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The assassination attempt on Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico on May 15 has sent a shockwave through Europe. Unfortunately political assassinations are not unheard of in this part of the world – indeed, Slovakia itself continues to reverberate from the 2018 assassination of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, an act which led to the collapse of a previous Fico-led government.

However, attacks of this manner on politicians are rare (outside of post-Soviet countries). There has not been an attack on a figure as high-level as Fico in several decades. The suspect in the shooting has been arrested, but it remains far too early to speculate about a possible motive. With that said, it is virtually certain that this will have a massive impact on Slovak, and even European Union, politics.

Even before the events of May 15, the political atmosphere in Slovakia has been quite fraught. Fico and his Smer party have largely dominated the political scene in the country since the 2000s. Before his current term, which began in 2023, he led the government from 2006 to 2010, and from 2012 to 2018.

Fico is ostensibly a centre-left politician. But in many ways his populist and nationalist politics more closely resemble those of Viktor Orbán, the far-right authoritarian prime minister of Hungary. Smer is a member of the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament but its membership was suspended in late 2023 because of its rightward drift.

Notably (again alike Orbán), Fico is considered one of the most pro-Russian political leaders in Europe. He ran his 2023 election campaign on a platform of ending Slovakia’s financial and military support for Ukraine.

Russian media outlets have immediately seized on this to accuse Ukraine of masterminding the assassination attempt against Fico. Margarita Simonyan, the editor of RT, claimed Ukraine “should be blamed” for the shooting. Importantly, no evidence has currently been uncovered linking Ukraine to the attack. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has personally condemned the attack and expressed his hope for Fico’s recovery – and solidarity with the people of Slovakia.

There are both domestic and regional implications in the wake of this attack. For Slovakia, it is likely that tensions in the country will be ratcheted up. Election campaigns have increasingly been fought in charged environments since the first time Fico came to power in 2006 in a coalition with two illiberal and nationalist parties, the Slovak National Party and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia.

This was particularly the case in the 2023 elections, where the alignment of Slovakia on the Russia-Ukraine War was a principal concern. In a Eurobarometer survey around that time, the war was rated as the most important issue facing the country, but with nearly 50-50 splits in support for either providing or opposing assistance to Ukraine.

This polarisation has already begun to play out in the way politicians – both on the side of the government and in opposition – have responded to the attempted assassination.

Interior minister Matúš Šutaj-Eštok alleged that the attack was clearly “politically motivated” and that the country stood on the brink of “civil war”. Worryingly, in a country with a recent history of violence towards journalists, both Šutaj-Eštok and his colleague Lubos Blaha have blamed the country’s “liberal media” for sowing “hatred”.

Interior minister Matus Sutaj Estok and defence minister Robert Kalinak hold a press conference at the hospital where Fico is being treated.
AP/Alamy/Denes Erdos

Given these comments, and the parlous state of media freedom throughout the Visegrad region – which contains the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – it would not be surprising to see some form of crackdown.

Before the attack, Fico was already rolling out plans to place the Slovak national broadcaster under governmental control, sparking protests from the public. There will also rightly be concerns about the potential for Slovak democracy to come under pressure. Again, here, Fico had been engaged in a war of words with the nation’s supreme court before the attack, and had warned that he was monitoring the body closely.

Outside of Slovakia, the attack is very likely to become another front in the ongoing information war between Russia on one side and the EU and Ukraine on the other.

The truth or accuracy of Russia’s accusations about Ukraine involvement may effectively prove to be irrelevant. In the contemporary atmosphere, disinformation has been proven to be stubbornly difficult to challenge and rebut.

Coming as it does amidst both a major Russian offensive in the east of Ukraine and the campaigns for European Parliament elections, the attack on Fico has the potential to add a greater sense of instability to an already contentious environment. Läs mer…

In all conflicts, the period preceding a ceasefire agreement is the most dangerous, as each side tries to gain the best military position before the fighting ends. The long, drawn out negotiations aimed at bringing a halt to the war in Gaza are no exception.

Hamas has renewed missile attacks on Israel and Israeli forces have been undertaking operations in Rafah, which Israel has portrayed as the last Hamas stronghold, and in Jabalia in northern Gaza. The ceasefire talks hosted in Cairo have in turn been buffeted by events on the ground.

The way Israel and Hamas judge their progress in the war tells us a lot about the prospects for the talks.

The past week has demonstrated that the war is not going well for Israel. Four months ago, Israel announced that it had “dismantled” Hamas battalions in northern Gaza. Now, its troops are back battling Hamas once more, not only in Jabalia but in several other places near Gaza City.

This underlines Israel’s failure to achieve a “total victory” over Hamas and highlights the weakness of the intelligence on which its battle plans have been based. It is evident that Israeli intelligence underestimated the extent and sophistication of the tunnels beneath Gaza and the tactical flexibility of Hamas.

Yet the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently claims that Israel is on the road to victory. This colours his attitude towards the ceasefire negotiations – that there will be no permanent ceasefire, and the war on Gaza will continue.

Palestinians remove debris following an Israeli air strike in Al Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on May 14 2024.
Mohammed Saber/EPA

On the other side, the war has been a propaganda triumph for Hamas. Pictures of the terrible suffering of the Palestinian people have been beamed across of the world.

Hamas also demonstrated its deft publicity skills when it announced that it had accepted a ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt on May 6. In reality, Hamas had only accepted the framework and had made counter proposals on the critical details such as the release of Israeli hostages. Nonetheless, the message that Hamas had accepted the agreement became a news headline.

Read more:
Gaza war: success of Egypt’s peace deal would set blueprint for future of Middle East – expert Q&A

Despite the atrocities of October 7, Hamas delegations are welcome in Russia, Iran, Turkey and South Africa. And it appears to see the demonstrations and student protests across Europe and North America as weakening western resolve to support Israel. There is reason to believe that Hamas, rather cynically, thinks the war is going well, at least politically.

