brian Fitzpatrick, Vanderbilt University The U.S. Supreme Court returns from summer break Oct. 5, 2026, and begins hearing a new year of cases. Soon after what’s known as the “first Monday in October” among
Ph. Demonstrators march through the centre of Madrid to protest against high house prices and rents and to demand measures to tackle the housing crisis in Spain, on 26 September 2026. ÓSCAR GONZÁLEZ FUENTES/Shutterstock Andrei Quintiá Pastrana, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela When Maricarmen Abascal, a disabled 87 year-old, was evicted from the
Ran Porat, Monash University The apparent attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight carrying 170 mostly Israeli passengers was another reminder to Israelis of the constant threat of terror and war. Only the bravery of the chief pilot and passengers prevented a major disaster. A few hours earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a
Guilherme Casarões, Florida International University On Sunday Oct. 4, 2026, Brazilians didn’t just vote against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. They buried a political project that had been on life support for almost a decade. That project is the Nova República, the “New Republic”. It was born in the mid-1980s from the
Débora Thomé, Instituto Brasileiro de Ensino, Desenvolvimento e Pesquisa (IDP) ; Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV); Associação Brasileira de Ciência Política (ABCP) The first round of Brazil’s 2026 elections held this Sunday ended with a resounding victory for the far-right Liberal Party (PL). Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the jailed former president, Jair Bolsonaro,
Ibrahim Al-Marashi, IE University; California State University San Marcos Over recent months, the straits of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb have become synonymous with geopolitical jostling. Whoever controls these narrow waterways governs the flow of maritime traffic from the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean – and with it, a
Ph. A study of propaganda in Ethiopia examined what happens when the authority of a map meets social media and political conflict. TUBS/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Daniel Waktola, Austin Community College Maps are an essential technology of modern life. They help navigate streets, follow deliveries and track storms. They’re embedded in election coverage,