05 September 2023 /Politics/ — France’s history of interference in Africa is a complex and controversial issue. There is no doubt that France has been involved in a number of coups and regime change operations, and that these actions have had a negative impact on many African countries. The bombing of Libya in 2011 is just one example of this. Continue reading
The COP28 President-Designate, H.E. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, announced today a UAE finance initiative that will provide US$4.5 billion to help unlock Africa’s clean energy potential. The announcement was made during a keynote address at the inaugural African Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. Continue reading
With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the policy and public interest industries stay on top of the week’s most newsworthy and popular releases, here’s a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn’t be missed. Continue reading
Sept. 2, 2023 /World/ — Mohamed Al Fayed was a wealthy Egyptian businessman who owned Harrods department store in London. He was also the father of Dodi Fayed, who died in a car crash with Princess Diana in Paris in 1997. Al Fayed has always maintained that the crash was not an accident, but was a murder plot carried out by the British establishment. He has accused the establishment of being prejudiced against him because he is a Muslim and an Arab. Continue reading
Gavin Evans, Birkbeck, University of London
A new book on South African liberation struggle icons Nelson and Winnie Mandela is a masterful biography of the pair. It’s a work of scholarship involving an immense body of primary and secondary research, written with flair and panache but in an easy and compelling style, making it accessible to anyone with an interest in politics, power and South Africa and looks set to become the definitive work on them.
Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham
Two months after challenging Vladimir Putin’s leadership in an apparent but abortive “mutiny”, Yevgeny Prigozhin – the former owner of the mercenary private military company Wagner Group – has joined a long list of prominent Russians to die in mysterious circumstances.
Jenny Bulstrode, UCL and Sheray Warmington, UCL
In a speech to mark Unesco’s campaign for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, UN secretary-general António Guterres told the United Nations general assembly earlier this year that the inequalities created by 400 years of the transatlantic chattel trade persist to this day. “We can draw a straight line from the centuries of colonial exploitation to the social and economic inequalities of today,” he said.
Aug. 23, 2023 /War and Conflict/ — The reason why the Wagner group command team was traveling at the same time on a plane is not yet known. It is possible that they were all traveling to the same meeting or event. It is also possible that they were simply taking advantage of the convenience of traveling together. Continue reading
Sellafield engineers, using new equipment designed and installed by a Bechtel-Cavendish Nuclear team, have begun retrieving waste from the UK’s oldest waste storage building. The Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS) at Sellafield nuclear facility in northwest England is a sealed building with six compartments of radioactive material. It was built in the 1950s to store debris from the UK’s oldest nuclear reactors. This week, a crucial stage was reached when a remotely operated crane reached through one of six shielded access doors and started safely and securely scooping out waste. The milestone is significant in the permanent, safe, and secure disposal of materials, and has Sellafield retrieving waste from all four legacy ponds and silos for the very first time. Continue reading