The group claims the war has brought the Palestine question to public attention around the world. Its attitude towards a ceasefire needs to be seen in this light. Hamas has made it clear that it only wants a ceasefire on its terms – one that would effectively mean it remaining in power in some form in Gaza.

A deal is still far off

Despite these factors, the negotiations continue. Assessing their progress is very difficult given the many layers of decision-making involved. The political leaderships are speaking through official teams of negotiators and the intelligence services of Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel.

Hamas is divided between its internal leadership in Gaza and external leadership in Qatar. The group’s Qatar-based political leader, Ismael Haniyeh, is senior in the hierarchy, but its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, also occupies a critical position.

They are not political rivals. But whereas Sinwar is on the ground – or more likely in his tunnel – Haniyeh is more exposed to international diplomacy. It also often takes around 48 hours for messages to be passed back and forth between the two.

In Israel, there is a sharp divide between those whose priority is crushing Hamas and those who prioritise the release of the hostages. The 132 remaining hostages have spent well over 200 days in captivity and daily demonstrations aim to pressure the government to reach a deal to bring them home. It is already too late for many who have died and the fear is that many more will succumb to the terrible conditions in which they are kept.

However, far-right members of Netenyahu’s coalition have all but rejected a ceasefire, while more moderate members want one. This has led to tensions with the opposition National Union party that is part of the emergency war cabinet.

People attend a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, on May 11 2024.
Atef Safadi / EPA

Hanging over the ceasefire negotiations is the question of what comes next for Gaza after the war. The current framework under discussion in Cairo is a 42-day ceasefire deal, with a discussion over a more permanent cessation of hostilities referred to as “sustainable calm”.

The Israeli government has no realistic plan for the “day after” other than an Israel military presence and some unspecified Palestinian civil administration. In other words, a return to the situation before the war but with an Israeli military occupation of Gaza. This is a recipe for recreating the conditions that led to the October 7 massacres. It would bring neither security to Israel nor peace for the Palestinians.

One of Israel’s former prime ministers, Ehud Olmert, has argued it is in Israel’s interests to set a new agenda for Israelis and Palestinians. For him, the Israeli hostages should be returned in exchange for an end to the war.

That should be followed with Israel withdrawing from the Gaza strip and being replaced by an international peacekeeping force that is preferably Arab-led. And in the longer-term, concrete steps must be taken towards establishing a Palestinian state.

Olmert understands that politics must determine military action. Unfortunately, the Israeli government and Hamas want military action to shape their politics. This is not to say there will not be a ceasefire in Gaza, but it does not bode well for future peace in the Middle East. Läs mer…

As I write these lines, I mourn the passing of Carlos Fernandes, a leading queer activist and organiser in Angola. Carlos was found dead in his home earlier this year under circumstances that are still being investigated.

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) people everywhere, there has commonly been a profound connection between remembrance and mourning. It’s not a coincidence, for example, that queer archives flourished in the 1980s and 1990s at a time when the HIV epidemic brought with it the lived experience of loss.

Since then, there have been a growing number of institutions committed to preserving the history of LGBTIQ+ people. In South Africa, the GALA Queer Archive was created in 1997. In 2013, Carlos became a co-founder of Angola’s first queer organisation, Associação Íris Angola. Back then, as now, remembering the past can be an act of building community and healing.

Read more:
Queer life in Africa is also full of joy – remembering the carnival in Mozambique

In 2019, Angola reformed its colonial-era penal code. The country decriminalised same-sex relations and made discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal. But despite this progress, economic exclusion, stigma and discrimination remain common experiences for many queer Angolans. This is especially true for transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

A couple of years ago, Carlos was an interlocutor in an oral history project on queer activism in Angola. This was a collaboration between GALA Queer Archive and the Arquivo de Identidade Angolano (Angolan Identity Archive), a women-led queer organisation. Led by myself, the research aimed to compile an archive of queer life in Angola.

Our main findings, published in a paper in Portuguese, shed light on the bodies, experiences and desires of people excluded from national history due to their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Based on life history interviews and archival research, it indicates that there is a place for sexual and gender diversity in Angola’s history. In doing so, it adds to the work already being done by activists and organisations, to whom this history belongs.

Before colonialism

Anti-queer discourse in Africa today tends to argue that homosexuality has no roots in the continent, that it was introduced by Europeans. As elsewhere, our research in Angola shows the precise opposite.

In the writings of missionaries, for instance, one finds references to Queen Nzinga (1583-1663). She resisted early Portuguese colonisation and was described as defying European gender roles and dressing codes.

Mural in Luanda portraying Angolan national icons Queen Nzinga (left) and former president Agostinho Neto.
Caio Simões de Araújo

In another example, as early as 1591, Francisco “Xica” Manicongo faced trial in Brazil for practising sodomy and refusing to dress like a man. Originally from Angola and trafficked to the Americas as a slave, Manicongo is today celebrated as one of the first queer icons of the South Atlantic.

Colonialism

Angola was colonised by Portugal from the late 1500s. At different points in time, the Portuguese introduced measures that imposed a binary gender system and regulated sexuality. This included anti-sodomy laws, a medical system that considered homosexuality a disease, and the censorship of materials considered “immoral”.

Colonial school textbooks used in Angola in the 1960s, for instance, worked to propagate gender roles. The ideal African girl was defined by the virtues of domesticity, such as completing house chores and caring for the family. A health pamphlet dating from 1965 identified “homosexualism” as a vector of venereal diseases. These materials set gender-nonconformity and same-sex desire as “deviant” and harmful to society.

