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It is almost two years since the Taliban astonished – and terrified – the world by sweeping back to power in Afghanistan as US forces withdrew from the country. In recent months there have been suggestions from some in the West that a process of “normalising” relations with the country should now be considered.
But for Vrinda Narain, at McGill University in Montreal, things remain far from normal in Afghanistan. She points out that, “Afghan women have been denied the most basic human rights”. This, she continues, is no less than “gender apartheid”, adding: “Only by labelling it as such and making clear the situation in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity can the international community legally fight the systematic discrimination against the country’s women and girls.” Read her analysis here.
And as wildfires sweep regions from Portugal to Hawaii, read this remarkable insight into the work of those who bravely tackle the flames.
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A Taliban fighter stands guard as women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, in May 2023.
(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
Vrinda Narain, McGill University
The Taliban’s two years ruling Afghanistan have taught us ordinary human rights initiatives are insufficient to address gender apartheid. We need resolute collective international action.
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AAP
Mike Emslie, Australian Institute of Marine Science; Daniela Ceccarelli, Australian Institute of Marine Science; David Wachenfeld, Australian Institute of Marine Science
In recent years, the Barrier Reef has had a reprieve – and coral has regrown strongly. But now the reprieve looks to be over and the heat is back on
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Ruby Mountain hotshots construct a fire line during the Dixie Fire in 2021.
Joe Bradshaw/BLM
Brent C. Ruby, University of Montana
Twenty-five years of research show what it takes to fuel wildland firefighters through an average day, and the toll the long seasonal work takes on their bodies.
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Jay Ramasubramanyam, York University, Canada
The Indian central government has done little thus far to quell the ongoing ethnic violence in the state of Manipur.
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Bruce Schneier, Harvard Kennedy School
The modern representative democracy was the best form of government mid-18th-century technology could invent. The 21st century is a different place scientifically, technically and socially.
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Joshua Holzer, Westminster College
Kamala Harris is on track to be one of the most influential vice presidents in history. This says more about the Senate than the amount of power the vice president actually wields.
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Chris Corker, York University, Canada
Horror filmmakers are wrestling with space in cities and what it means to share it.
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Nick Baron, University of Nottingham; Stephan Rindlisbacher, European University Viadrina
Russian and Ukrainian communists who in 1919 mapped out the border between Ukraine and Russia took as their starting point the former Russian empire’s provincial boundaries.
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Lindsay Middleton, University of Glasgow
Chicken pâté was mixed with gravy, gelatine and whipped cream, before being frozen in decorative cups.
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