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Mogadishu is in mourning. Somalia’s capital was shattered by the worst explosion in the history of the city on Saturday. The explosion killed more than 300 people and injured a further 500. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it’s suspected that Islamist group Al-Shabaab is behind the bombing. Laura Hammond says that small glimmers of hope and resilience have emerged amid the nation’s terrible anguish.
Many people may think osteoarthritis is a modern malady, but it’s actually millions of years old. Evidence of a bone and joint disease have been found at sites around the world, including in the ancient Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina. Anne Austin explains why the men who built pharaohs’ tombs long ago fell prey to osteoarthritis.
South African President Jacob Zuma is in an unenviable position after his failure to have 783 criminal charges against him scrapped. Dirk Kotze writes that Zuma doesn’t have immunity from prosecution and with his term as president of the governing African National Congress ending in December, he might be in trouble.
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The attack in Mogadishu has been called the city’s ‘worst ever’.
Said Yusuf Warsame/EPA
Laura Hammond, SOAS, University of London
The attack, in which more than 300 people were killed, comes as Somalia tries to put in place a new security pact.
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Science + Technology
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Anne Austin, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Bones and texts showed how decades of strenuous hikes led to higher levels of osteoarthritis in workers' knees and ankles in an ancient Egyptian village.
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Politics + Society
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Dirk Kotze, University of South Africa
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma's loss in the Appeals Court forms part of three milestones in his recent history dominated by corruption, unethical conduct and a knack to avoid criminal charges.
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Cristiano D'Orsi, University of Johannesburg
For many years, statelessness in Madagascar was spurred by racial and gender discrimination.
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Mia Swart, University of Johannesburg
Will the Timol case create the necessary political will to open dozens more inquests into apartheid deaths? Maybe, but government machinery has proven to be rusty and extremely slow.
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From our international editions
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Alex Balch, University of Liverpool
We asked two academics to check the claim, made by a former top official at the Home Office.
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Kirsty Fairclough, University of Salford; Daniel Cookney, University of Salford
MTV may not be the power house it used to be but the music video is flourishing online.
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Bates Gill, Macquarie University; Adam Ni, Australian National University
The upcoming Chinese Communist Party's 19th National Congress will see one of the biggest turnovers of China’s military elite since the founding of the country.
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