Independence, civil war and democracy

Angola became independent in 1975. The country quickly fell into a civil war between the ruling party and the opposition. In 2002, the end of the conflict opened a path to national reconciliation and multiparty democracy.

Much has been written about the political and economic opening up of Angola in the 1990s and 2000s. Yet, LGBTIQ+ people have been largely left out of this history. Which is not to say, of course, that they did not exist.

Transgender pop star Titica.

In the late 1990s, in fact, a queer presence grew in the world of culture and entertainment. The Miss Angola beauty pageant, for example, relied heavily on the expertise of openly gay professionals such as hairdressers, make-up artists and fashion designers. For many, the late 2000s and early 2010s brought about a significant change in visibility and social life. Queer content and celebrities, such as the singer Titica, made it onto TV. Queer parties began to be held periodically in Luanda. This was, indeed, a “revolutionary phase” according to transgender activist Imanni da Silva.

LGBTIQ+ activism today

In southern Africa, the HIV and AIDS crisis directed unprecedented amounts of funding and public attention to matters of sexuality. This opened new opportunities for LGBTIQ+ activism, which developed a more structured outlook. Activists and their organisations gained the ability to enter into dialogue with the state and other strategic partners.

Queer activism in Angola has grown significantly in the last few years, embracing a multitude of areas of intervention. This includes various activities in support of visibility and community building, such as the iconic Festíris. Held for the first time in 2016, this LGBTIQ+ cultural festival celebrates the community and its allies by hosting social gatherings, cultural events and public discussions.

Various collectives are today advancing particular goals. Some have a specific focus on trans people (Movimento Eu Sou Trans and Movimento T), queer men (Diversidade Masculina), lesbian and bisexual women (Lesbianidade Consciente and Angolan Identity Archive) and queer media (Queer People) to name just a few.

Remembering the future

Created in 2017, Angolan Identity Archive is one of the organisations in Angola actively working on queer memory. As artivist Pamina Sebastião explained, going back to history allows us to make a more informed intervention in the present, but also helps shape a desired future:

The archive is the future … it is about being able to say that we exist.

An archive makes us remember. By remembering, we forge a path. By the time of his passing, Carlos Fernandes was working on a documentary to celebrate 10 years of LGBTIQ+ activism in Angola. I don’t know when the film will come out, but the need to remember remains strong. As Líria de Castro, current director of Angolan Identity Archive, says:

We need to create our own history … to learn where we were, where we are, where we want to go. Läs mer…

Every day, 750 million people around the world engage with Tiktok – the short-video sharing app. Kenyans are among its top users.

According to a Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023, 54% of Kenyans sampled used TikTok for general purposes, the highest proportion among the countries in the survey. They also use TikTok to express themselves and connect with others. The app, launched in 2018, has become an integral part of social media culture, offering a space for creativity, entertainment and community interaction. It’s particularly known for its memetic videos, which often feature lip-syncing, dance routines and comedic skits.

But the Kenyan government, like others across the world, is considering various restrictions – from outright bans to more limited controls. The government has cited internal security threats for its stand, saying TikTok is increasingly being exploited in Kenya to spread propaganda, carry out fraud and distribute sexual content.

Based on my research as a scholar of literature, I believe that Kenya can do a lot of good as a country by looking for ways to make this app work more efficiently for local content creators instead of shrinking its use.

In my research, I have examined the positive uses of social media platforms in Kenya. In a paper published in 2021, I looked at how social media could help victims of crimes get justice. More recently, I published a paper in which I argued that TikTok is an embryonic component in a growing Africa and a crucial pointer to evaluating group dynamics.

By studying the audiences targeted by the TikTok content creators, especially what content they like, share and comment on, we can understand what Africans want or yearn for in the present and in future. Therefore, TikTok serves as a useful tool to understand what young people are interested in and how they behave.

In addition, Kenyans are increasingly using TikTok to challenge patriarchal and colonial narratives about Africa. Through their creative outputs shared on the platform, Kenyan TikTokers are greatly influencing the arts elsewhere.

A restriction of TikTok use would silence this success story prematurely. In my view, the government should be looking at ways of easing access to the platform to boost its use among Kenyans rather than restricting it.

Female Kenyan voices and TikTok

Across Africa, TikTok is opening up and delocalising indigenous knowledge hidden within the popular song genre. Through TikTok, this hidden knowledge is put out there, in the virtual space, for all to see. My paper found that the knowledge that local people have relied on for centuries is being relocated into online spaces. This deliberate re-situation of African popular knowledge in online spaces has placed African indigenous knowledge at the centre of discussions around the human question.

The paper showed how African female content creators have used TikTok’s space to dissolve epistemological (nature of knowledge) and ontological (view of reality) boundaries by creatively archiving and curating Black voices into what was the realm of Northern thought.

African women have introduced their voices and ideas to users elsewhere in the world. Two Kenyan TikTokers, Vivian Taabu (@Swiry-Nyar-Kano) and Azziad Nasenya (@azz_iad), for instance, use TikTok to debunk the dominant ideologies and structures that have shaped the lives and roles of women throughout history through the revival of particular “forgotten” African knowledge. It includes women as givers of life, through birth, and as healers who use particular herbs.

Through this revival on TikTok, African women content creators promote African life, histories and cultures. Women use the same space and tools to engender African music and dance for African renewal. This means that African music and dance holds a key to Africa recognising itself and its place among nations.

From my findings, I conclude that TikTok is the new canvas for visualising indigenous knowledge within popular literary meditations in Africa. It provides a space that has placed contemporary African art forms at the centre of transformative possibilities. Therefore, the contemporary art re-situated in the virtual space of TikTok is a new form of art – one in which the fundamental relationships between creator and consumer, product and platform, are radically renegotiated. The paper concludes that African music on TikTok is an epistemological tool that communicates context and community-specific knowledge.

