All posts tagged: countries

Decarbonisation improves energy security for most countries

Decarbonisation improves energy security for most countries

Published by skeptic

A pivot from fossil fuels to clean energy technologies by 2060 would improve energy security and reduce trade risks for most nations, according to a new study. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements are among the prized materials for countries and corporations racing to secure supplies for energy systems that do not add greenhouse gases to our atmosphere. Unlike fossil fuels, natural reserves of these materials are most concentrated in the Global South, shuffling the geopolitics of energy and global trade. “For most countries in a net-zero emissions system in the future, trading off the reduced dependence on imported fossil fuels and increased dependence on these new materials is actually a win for energy security,” explained Steve Davis, the study’s senior author and a professor of Earth system science in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. The impact of decarbonisation on oil-rich nations Even for the United States, which has some of the world’s largest fossil fuel reserves but only a sliver of critical mineral deposits, decarbonisation could boost energy security, especially if …

Why sharing meals can make people happier – what evidence from 142 countries shows

Why sharing meals can make people happier – what evidence from 142 countries shows

Published by skeptic

The importance of sharing meals is recognised across cultures, from the Jewish Shabbat meal to the fast-breaking Iftar meals during Ramadan. The known link between food and social relationships is ancient. The English word companion, the French copain (friend) and the Italian compagno (partner) come from the Latin cum and pānis – literally “with-bread”. The Chinese term for companion/partner (伙伴) stems from a similar term (火伴) which literally translates to “fire mate”, a reference to sharing meals over a campfire. But how important is eating together to our happiness? This is the question that I and my co-authors answer in the World Happiness Report 2025. In our new data and analysis we looked at the link between how often people share meals and whether they feel good about their lives and experience positive emotions. We also documented that there was a massive difference between countries and regions when it came to how often people shared meals. Comparing the statistics from the 2022-23 Gallup World Poll about sharing meals with standard measures of wellbeing, we found …

Keir Starmer promises more ‘democratic control’ of the NHS – how do other European countries do it?

Keir Starmer promises more ‘democratic control’ of the NHS – how do other European countries do it?

Published by Sam

Sir Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, announced on March 13 that the government will move to abolish NHS England in the next two years. During this period, the government plans to bring its functions under the UK’s health ministry, with the aim of bringing the health service “into democratic control”. What does this mean, and what difference will it make? When the NHS was established in 1948, part of the aim was to make the local health problems of patients across the country the concern of the national government. The plan succeeded. Today, the NHS is politically highly important – it matters enormously to patients and the public, and has one of the largest spending budgets in the UK. At the same time, it is technically difficult to manage, with local needs and opportunities and complex organisation that are hard and sometimes inefficient to manage centrally. Striking the balance between delivering high-quality patient care and addressing the technical complexity of doing so is a continual challenge for governments. The solution chosen as part of …

Strategising vaccine supply chains in developing countries

Strategising vaccine supply chains in developing countries

Published by skeptic

However, the success of immunisation programmes heavily depends on the efficiency of vaccine supply chains (VSCs). In many developing countries, these supply chains suffer from inadequate infrastructure, limited funding, logistical complexities, and data deficiencies. Two critical studies—one analysing vaccine supply chains in Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Niger, and Guinea, and another examining the cost of sustainability in housebuilding—provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities in optimising VSCs. Innovation News Network explores findings from these studies, offering strategic recommendations for strengthening vaccine supply systems in resource-limited settings. Challenges in vaccine supply chains Developing countries face several interrelated obstacles that hinder the efficient delivery of vaccines, including: Outdated infrastructure and cold chain limitations Many vaccine supply chains were designed over 40 years ago and follow rigid administrative structures that no longer serve current immunisation demands. Insufficient cold chain storage, power outages, and unreliable transport networks often lead to vaccine spoilage. The increasing number of new vaccines with diverse storage requirements adds pressure to already strained cold chain systems. Financial constraints and cost inefficiencies Government funding for vaccine …

Trump Team Rebuffs Talks on Mass Deportations, Latin American Countries Say

Trump Team Rebuffs Talks on Mass Deportations, Latin American Countries Say

Published by Sam

Donald Trump has promised to pursue the largest deportation operation in American history as soon as he takes office. But the Mexican government and other regional allies have been unable to meet with the incoming Trump administration, according to officials in Latin America, leaving them in the dark about the president-elect’s plans to deport millions of illegal immigrants. The incoming administration rebuffed requests by Mexico for a formal meeting, insisting that detailed discussions would begin only after Mr. Trump is sworn in next Monday, according to a Mexican official and two people familiar with the exchanges who were not authorized to speak publicly. The Guatemalan and Honduran governments received similar messages, according to officials from those countries. “This is not the way things usually work,” said Eric L. Olson, a fellow at the Wilson Center’s Latin American program and Mexico Institute. “Usually there are more informal contacts and some level of discussion by now.” The incoming administration may want to limit confrontation before ramping up pressure by signing a flurry of executive orders on migration, …

