Rural tourism, which offers authentic cultural and nature-based experiences, is increasingly recognized as a vital tool for sustainable development. Ethiopia, with its rich rural landscapes and cultural heritage, holds immense potential for rural tourism, but the sector remains underdeveloped. This study assesses the facilitating conditions and challenges of rural tourism in Ethiopia using a mixed-methods approach. Results indicate that Ethiopia’s economic growth, improved rural infrastructure, large rural population, higher ethnic and religious diversity index, and 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites provide strong foundations for rural tourism. However, significant challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, limited marketing, restricted access to financing, ethnic conflicts, environmental degradation, and insufficient stakeholder cooperation hinder its growth. To address these barriers, the study proposes a model encompassing strategic investments in infrastructure, enhancing marketing and promotion, access to finance initiatives, conflict resolution strategies, sustainable tourism practices, enhancing stakeholder coordination, and supportive policy frameworks. By employing these strategies, Ethiopia can harness the full potential of its rural tourism sector, contributing to economic development and community well-being while promoting cultural preservation and environmental sustainability. Also, the proposed model is highly applicable to other developing economies that share similar contexts. Besides, given the importance of the seven fundamental pillars of the model, it remains relevant across tourism types like coastal destinations.

To fight inflation, European Central Bank (ECB) announced 10 successive interest rate hikes, starting on 27 July 2022, igniting an unprecedented widening of interest rate spreads in the euro area (ΕΑ). Greek banks, however, recorded among the highest interest rate spreads, far exceeding ΕΑ median and weighted average. Indeed, we document a strong asymmetric response of Greek banks to ECB interest rate hikes, with loan interest rates rising immediately, whilst deposit interest rates remained initially unchanged and then rose sluggishly. As a result, the interest rate spread hit one historical record after another. Greek systemic banks, probably taking advantage of the high concentration and low competition in the domestic sector benefited from key ECB interest rate hikes, recording gigantic increases in net interest income (NII), and consequently, substantial profits (almost €7.4 billion in the 2022–2023 biennium). Such excessive accumulation of profits (that deteriorates the living conditions of consumers) by the banking system could be called the inflation of “banking greed”, or bankflation. This new source of inflation created by the oligopolistic structure of the Greek banking sector counterworks the very reason for ECB interest rate increases and requires certain policy analysis recommendations in coping with it.

Water physico-chemical parameters, such as pH and salinity, play an important role in the larval development of Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of dengue fever. although the role of these two factors is known, the interaction between pH and salinity in various aquatic habitats is still not fully understood, especially in the context of endemic areas. this study explored how the interaction between pH and salinity affects the development of Aedes aegypti larvae in dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) endemic areas. this study used a pure experimental design with a posttest-only control group approach. Aedes aegypti instar iv larvae were obtained from eggs collected in north kolaka regency, a dhf endemic area. the independent variables tested were pH (6 and 8) and salinity (0.4 gr/L and 0.6 gr/L), with the control group using pH 7 and no salinity. a two-way anova test was used to evaluate the interaction between pH and salinity, followed by tukey’s hsd post-hoc test to compare treatment groups. the results showed that, independently, pH and salinity had no significant effect on larval survival. however, the interaction between the two variables had a significant effect (p < 0.001). the combination of pH 8 and salinity 0.4 gr/L resulted in the highest survival rate, while pH 6 and salinity 0.6 gr/L caused a significant decrease in larval survival. the combination of alkaline pH (pH 8) and low salinity (0.4 gr/L) is the optimal condition for Aedes aegypti larval survival. the results of this study highlight the importance of considering the interaction between pH and salinity in environmental-based vector control strategies in endemic areas. further research is needed to explore other factors, such as aquatic microbiota and environmental variations, that may affect mosquito larval development.

The National Fitness Program Plan (2021–2025) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) proposes to perfect the public service system for sports and fitness by 2025, make national sports and fitness more convenient, and advocate providing intelligent services for national fitness campaign. With the development of the Internet era, modern information technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence have been introduced into sports affairs, providing technical support for the optimization of the public service system for sports and fitness. Therefore, in the context of a national fitness campaign, intelligent sports service is an important link for promoting national fitness in various regions. Relevant workers should attach importance to promoting “physical fitness” with “intelligence” in the process of advancing national fitness program, and actively creating intelligent public services for national fitness. Focusing on the integration of modern information technology and sports affairs, with the implementation of the Plan as the research background, the construction of intelligent sports parks as the starting point, this article outlines the construction plan of intelligent sports parks based on the connotation summary of national fitness program and intelligent sports. At the same time, it analyzes the issues that intelligent sports parks need to pay attention to in providing public services for national fitness, and proposes countermeasures for the high-quality development of national fitness services in intelligent sports parks.

This study investigated the relationship between telecommunications development, trade openness and economic growth in South Africa. It determined explicitly if telecommunications development and trade openness directly impact economic growth or whether telecommunications strengthen or weaken the link between trade openness and economic growth using the ARDL bounds test methodology. The findings reveal that both telecommunications development indicators and trade openness significantly and positively impact South Africa’s GDP in the short and long terms. The study also found that control variables like internet usage and gross fixed capital formation significantly and positively influence GDP. Conversely, inflation was found to consistently affect GDP negatively and significantly. The findings from the ARDL cointegration analysis affirm a long-run economic relationship between the independent variables and GDP. The study also established that telecommunications development slightly distorts trade in the foreign trade-GDP nexus in South Africa. Despite this, the negative interaction effect is not substantial enough to overshadow the positive impact of trade openness on economic growth. From a policy perspective, the study recommends that South African policymakers prioritise enhancing local goods’ competitiveness in global markets and reducing trade barriers. It also advocates for improving the accessibility and affordability of telecommunications technologies to foster economic development.