What’s missing

Artists in Kenya are already raking in dollars from TikTok. This has mainly been through brand sponsorship, product selling and affiliate marketing. For artists, TikTok has given content creators a platform to show off their creativity and talents through short videos.

But Kenya’s government should be addressing the lack of a working policy governing TikTok use in the country. The platform needs to be properly regulated, not to control but to make its use more equitable in Kenya.

There are three areas that need particular attention.

Firstly, there is no TikTok Creator Fund in Kenya. TikTok Creator Fund is a TikTok loyalty programme that pays TikTok content creators according to the number of views their content attracts. The absence of the fund means TikTokers cannot be paid for their content directly by the app but through other means like brand sponsorship, selling products, or tips and donations. If this fund was operational, earning from content creation would motivate creators to produce high quality content.

Secondly, policies are needed to safeguard users while respecting their freedom of expression.

Thirdly, regulation is needed to protect underage children from harmful TikTok content. This can be done by restricting access to the target audience.

In conclusion, it is important to encourage the establishment and support of those spaces that share the African story with the world. Läs mer…

Every day, 750 million people around the world engage with Tiktok – the short-video sharing app. Kenyans are among its top users.

According to a Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023, 54% of Kenyans sampled used TikTok for general purposes, the highest proportion among the countries in the survey. They also use TikTok to express themselves and connect with others. The app, launched in 2018, has become an integral part of social media culture, offering a space for creativity, entertainment and community interaction. It’s particularly known for its memetic videos, which often feature lip-syncing, dance routines and comedic skits.

But the Kenyan government, like others across the world, is considering various restrictions – from outright bans to more limited controls. The government has cited internal security threats for its stand, saying TikTok is increasingly being exploited in Kenya to spread propaganda, carry out fraud and distribute sexual content.

Based on my research as a scholar of literature, I believe that Kenya can do a lot of good as a country by looking for ways to make this app work more efficiently for local content creators instead of shrinking its use.

In my research, I have examined the positive uses of social media platforms in Kenya. In a paper published in 2021, I looked at how social media could help victims of crimes get justice. More recently, I published a paper in which I argued that TikTok is an embryonic component in a growing Africa and a crucial pointer to evaluating group dynamics.

By studying the audiences targeted by the TikTok content creators, especially what content they like, share and comment on, we can understand what Africans want or yearn for in the present and in future. Therefore, TikTok serves as a useful tool to understand what young people are interested in and how they behave.

In addition, Kenyans are increasingly using TikTok to challenge patriarchal and colonial narratives about Africa. Through their creative outputs shared on the platform, Kenyan TikTokers are greatly influencing the arts elsewhere.

A restriction of TikTok use would silence this success story prematurely. In my view, the government should be looking at ways of easing access to the platform to boost its use among Kenyans rather than restricting it.

Female Kenyan voices and TikTok

Across Africa, TikTok is opening up and delocalising indigenous knowledge hidden within the popular song genre. Through TikTok, this hidden knowledge is put out there, in the virtual space, for all to see. My paper found that the knowledge that local people have relied on for centuries is being relocated into online spaces. This deliberate re-situation of African popular knowledge in online spaces has placed African indigenous knowledge at the centre of discussions around the human question.

The paper showed how African female content creators have used TikTok’s space to dissolve epistemological (nature of knowledge) and ontological (view of reality) boundaries by creatively archiving and curating Black voices into what was the realm of Northern thought.

African women have introduced their voices and ideas to users elsewhere in the world. Two Kenyan TikTokers, Vivian Taabu (@Swiry-Nyar-Kano) and Azziad Nasenya (@azz_iad), for instance, use TikTok to debunk the dominant ideologies and structures that have shaped the lives and roles of women throughout history through the revival of particular “forgotten” African knowledge. It includes women as givers of life, through birth, and as healers who use particular herbs.

Through this revival on TikTok, African women content creators promote African life, histories and cultures. Women use the same space and tools to engender African music and dance for African renewal. This means that African music and dance holds a key to Africa recognising itself and its place among nations.

From my findings, I conclude that TikTok is the new canvas for visualising indigenous knowledge within popular literary meditations in Africa. It provides a space that has placed contemporary African art forms at the centre of transformative possibilities. Therefore, the contemporary art re-situated in the virtual space of TikTok is a new form of art – one in which the fundamental relationships between creator and consumer, product and platform, are radically renegotiated. The paper concludes that African music on TikTok is an epistemological tool that communicates context and community-specific knowledge.

What’s missing

Artists in Kenya are already raking in dollars from TikTok. This has mainly been through brand sponsorship, product selling and affiliate marketing. For artists, TikTok has given content creators a platform to show off their creativity and talents through short videos.

But Kenya’s government should be addressing the lack of a working policy governing TikTok use in the country. The platform needs to be properly regulated, not to control but to make its use more equitable in Kenya.

There are three areas that need particular attention.

Firstly, there is no TikTok Creator Fund in Kenya. TikTok Creator Fund is a TikTok loyalty programme that pays TikTok content creators according to the number of views their content attracts. The absence of the fund means TikTokers cannot be paid for their content directly by the app but through other means like brand sponsorship, selling products, or tips and donations. If this fund was operational, earning from content creation would motivate creators to produce high quality content.

Secondly, policies are needed to safeguard users while respecting their freedom of expression.

Thirdly, regulation is needed to protect underage children from harmful TikTok content. This can be done by restricting access to the target audience.

