Nigeria’s Twitch Streamers Battle the Buffer Wheel
Twitch, Amazon’s multibillion-dollar streaming platform, is on the rise in Nigeria, but young creators hoping to ride the slipstream of Afrobeats to internet stardom face an uphill battle with bandwidth and cultural buy-in.
A Greek Island’s First Settlers Weren’t Human
New archaeological finds on the Greek island of Naxos bear the hallmarks of Neanderthal craftsmanship, suggesting that this enigmatic hominid reached the area at the same time as humans, or even before them, and toppling the assumption that our species alone had the navigational nous and curiosity to colonize islands.
Inside Beirut’s Fight To Save Its Reading Culture
Lebanon’s bookshops once thrived as hubs of debate and dissent, but economic collapse, censorship and war have gutted Beirut’s literary scene. Still, readers, publishers and book cafes find inventive ways to resist and revive the culture of reading.
Uruguay’s Project Neptuno Is Dead, but Questions Remain
In July, Uruguay cancelled Project Neptuno, intended to secure Montevideo’s water supply following recent droughts. The controversial private-sector plan faced opposition over its constitutionality, environmental risks and high costs — and its revised, public-led replacement also has its critics.
A Police Officer’s Death Divides Bangladeshi Americans
The death of NYPD officer Didarul Islam brought rare recognition for Bangladeshi Americans in the force but, for the younger generations, shaped by post-9/11 surveillance and Black Lives Matter, it exposed painful questions about representation and belonging.