Syria and the inevitability of failed transitions in Arab Spring countries

Syria and the inevitability of failed transitions in Arab Spring countries

Published by Sam

Post-Bashar al-Assad Syria is seeking a new equilibrium in an exceptionally complex geopolitical context. The country is partially occupied by two foreign powers and overshadowed by a third. Israel, which has occupied and colonized the Syrian Golan Heights since its conquest in 1967, has extended its influence into the buffer zone established after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The United States has special forces stationed in eastern Syria. To the north, Turkey aspires to create its own buffer zone within Syrian territory. These three countries intend to militarily intervene in Syria as they see fit: Israel, to prevent the reconstruction of a Shiite axis extending into Lebanon; the US, to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State organization; and Turkey, to contain Syrian Kurdish forces it claims are linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to Ankara. Read more Subscribers only Syrian refugees returning home, a dilemma for Turkey’s economy These foreign interventions represent the first major obstacle to the establishment of a new order in Damascus, a prerequisite for the restoration of Syrian …

Women exhibit less manipulative personality traits in more gender-equal countries

Women exhibit less manipulative personality traits in more gender-equal countries

Published by José

A new study exploring how gender equality relates to Machiavellianism—a personality trait characterized by manipulation, exploitation, and deceit—has revealed a surprising trend: countries with higher gender equality tend to exhibit larger differences between men’s and women’s scores on this trait. While men’s Machiavellian tendencies remained stable regardless of national gender equality, women were less likely to endorse such traits in more egalitarian societies. The findings have been published in the International Journal of Personality Psychology. The study sought to address a longstanding question in psychology: why do men consistently score higher on Machiavellianism than women? Previous research has shown this pattern is persistent across cultures, yet the factors contributing to the gap remain unclear. The researchers behind the new study hypothesized that cultural and societal structures, particularly gender equality, might influence the magnitude of this difference. Building on the concept of the “gender equality paradox,” which posits that greater equality can sometimes amplify psychological and behavioral differences between men and women, the researchers aimed to test whether this phenomenon extended to Machiavellianism. “As a psychologist …

Report ranks countries where religion faces highest government and social persecution

Report ranks countries where religion faces highest government and social persecution

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — A report by Pew Research Center on international religious freedom named Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq as the countries where both government restrictions and social hostility most limit the ability of religious minorities to practice their faith. Governmental attacks and social hostility toward various religions usually “go hand in hand,” said the report, the 15th annual edition of a report that tracks the evolution of governments restrictions on religion.  The report uses two indexes created by the center in 2007, the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index, to rank countries’ levels of government restrictions on religion and attitudes of societal groups and organizations toward religion. The GRI focuses on 20 criteria, including government efforts to ban a faith, limit conversions and preaching, and preferential treatment of one or many religious groups. The SHI’s 13 criteria take into account mob violence, hostilities in the name of religion and religious bias crimes. The study looks at the situation in 198 countries in 2022, the latest year for which data are available from such …

Which countries have appeared most on Le Monde’s front page, and when?

Which countries have appeared most on Le Monde’s front page, and when?

Published by Sam

For the past 10 years, the Les Décodeurs team at Le Monde has covered the news through data, maps and graphs. For Le Monde‘s 80th anniversary, we delved into the depths of its archives and all the 24,856 print editions, with the invaluable assistance of the editorial IT department. We asked ourselves: Which countries have appeared most on Le Monde‘s front pages since 1944, and when? Each flag in our visualization represents the country that most often made Le Monde‘s front page, month-by-month for the past 80 years. The result is a reflection of eight decades of historical events, ranging from conflicts to popular uprisings and international politics, which Le Monde has chronicled daily. The most frequently mentioned countries on the front page of Le Monde 80 years of international news as seen on the front page, from 1944 to 2024. Jan. J Feb. F Mar. M Apr. A May M June J July J Aug. A Sep. S Oct. O Nov. N Dec. D 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 …

Why some countries are more likely to believe nuclear war won’t happen to them

Why some countries are more likely to believe nuclear war won’t happen to them

Published by skeptic

The war in Ukraine has just edged up another notch. It has not been going well for Ukraine in recent months, and this week Joe Biden’s administration made the decision to allow Ukraine to fire US-supplied army tactical missile systems (Atacms) long-range missiles deep into Russia for the first time. The US policy reversal also put Ukrainian weapons supplied by the UK and France into play. The UK and France had previously indicated they would allow this, once the US had. This prompted an immediate threat from Vladimir Putin, who signed a decree lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack on Russia or its ally Belarus that “created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity”. On Thursday, reports suggested that Russia might have launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into Ukraine. This suggested to some that some kind of nuclear war was edging closer. We have been here before, but perhaps not for a very long time. Some may remember the Cuban missile crisis and …