In conclusion, it is important to encourage the establishment and support of those spaces that share the African story with the world. Läs mer…

The World Health Organization recently announced an outbreak of hepatitis E in the eastern Ouaddai province of Chad. Between January and April 2024, 2,093 suspected hepatitis E cases were reported from two health districts. The Conversation Africa asked Kolawole Oluseyi Akande, a consultant gastroenterologist and hepatologist, to explain the causes, symptoms, spread and treatment of hepatitis E.

What is hepatitis and how many types are there?

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. It is the way the liver responds to various injuries or harmful agents.

Hepatitis is caused by a variety of infectious viruses and noninfectious agents, leading to a range of health problems, some of which can be fatal.

Common causes include viruses (viral hepatitis), excessive consumption of alcohol (alcohol hepatitis), excessive fat in the liver (steato-hepatitis), drugs and toxins (toxic hepatitis) and autoimmunity (autoimmune hepatitis).

There are also a number of types of the disease. The most common, especially in developing countries like Chad, are the viral hepatitides. There are five main viruses that cause viral hepatitides. They are hepatitis A, B, C, D and E viruses. They are not strains of the same virus but different viruses. The outbreak in Chad was of hepatitis E.

All the various types of hepatitis cause liver disease but differ in modes of transmission, severity of the illness, geographical distribution and prevention methods. An estimated 354 million people globally live with hepatitis B or C.

Globally, approximately 939 million (1 in 8) individuals have ever experienced hepatitis E infection. Fifteen million to 110 million individuals have recent or ongoing hepatitis E infection as at 2020. It is widespread with prevalence rates of 21.8%, 15.8%, 9.3%, 8.5% and 7.3% in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America respectively. Its presentation ranges from asymptomatic to severe acute failure which can lead to death.

How does hepatitis E spread?

Of the eight genotypes of hepatitis E virus, four are known to affect humans.

Genotypes 1 and 2 are spread by faeco-oral routes, especially through drinking contaminated water. This is why these types of hepatitis E are common in underdeveloped countries of Asia and Africa with poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and lack of safe drinking water.

They are the types that can affect large numbers of people in epidemics. Genotypes 3 and 4 are spread through ingestion of contaminated meat, especially swine, goats and cattle, and sometimes through contamination of water by faeces of animals.

So, these are diseases of animals that can spread to humans (zoonotic diseases) and therefore tend to affect people who deal with animals like farmers, butchers and veterinarians.

There is evidence that hepatitis E virus can be spread through blood transmission. A few developed countries, such as the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France and Japan, have incorporated hepatitis E RNA screening of blood donations before transfusion. The RNA screening is the most reliable way of detecting hepatitis E virus in the blood or stool.

What are the risks to humans?

Hepatitis E is a global health problem with about 20 million cases occurring annually, three million symptomatic cases and 60,000 deaths.

Hepatitis E can cause acute hepatitis without symptoms, or mildly symptomatic, or sometimes severely symptomatic illness. Pregnant women are more likely to experience severe illness. It could also be severe in people with already established liver diseases, the elderly, and those whose immunity is low (immunocompromised).

In a survey of 177 asymptomatic food handlers across 12 restaurants in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria, we found 9% had evidence of acute hepatitis E in their blood. Asymptomatic people with hepatitis E virus can transmit the virus if their blood is given to another person.

In pregnancy it can lead to severe disease or death of the mother and the baby. The mortality rate in pregnancy may be as high as 30%.

Symptoms of hepatitis include malaise, weakness, yellowness of the eyes, upper abdominal pain, dark urine and if there is liver failure, alteration in the level of consciousness and bleeding tendencies.

Hepatitis E is not distinguishable, based on symptoms and signs, from other forms of viral hepatitis. Hepatitis E is the most frequent cause of acute hepatitis globally. In certain circumstances, especially in organ transplant patients, hepatitis E can lead to chronic hepatitis (lasting for more than three months) and this can lead to liver cirrhosis. This is quite common in developed countries where there are many organ transplant patients who are on immunosuppressive medications.

Is it preventable?

Yes. What’s needed is adequate personal hygiene, proper waste disposal systems and the provision of safe and clean water. Another way to prevent hepatitis E is to avoid uncooked or undercooked meat.

A study suggests that heating food to 71°C for 20 minutes could inactivate hepatitis E virus.

There is also a vaccine against hepatitis E available in China, but this is not widespread yet.

Read more:
Why Nigeria must find everyone who has hepatitis and doesn’t know it

How is it controlled?

Treatment of hepatitis E when symptomatic includes bed rest and avoidance of drugs and substances that can further damage the liver.

Ribavirin and interferon alpha are drugs that are sometimes used, although not for pregnant women.

Those with acute liver failure or liver cirrhosis may need a liver transplant. Läs mer…

Note this piece contains spoilers for seasons two and three of Bridgerton

Netflix’s Regency-inspired romance series Bridgerton has returned in all its garish glory (at least if you’re a Featherington) for the show’s much-anticipated third season.

Transporting viewers once again into the glittering world of high society scandal, gossip and romantic intrigue, this latest instalment shifts the focus to Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), and their will-they-won’t-they courtship.

Based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling historical fantasy novels, this season is the first to depart from the reading order of the books. Quinn’s third novel An Offer From a Gentleman – which chronicles the second eldest, Benedict Bridgerton’s story – is passed over, at least for now, in favour of the friends-to-lovers narrative arc in Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the fourth novel.

Unlike the steamier, earlier seasons, we see the contours of a slightly more serious, mature, and emotionally complex Bridgerton storyline emerge in the first four episodes of season three – one that is based around identity, self-acceptance, and romantic attachment.

With its usual intoxicating blend of drama and Regency opulence, Bridgerton’s latest chapter maintains the series’ signature vibrancy and irreverence. Nevertheless, changes are afoot.

More gossip, scandal and intrigue

At the end of season two, we saw Penelope reeling from two devastating heartbreaks.

