Lyla Latif, University of Nairobi Public finance, or how governments at all levels raise and allocate money, is in evidence everywhere you look. That pothole destroying your car. The health clinic without medicine. The dilapidated school. Public money is not government money. It is yours, writes Kenyan finance scholar Lyla Latif in her
Giovanni Strona, Joint Research Centre (JRC) More than 295 million people globally experienced hunger and starvation in 2025 because of conflict, displacement, climate change and economic disasters. The bad news is that things are going to get a lot worse. My latest research has found that by 2100, climate change could drive more
Ricardo Jorge Moreira Goulão Santos, United Nations University and Elina Penttinen, United Nations University When floods submerged parts of Mozambique after heavy rains in 2000, a baby girl was born in a tree, where her mother clung as the Limpopo river waters rose. The baby was nicknamed Rosita in the press. Her survival
Francois Questiaux, University of Copenhagen and Marieve Pouliot, University of Copenhagen Shea butter has become a highly sought-after ingredient in cosmetics and food manufacturing worldwide. Since the early 2000s its use as a substitute for cocoa butter has driven a dramatic rise in international demand. The shea butter industry has grown by more
Alexander M. Laskaris, University of Florida and Olivier Walther, University of Florida Kidnapping for ransom has a long history in the west African Sahel. In 1979, a rebel group led by Chad’s future president Hissène Habré kidnapped a French archaeologist and a German medical doctor in the north of the country. The kidnappers
Danny Bradlow, University of Pretoria The end of South Africa’s G20 presidency does not mean the end of its ability or responsibility to promote the issues it prioritised during 2025. It can still advocate for action on some of these issues through its further participation in the G20 and in other international and
Philipp Kastner, The University of Western Australia Two years ago, a power struggle erupted between two factions of Sudan’s military. Today, this conflict is spiralling out of control, with thousands being killed in what a United Nations report has called “slaughterhouses”. Last week, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group battling Sudan’s
Malaria remains a deadly threat for pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa, often leading to miscarriage, stillbirth, low birthweight and serious illness. Now, an EU-funded collaborative research project is aiming to protect women before they become pregnant – an approach that could transform maternal and newborn health in regions where malaria is endemic. Dr Flavia
Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel, University of Manchester and Birhan Mezgbo, Tufts University Famine – the extreme scarcity of food – devastated Ethiopia’s Tigray region during and after a two-year war that began in November 2020. Yet, the famine’s impact is one of the least documented crises of recent years. Despite the enormous scale of
James Boafo, Murdoch University; Rochelle Spencer, Murdoch University, and Senyo Dotsey, Università di Torino Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, rare earth elements, and platinum group metals are essential for modern technologies. They are key to industries ranging from electronics and telecommunications to renewable energy, defence, and aerospace systems. The global