Author: Ewang Johnson
“There is an appeal to the simplicity of 16th-Century interiors and an honesty in the materials used,” says interior and architectural designer Guy Goodfellow. “This simplicity did not re-emerge until the Arts and Crafts movement [of the late 19th Century], when it came as a relief after the heaviness of the Victorian period.”In a 16th-Century manor house on Dartmoor, Goodfellow has hung a tapestry on the wall, a nod to Tudor and Jacobean practice, when prized rugs were displayed vertically or draped over tables rather than slung underfoot. Floors, often simply packed earth or stone flags, were strewn with scented…
Mauritania has taken a significant step toward strengthening its economy after signing a $1 billion five-year framework agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). The agreement, covering 2026–2030, aims to expand trade capacity, strengthen key sectors, and support long-term economic development. The deal was signed during an official visit by Mauritania’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Development, Abdallah O. Souleymane O. Cheikh-Sidia, to the headquarters of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Jeddah. The agreement was finalized with ITFC Chief Executive Officer Adeeb Yousuf Al Aama, alongside senior representatives from both institutions. Under the framework, ITFC will mobilize…
“The Bechdel Test” started as a joke in one of her comic strips before becoming one of the most famous measures of gender representation in film. Now, acclaimed American cartoonist Alison Bechdel has joined forces with French critic Iris Brey for their new essay, “La Véritable Histoire du test de Bechdel”. FRANCE 24’s Charli James speaks with Bechdel about the true story behind the test, how it feels when your name becomes more famous than you, and how she uses humour to empower the queer community in the Trump era. Source link
Luckily, he’s not quite alone. It turns out that another spacecraft is on the same mission from a different planet, and it, too, has just one living occupant, a crab-like alien made of lumps of stone (a puppet, with some digital tweaking). The jovial Rocky, as Grace calls him, builds a corridor between the two ships, and Grace learns to talk to it via his computer, which can translate its R2D2-ish burbles into English (the main puppeteer, James Ortiz, provides its chirpy voice). Interplanetary chat is a lot easier here than it was for Amy Adams in Arrival.More like this:• Maggie…
Proposed Law Threatens Rights to Nondiscrimination, Free Expression By: Larissa Kojoué | Researcher Photo: Queer rights activist Angel Maxine opposing the anti-LGBT bill in Accra, Ghana. © Angel Maxine Lawmakers in Ghana have reintroduced a draconian bill that jeopardizes the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. On February 17, the Ghanaian parliament formally received the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, also known as the anti-LGBT bill, marking the latest chapter in a prolonged legal and legislative process that started in 2021. Ghana’s parliament first passed a version of the bill in February 2024, but it…
Escalating confrontation in the Gulf threatens global shipping, energy supply and the economic stability of countries far beyond the battlefield. How Africa is being impacted. Those who have spent a lifetime observing international affairs learn one enduring lesson: wars launched with confidence rarely end as their architects imagine. They expand, they entangle new actors, and they generate consequences far beyond the calculations of those who initiate them. Events in the Middle East are evolving rapidly. Yet beyond the daily headlines, the broader pattern now emerging deserves careful attention. The escalating confrontation between the US, Israel and Iran carries all the…
Note: This article contains spoilers for KPop Demon Hunters.It’s not often that a studio strikes gold, hits the jackpot, and captures lightning in a bottle all at once. Yet that’s precisely what Netflix did when it acquired the animated musical KPop Demon Hunters, and ever since, the world has been captivated by the story of the Huntrix trio, a popular girl band that secretly moonlights as a demon-hunting warrior team.Echoes of eternal truth are likely a part of why this film resonates so powerfully with audiences around the world.These young ladies—Rumi, Mira, and Zoey—are the titular demon hunters, locked in…
As the conflict in the Middle East engulfs Lebanon, with air strikes and evacuation orders once again shaking the foundations of society, we hear from Wissam Charaf and Zeid Hamdan, two Lebanese artists grappling with this moment of crisis. Filmmaker Wissam Charaf joins us by video link from Beirut to reflect on the past seven years and how they have driven many artists to flee the country. Source link
Spying on the spiesThe other side of the spy ring – the communications experts – had developed the perfect cover story. Peter and Helen Kroger were, to their neighbours in sleepy suburban London, an antiquarian bookseller specialising in Americana and a homemaker. This was the ideal cover for their activities because it explained their regular business trips abroad with their books, even behind the Iron Curtain. Inside their outwardly nondescript bungalow, they had built a sophisticated communications centre, complete with a concealed radio transmitter and microdot equipment. Their real names were Morris and Lona Cohen, both US citizens who were veteran…
The 2026 State of the Nation (SONA) address reaffirmed the commitments made by the Government of National Unity (GNU) to inclusive economic growth, job creation, and reducing poverty and the cost of living. These pillars are foundational to any credible national growth strategy. But they cannot become abstract economic ambitions disconnected from the everyday realities of the millions of South Africans who earn a living through small and independent businesses. Across South Africa, small and medium enterprise (SME) retailers form a critical layer of the national economy. They include township spaza shops, informal grocers and stokvel-linked merchants, but also independent…