The notorious Lady Whistledown, the society scandal writer, has propelled each season forward as narrator (voiced by Julie Andrews). In season two, the audience was brought in on the deceit as her identity was revealed to be none other than Penelope Featherington.

As the ruse became more complicated, we watched as Penelope’s attempts to hide her identity lead her to betray her friend Eloise Bridgerton. The pair fall out as Eloise discovers who Whistledown really is. Moments after, Penelope is dealt a second blow when she overhears Colin Bridgerton (for whom she has harboured a crush) laughing at the idea he would ever court her.

This is the state of affairs for the poor Miss Featherington as she enters her “third year on the marriage mart with no prospects to show for it”.

In the hierarchical world of early 19th century society, matrimonial alliances were rarely guided by matters of the heart. For fashionable society, marriage was a pragmatic undertaking, vital for securing financial stability and status.

Unmarried women who didn’t possess their own fortunes, like Penelope and Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) – also entering her third season – were considered a financial burden and an embarrassment to their families. It brings to mind the brilliant line Emma Thompson wrote for Charlotte Lucas in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice:

I’m 27 years old, I’ve no money and no prospects. I’m already a burden to my parents. And I’m frightened.

Stigmatised, dependent and relegated to the peripheries of society, the spinster was heavily criticised in William Hayley’s A Philosophical, Historical and Moral Essay on Old Maids (1785), which presented many of the stereotypes about spinsters that persisted in the early 19th century.

In her third season out and in need of a husband, Penelope enlists the help of Colin Bridgerton who seems to move in society with so much ease.
Liam Daniel/Neftlix

Rather than risk being stuck “on the wall forever” and under her mother’s control, Penelope turns her attention to finding a suitable husband.

She dispenses with her citrus-coloured gowns and gives herself a makeover by adopting the latest Parisian fashions. While such costume flourishes in period pieces often play with notions of historical accuracy, Penelope’s Regency glow-up signals her marriageability. In the 19th century, an upper class woman’s dress and outward appearance played a crucial role in attracting a suitable suitor.

She even enlists Colin’s help (the most eligible bachelor of the London season) to find a husband, but the plan soon goes awry. Cue a tale of seeing someone who’s always been there differently.

But while Colin and Penelope’s slow-burn romance takes centre stage, season three also sets its sights on the developing characters and courtships of the other Bridgerton siblings.

A maturing drama

There will be much joy in the return of proto-feminist and firm fan favourite Eloise Bridgerton. Still uttering her witty quips, we see a slightly more mature Eloise this season. Appearing to eschew her more radical ideals, she grudgingly accepts her need to enter into society and marry well.

At the start of the show, she admits that she is reading and enjoying Jane Austen’s romance novel Emma (first published in 1815). “The writings I read before of women making their way outside society – those were the romances. This book has humour and truth, the pains of friendship. It is altogether more probable,” she remarks.

The reference to Emma reinforces the many connections that have been drawn between the show and Austen’s Regency novels, which are similarly preoccupied with marriage and social status.

Cressida Cowper is desperate for a husband in this season and Eloise Bridgerton is much more understanding of marriage than ever as attempts to help her.
Liam Daniel/Neftlix

Like the voice of Lady Whistledown narrating the dramas of high society in Bridgerton, Emma’s omniscient, satirical narrator delights in charting the romantic intrigues and social missteps of the titular Emma Woodhouse.

And although it is Colin and not Eloise who will attempt to act as matchmaker, there are clear parallels between the two independent and (at least initially) marriage-averse female protagonists.

As Emma declares:

I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! But I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature, and I do not think I ever shall”.

Like Emma, will Eloise come to see that romance and love aren’t that bad after all?

Bridgerton season three is everything it promised to be. Balancing frothy romantic fantasy with issues of female autonomy and self-actualisation, it is truly engaging viewing. Läs mer…

When he was opposition leader, Bill Shorten faced Coalition criticism for attacking “the top end of town”, a phrase he used in his 2019 budget reply.

Now Peter Dutton is finding the line “billions of dollars for billionaires” has a useful ring about it, as he resorts to populism, with a distinct anti-big business slant in his denunciation of this week’s budget.

In his budget reply on Thursday night, Dutton tapped into the electorally emotive issues of housing and immigration, with the new measures he put forward. It was a logical path to take.

The housing crisis is deep, with many young and not-so-young Australians unable to get into the market because of the cost and shortage of properties. There is a separate but related crisis in the rental market.

There are too many people for too few homes. The government has a raft of policies to try to deal with this, but it won’t meet its own target of 1.2 million new homes over five years.

The crisis has turned the public’s eyes onto immigration, which soared post-pandemic.

Immigration is always a sensitive issue and Labor tries to accuse Dutton of “dog whistling”.

This doesn’t wash – because the government itself recognised the level of immigration has become a major problem. It is taking steps to get the numbers down to a more manageable intake, especially by capping overseas student enrolments, with a link to investment in student accommodation. Dutton would go further on immigration numbers.

It is not a question of whether we should have a debate about immigration. It is a matter of what changes should be made to its components, especially to ensure adverse or unintended consequences are avoided.

Australia draws immense benefits from migration and whatever is done, we need to continue to get the people with the skills we require. And, as a rich nation, we also need to meet our humanitarian obligations.

Dutton in his budget reply proposed cutting the permanent migration program from 185,000 to 140,000 for two years, with modest rises after that to 160,000. He said there’d be visas for those needed in construction. But what about other skills?

The Dutton pitch on immigration will likely go down well with many voters. But there are more details the opposition will have to provide in coming days, as the experts dissect his proposal. And would Dutton’s plan, which also involves restrictions on foreign buyers, in fact free up the more than 100,000 extra homes over five years that he promises?

