Editor's note

Tomorrow Namibia holds its 6th general elections since independence from South Africa in 1989. The South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo), which led the struggle for emancipation, has dominated each poll. In the last one in 2014, the party won 80% of the votes for the National Assembly, while its presidential candidate, Hage Geingob, scooped almost 87% of the votes. There’s no doubt that Swapo will win the election. But, Henning Melber argues, it might be with a smaller margin thanks, in part, to an economic crisis that has seen youth unemployment skyrocket.

A series of showy, brazen and deadly attacks by Mexican cartels in recent months have set the government on its heels and left a nation debating how to stop the bloodshed. Angélica Durán-Martínez says there’s no quick fix when it comes to organised crime. But a few communities deep in the hills of southern Mexico have managed to prevent cartel infiltration of the police and judiciary. What do they know that Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador doesn’t?

Thabo Leshilo

Politics + Society

Top Stories

Namibian president Hage Geingob. EPA/Siphiwe Sibeko

Namibian elections: the sands are shifting – slowly

Henning Melber, University of Pretoria

Namibia’s political stability so far has been vested in the dominance of Swapo. Those opposing its control face an uphill battle.

Clouds of smoke from burning cars mark the skyline of Culiacan, Mexico, during a 12-hour siege by the Sinaloa Cartel, Oct. 17, 2019. AP Photo/Hector Parra

Cartel sieges leave Mexicans wondering if criminals run the country

Angélica Durán-Martínez, University of Massachusetts Lowell

A series of brazen, highly visible attacks by Mexican drug cartels have killed at least 50 people in the past month, terrorizing citizens and making the government look weak on crime.

Politics + Society

A major democracy fights to maintain the rule of law – this time, it’s Israel

David A. Frank, University of Oregon

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted on corruption charges Wednesday, both the charges and Netanyahu's response to them were reminiscent of the situation President Trump is in.

How Pravind Jugnauth clinched the win in Mauritius’ elections

Roukaya Kasenally, University of Mauritius

Mauritius' "dynastic politics" does not augur well for the often celebrated image of Mauritius as Africa's shining democratic model.

Health + Medicine

Antenatal care in Kenya needs improvement

Patience Afulani, University of California, San Francisco

Most women feel they are unable to ask health professionals questions. And only half were consistently asked if they had questions.

South Africa needs to get more young people with HIV on treatment

Mhairi Maskew, University of the Witwatersrand

There's an urgent need for interventions to increase uptake of antiretroviral therapy and improve services for adolescents.

Science + Technology

What are lost continents, and why are we discovering so many?

Maria Seton, University of Sydney; Joanne Whittaker, University of Tasmania; Simon Williams, University of Sydney

We undertook a 28-day voyage to explore a possible lost continent in a remote part of the Coral Sea, in an area off the coast of Queensland. Here's what we found.

Were other humans the first victims of the sixth mass extinction?

Nick Longrich, University of Bath

300,000 years ago, there were lots of different species of human. Now it’s only us – and we're probably the reason why.