|
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe still intends to stand for re-election in 2018, but with his own health and the country’s economy both failing, the hunt for a successor is very much on. Mugabe’s wife, Grace, seemed to take herself out of contention and was then involved in a bizarre episode in which she was accused of attacking a South African model in a Johannesburg hotel room. So, who else is in the running? Stephen Chan travelled to the country to find out.
In a rebuke to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the United States recently announced a raft of sanctions aimed at starving the regime of foreign funding. But will they do any good? Marco Aponte-Moreno and Lance Lattig consider possible outcomes.
|
Happy at the helm: Robert and Grace Mugabe.
EPA/Aaron Ufumeli
Stephen Chan, SOAS, University of London
With a nonagenarian president apparently still planning to run for re-election in 2018, Zimbabwe's runners and riders are making themselves known.
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Mohammed Nuruzzaman, Gulf University for Science and Technology
Despite US threats, Iran seems to have emerged more powerful than ever, expanding its sphere of influence in the Gulf region and in the Levant.
-
Christine Steinmetz, UNSW
Coffee and sex are both highly marketable commodities. But who would have thought that the capital of one of Latin America's most socially conservative countries would combine them in its cafes?
|
|
Business + Economy
|
-
Marco Aponte-Moreno, St Mary's College of California ; Lance Lattig, St Mary's College of California
New US sanctions against Venezuela deliver a clear condemnation of the Maduro regime's authoritarian maneuvering but overlook two key problems: Russian meddling and the humanitarian crisis.
-
David McMillan, University of Stirling
Talk of banks leaving London completely for other European cities is just that – talk.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
George Joffe, King's College London
At present, the Middle East and North African region contains 7% of the world's population but only has access to 1.5% of its renewable freshwater supply through rainfall.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Eleanor Hobley, Technical University of Munich; Darrell G. Schulze, Purdue University; David A. Robinson, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology; Ebrahim Jahanshiri, University of Nottingham; Matt Aitkenhead, James Hutton Institute; Niels H. Batjes, Wageningen University; Tomislav Hengl, Wageningen University
Mapping the soil with open source application is vital to understanding how to protect it.
-
Frédéric Baudin, Université Paris Sud – Université Paris-Saclay
While we on Earth are familiar with our own star, the Sun, the European Space Agency's PLATO mission will explore solar systems similar to ours as well as those that are more exotic.
|
|