Regardless of that, his plan to slash the refugee intake by thousands is not where Australia should be going.

Immediately after the budget, the Coalition homed in on two measures – the $300 energy relief, because it wasn’t means tested, and the promised tax breaks for green hydrogen and critical minerals processing.

The fact the $300 goes to everybody received some community blowback, and the opposition chimed in. Dutton told an interviewer: “I don’t understand why you and I, on high incomes, need to get that assistance. Frankly, I think the money would be better provided by way of support to those more in need.”

Peter Dutton acknowledges the public galleries after delivering his Budget Reply speech.
Lukas Coch/AAP

The government argues there is no existing mechanism to means test. More importantly, however, if many fewer people received the relief, its impact on reducing inflation – a key objective of the government – would be much reduced.

In his budget reply, Dutton reconfirmed that, despite its criticism, the Coalition won’t oppose the universal energy relief. It’s a very different matter with the tax breaks for green energy projects.

In a major swipe at some of the big miners, Dutton told the ABC earlier this week: “I just think people like Clive Palmer and people like Twiggy Forrest and others at the moment are great business people – they know how to milk a pretty weak government, and I think that’s what they’re doing at the moment.”

He said in his budget reply: “Magic pudding spending and a $13.7 billion on corporate welfare for billionaires doesn’t help the economy, or make your life easier”.

He said the Coalition “will not spend $13.7 billion on corporate welfare for green hydrogen and critical minerals. These projects should stand up on their own without the need for taxpayer’s money.”

Admittedly, the opposition faced a dilemma in relation to these tax breaks. It is critical of the government’s Future Made in Australia interventionist industry policy and the proposed tax breaks are at the heart of that policy.

On the other hand, to go in so hard against them, signalling it will fight the legislation, will come at a political cost that potentially could be substantial. Some would see this as crazy brave, given the likely popularity of the measure in Western Australia – the state where Dutton needs to regain some of the clutch of seats Labor won in 2022.

Dutton has already found himself at odds with the federal opposition’s counterparts in WA.

WA Opposition Leader Shane Love (a National) said this week the production tax incentive for critical minerals “has been long called for by the opposition and the resources sector”.

“This incentive has the potential to provide much-needed relief to get our critical minerals industry back into the game.” Love’s complaint was it wouldn’t start until 2027.

WA Liberal Leader Libby Mettam also backed the critical minerals move. “It’s something that I will raise with my federal colleagues,” she said. “We will always stand up for Western Australia.”

It’s not surprising the WA Liberals and Nationals are speaking out. Those in WA politics are always first and foremost flag carriers for their state’s interests. And there is a state election in the west early next year.

WA federal Liberal backbencher Rick Wilson, with nickel jobs under threat in his O’Connor electorate, was also supportive of the subsidy.

The other problem for Dutton is the strategic importance of critical minerals. The Americans will welcome Australia encouraging processing – although the subsidies will be in competition with their own – because of the grip the Chinese have on the critical minerals supply chain.

Once again, heat will come on Dutton for not saying in his budget reply what he would do on central issues such as tax.

For an opposition to hold back key policies can be a sound strategy. But only if, when eventually produced, those policies measure up.

Dutton’s earlier intention to release the nuclear policy before the budget, and his subsequent failure to do so for unexplained reasons, has generated a real doubt. Is this opposition up to the policy rigour that it needs to have to be credible at the election? Läs mer…

Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico remains in a serious condition after an assassination attempt on May 15. He was shot multiple times at close range after coming out of a meeting at a cultural centre in the town of Handlová. A man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder.

The 59-year-old Fico has been in office since October 2023, but also served two previous terms as prime minister, from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He founded the Direction–Social Democracy (Smer–SD) party in 1999, and has led that party since its foundation. His political positions have been described as populist.

Many European countries these days are seriously politically divided, are suffering from populism, the use of fake news and hate speech. Slovakia is very negatively affected by these influences, with its rural population particularly at risk. A recent survey suggested only a minority of the Slovak population agree that Russia is to blame for the war. A large number of Slovaks also believe the COVID pandemic was a scam and that vaccines cause death.

Fico led his party Smer to a landslide election victory in 2012. But by March 2018, a political crisis had engulfed his government following the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his girlfriend. Kuciak had been investigating corruption in the highest circles in Slovak politics, and potential links between Slovakian politicians and the Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia clan.

Although nothing concrete was found against Fico personally, his handling of the situation caused his coalition partners to withdraw from government and he was forced to resign. In 2022, Fico was charged with organised crime offences but his immunity as a member of parliament saved him from arrest. Fico denied the charges and blamed “criminal structures” in the police for the accusations against him.

A pro-western government took over but its perceived incompetence in handling the COVID pandemic meant that it lost again to Fico in October 2023. Ahead of his election that year, Fico vowed to end military support for Ukraine. And since returning to office, the Fico government has refused to join a Czech-led coalition of about 20 states in procuring military aid for Ukraine.

Relations with the European Union have been tense in this sense, too. Fico has criticised Brussels’ policies on supporting Ukraine, and backed Hungary in its attempts to block an EU aid package for the war effort. He has, however, more recently softened his stance and has insisted he will not block Ukraine’s application to become an EU member state.

Fico is taken into hospital by paramedics.
Alamy/AP/ Jan Kroslák

Fico’s recent domestic policies have been divisive, leading to protests in the streets just weeks before the attempt on his life. An ongoing controversy over Fico’s attempts to crack down on media freedom have triggered demonstrations in Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava.

