Upcoming Taiwan elections to determine the state of regional diplomacy
As China escalates aggression against Taiwan, the upcoming elections in the latter possess the potential to disrupt global stability. US assistance aims to counterbalance this power struggle. China's claim over Taiwan, a self-governing island nation, is more than just a territorial dispute but a multifaceted confrontation fueled by the need...
Current in Change
South Africa accuses Israel of genocide in international court
Providng a compelling case in the International Court of Justice, South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people. What is the goal and what could the outcome be? Today marks the start of a two-day hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which Israel...
Arsenal’s all-white kit is fighting youth knife crime
The North London football team sported an all-white kit this week as part of their annual ‘No More Red’ campaign. When Arsenal players stepped out on their home pitch last Sunday, something was different. Instead of their usual red kit, they wore an all-white get-up, complete with a clean, minimalist...
Opinion – It’s time we stopped lying about the housing crisis
Gen Z and Millennials are continuously told that buying a house is as simple as saving money. But this out-of-touch approach needs the boot. Everywhere you look, statistics about the housing market are as dire as the next. Between a cost-of-living crisis and the economic vestiges of a pandemic, the...
Why is Norway’s deep-sea mining plan so controversial?
This week, Norway became the world’s first country to give commercial-scale deep-sea mining the green light. Although some purport the practice will be essential to bolstering clean energy in the future, is this a major environmental disaster waiting to happen? On Tuesday, Norway’s parliament voted to open its waters for...
Opinion – AFCON’s fossil fuel affiliation will further damage Africa
As the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in the Ivory Coast, yet another tournament will ultimately serve to fill the pockets of those already destroying the continent. While the self-confessed obsessed (like myself) will happily take all the football we can get, at times there is a bigger picture...
Bottled water contains as many as 250,000 plastic nanoparticles
Scanning bottled water with a newly invented electron microscope, scientists have discovered an alarming number of plastic nanoparticles floating inside. These virtually invisible particles pose a risk to human health once ingested. Plastic is here, plastic is there, plastic is everywhere. Yep, even inside you. Those startled by the recent news that Britain’s tap water contains carcinogenic PFAs and other toxic ‘forever chemicals’ may have promptly started swapping a quick...
Women added to committee for COP29 after gender bias backlash
Last week, Azerbaijan’s president announced an all-male panel for the global climate summit, which the country will host in December. This decision was immediately condemned by campaigners as regressive, sparking an inclusivity U-turn. On January 15, the president of Azerbaijan announced that the organising committee for the COP29 global climate summit – which the country will host in December – would comprise 28 men and no women. The decision was...
EU Commission reintroduces wolf hunting following farmer pressure
A proposal to lower the conservation status of wolves in the EU has ignited questions on the equilibrium between environmental preservation and economic considerations. In mid-December, the European Union proposed to demote the wolf's status from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’ under the Berne Convention. Many criticized this decision for its reversal of Europe’s environmental conservation efforts. The Berne Convention, known in full as the Berne Convention on the Conservation of...
Camera manufacturer Canon donates equipment to coral reef lab
Leveraging the mission to save coral reef species, Canon has donated high-end image capturing equipment to London-based Coral Spawning Lab. Though virtually all life on Earth is under threat from climate change, the most fragile ecosystems by far are coral reefs. Hoping to ensure their future survival, laboratories around the world are growing and breeding a diverse range of heat-resistant corals inside environmentally controlled tanks. In these labs, scientists closely monitor and...
