The World Bank says there’s reason to be optimistic: the globe has reached its “lowest poverty rate in recorded history”. But Alf Gunvald Nilsen suggests that caution is necessary, and that it’s crucial to move beyond rhetoric when discussing poverty.
As Turkish authorities investigate the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia continues to deny responsibility. But the case is putting mounting pressure on Saudi Arabia’s Western allies – including the US and UK. Armida van Rij argues that if the UK is serious about holding states to account, now is the time to show it.
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A different measure of poverty shows 70% of the world’s poor live in what the World Bank considers middle-income countries.
EFE-EPA/Onome Oghene
Alf Gunvald Nilsen, University of Agder
The global poverty plot is thicker than what the World Bank would have us believe.
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Politics + Society
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Armida L. M. van Rij, King's College London
UK and US relations with Saudi Arabia were already under serious scrutiny – even before the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist.
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Tapiwa Chagonda, University of Johannesburg
In mending the relations with Zimbabwe's white community by roping in Kirsty Coventry and Bruce Grobbelaar, President Mnangagwa might just have pulled off a masterstroke.
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Man Booker Prize
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Martin Goodman, University of Hull
Writing is a solitary art. But authors shortlisted for the Booker Prize have to perform in public. Here's how this year's crop fared.
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Leigh WIlson, University of Westminster
Rules for the UK's most prestigious and lucrative literary prize effectively mean it is dominated by big publishers.
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Health + Medicine
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Michael Murray, Yale University
Individuals who carry the breast cancer genes _BRCA1_ or _BRCA2_ are often unaware of the fact. That suggests that physicians need a new way to apply DNA-based screens to identify those at risk.
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Education
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Shannon Morreira, University of Cape Town; Kathy Luckett, University of Cape Town
It's vital for academics in South Africa to start asking deep questions that examine what decolonialism could look like in their teaching.
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