All this considered, however, an assassination attempt has been made against an elected leader of a European country. Slovakia’s president, Zuzana Čaputová, has called for calm and urged the public not to leap to conclusions about the motive for the attack. In a short speech, she said the incident is not only an attack on a person but also on democracy itself. Campaigning for the impending European elections has been suspended. The Slovak situation is now extremely dangerous, and cool heads are needed to avoid an escalation of tension. Läs mer…

Americans have been challenging books at an unprecedented rate. According to the American Library Association, people requested that more than 4,200 titles be removed from public and school libraries in 2023, the highest number in a single year since the ALA started tracking more than 20 years ago.

These challenges are compounded by new and proposed legislation in many states. Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, for example, prohibits schools from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in many grades, while a 2022 Missouri law makes sharing “explicit sexual material” in schools a misdemeanor. Such mandates have led librarians to pull materials from shelves.

Material written by or about LGBTQ+ people is often at the heart of book challenges and legislation.

“More and more, we’re seeing challenges that say, simply, This book has a gay character, or, This book deals with L.G.B.T.Q. themes, even if it has no sexuality in it,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, told The New York Times in April 2024.

As a scholar of medieval literature and religion, I’ve been struck by the resonances between modern and medieval censorship of queer texts. Both have been shaped by a sort of “Don’t Say Gay” mindset: an assumption that even seeing or talking about LGBTQ+ themes poses a threat to children and society, regardless of how it’s done.

‘Unmentionable’ acts

Starting around the 11th century, European theologians and writers classified homosexual desire and sex as “sodomy,” a moral sin. Unlike more modern definitions of sodomy, the medieval category was wide-ranging. It was particularly associated with sexual or gendered sins “against nature” and often known as the “crimen nefandum,” the unmentionable vice.

Theologians, preachers and authors of courtly guidebooks expressed outrage at people’s continued “discovery” of sodomy and stressed the importance of suppressing any and all mentions of “deviant” sexuality.

This censorship was caught up in the sweeping clerical and episcopal reforms of the 11th and 12th centuries, although it extended far beyond. In these reform movements, sodomy was often represented as a threat to social stability because it upset gender hierarchies. Intimate relationships between male members of the clergy was thought to encourage corruption. Homosexual sex was seen as dangerous because it reversed strict gender expectations: passive sexual and social positions for women and active ones for men.

From celebration to silence

This fear of sodomy manifested in a silencing of homoerotic and homosexual material. Scholars debate the extent to which texts accused of being about “sodomy” were destroyed purely for its sexual content, because such charges were often used to justify destroying books authorities wanted to censor.

The more common and insidious form of censorship was erasure and modification, which took a variety of forms. In adapting and commenting on material from Greek and Roman history, medieval authors selectively chose not to include material describing homosexual intimacy and intercourse.

‘Bagoas Pleads on Behalf of Nabarzanes,’ a Persian commander, in a 15th century painting. Bagoas is depicted as a noble woman.
Getty Center/Wikimedia Commons

Histories of Alexander the Great transformed his eunuch lover Bagoas into a woman, Bagoe. Stories about queer relationships in the Roman poet Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” were reframed, turning romantic endings into cautionary tales.

One of Ovid’s tales describes how Iphis, assigned female at birth but raised as a boy, falls in love and finds happiness with a beautiful young woman named Ianthe. In “The Moralized Ovid,” a medieval version, the commentator tacks on a story that describes how such gender “trickery” is always found out and punished.

A similar pattern exists in original texts by medieval authors. Some stories prominently featured what people today would consider queer narratives: kissing games between men or young knights who wrestle with their gender identity. These stories might even seem to celebrate homoerotic relationships and gender transformation for hundreds of lines, only to resolve in abrupt endings that “corrected” them.

One particularly jarring example, the “Roman de Silence,” details the adventures of a heroic knight, Silence, who was assigned female at birth but lived most of his life as a man. At the poem’s conclusion, Silence is made to give up his knighthood, marry a king, and forced into a life of silent passivity.

Condemn, or keep quiet?

So provocative was the “unmentionable vice” that there was a reluctance to address these themes in medieval texts and teaching, even to critique them.

Normally, priests would counsel their parish about particular sins and how to avoid them. In “Instructions for Parish Priests,” however, 14th-century English preacher and writer John Mirk indicated priests should not discuss “sins against kynde,” or nature: “You shall your parish nothing teach,/ Nor of that sin no thing preach.”

Other texts were more explicit in their condemnation, like the 12th-century poet and theologian Alain de Lille’s “De planctu naturae,” or “The Complaint of Nature.” The poem launches a blistering attack, using metaphors that at once describe, condemn and obscure homosexual desire – for example, “He strikes on an anvil that admits no seeds.”

By controlling access to information, these medieval theologians and writers thought they could end “deviant” sexualities and gendered behavior. According to this logic, to never speak of sodomy – not even to condemn it – meant that no one would ever know of it and never engage in it.

Records in plain sight

The truth is that records of queer people and their lives from the Middle Ages are more plentiful than many people realize.

Iphis lies in bed while the goddess Isis takes her hand and changes her into a young man so she can marry Ianthe.
Rijksmuseum/Wikimedia Commons

Some historians previously overlooked or even deliberately obscured evidence of medieval queer history, literature and art. Trial records of medieval sex workers such as Eleanor Rykener speak to the ways people transgressed categories of gender and sexuality, often without evidence of criminal punishment. Saints’ lives carry the records of holy men and women who chose to live their lives according to their religious calling and not the gender they were assigned at birth. Works of mystical theology, such as Julian of Norwich’s “Showings,” described visionary experiences where God appeared as both man and woman, masculine and feminine, mother and father. Many religious devotional texts depicted monks tenderly embracing each other and included images of Christ giving birth to the church through his wounds from the crucifixion.

For all that there were efforts to silence the diverse range of medieval thought and experience, narratives that tested the boundaries of gender, sex and desire proliferated. Läs mer…