Elon Musk, right, has moved to take the reins of the U.S. government. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Allison Stanger, Middlebury Elon Musk’s role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, is on the surface a dramatic effort to overhaul the inefficiencies of federal bureaucracy. But beneath the rhetoric
Eric Storm, Leiden University Over the past few weeks the new US president, Donald Trump, has repeatedly claimed that the United States should “take back” the Panama Canal and that it should assume control of Greenland – one way or another. He has talked of Canada becoming America’s 51st state and now he
Ed Turner, Aston University A vote in Germany’s national parliament (Bundestag) has led to fears that the firewall supposedly separating mainstream political parties and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been blown apart. Until now, Germany’s largest parties, including the union of Christian democratic parties the CDU and CSU, and the social
Jan Pospisil, Coventry University Sudan’s civil war has devastated the country and strained relations with neighbouring South Sudan. Events in January 2025 have stirred up xenophobic feelings in Sudan and outrage in its southern neighbour, heightening the risk of regional instability. Early in the year, the Sudanese Armed Forces captured Wad Madani, a
Rodney Coates, Miami University Americans consume more illicit drugs per capita than anyone else in the world; about 6% of the U.S. population uses them regularly. One such drug, fentanyl – a synthetic opioid that’s 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine – is the leading reason U.S. overdose deaths have surged
Yap Boum, Mbarara University of Science and Technology Walking through the crowded streets of the Pakadjuma neighbourhood in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, I am struck by the vibrant atmosphere around me. Children play happily in puddles, surrounded by piles of plastic bags and open ditches of sewage. Shacks patched
by Policy Options. Originally published on Policy Options On farms around the world, data is increasingly being used to guide agricultural practices from influencing what crops to plant and when to plant them, to managing pests and allocating resources efficiently. Vast swaths of information — on crop yields, soil health, weather patterns, worker
Forever chemical or PFAS contamination is widespread, but so too are lobbying efforts. Melnikov Dmitriy/Shutterstock Gary Fooks, University of Bristol A team of academic researchers, lawyers and journalists from 16 European countries has exposed a huge lobbying campaign aimed at gutting a proposed EU-wide restriction on the use of “forever chemicals”. This campaign
Known as Mount McKinley until 2015, Denali’s current name reflects what Native Alaskans call the mountain. Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Innisfree McKinnon, University of Wisconsin-Stout President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Denali, the tallest peak in the country, has resulted in lots of discussion.
A container ship sailing at night through the Baltic Sea, travelling along the Polish coast, pulls alongside a fishing boat. This behaviour immediately triggers the Polish authorities and raises questions. “You need to ask why are two vessels meeting in the middle of the sea in the middle of the night? Are they