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The proportion of Africa’s agricultural land purchased or leased by investors since 2000, according to Land Matrix, a coalition of researchers and NGOs that released Thursday the world’s largest public database of international land deals. The Guardian reports the new portal represents the first time such a comprehensive list has been made public.
The amount, in US dollars, that will be invested in the Arctic over the next ten years, according to a Chatham House—Lloyd’s Risk Insight Report released this month. “Given the high risk/potentially high reward nature of Arctic investment, this figure could be significantly higher or lower,” notes the 60-page document, Arctic Opening: Opportunity and Risk in [...]
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took his moment at the podium at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul this week to reassert India’s commitment to nuclear energy. “We must continue to harness the numerous developmental benefits that nuclear science and technology offer, especially for developing countries,” Singh said in his speech at the summit. “Given India’s [...]
Mounting Pressure – Hot on the heels of allegations Monday by the BBC’s Panorama program that a News Corp. subsidiary company used a computer hacker to sabotage its biggest U.K. rival, the Australian Financial Review has now published details of a four-year probe into a secret unit within Rupert Murdoch’s company that it claims promoted [...]
More Syria Leaks – Al Jazeera reveals details from confidential Syrian intelligence and security documents handed over by one of the government’s most trusted officials who recently fled to Turkey. The trove shows President Bashar Assad’s strategy to suppress anti-government protests, including orders to stop protesters from getting into Damascus and detailed security plans for [...]
Supachai Panichpakdi, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, urging Asian governments to use tax revenue to fund social welfare programs.
Shattered Calm — An Afghan government delegation came under fire by Taliban militants in the early hours of Tuesday as they visited the village where a U.S. soldier is accused of killing 16 civilians. The Washington Post reports that the group, which included two brothers of President Hamid Karzai and senior defence officials, was unharmed although one Afghan [...]
Robert B. Zoellick, World Bank Group president, at the unveiling of ‘China 2030,’ a new report on China’s development strategy. Read more about China’s economy here.
Ned Parker, a former Los Angeles Times correspondent in Iraq, arguing, in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, that the country is on course to become a “failed state.” See TIME’s most recent Iraq coverage here.
The sinking of the Costa Concordia raises critical questions about maritime safety. The issue is particularly important in parts of South and East Asia, where millions of people rely on often poorly maintained ferries to get around. They brave bad weather and overcrowding, usually because there is no other option. Here are six examples of [...]
