2010 is the Year of the Tiger. But according to the World Wildlife Fund “one of the world’s largest tiger populations could be wiped out this century as rising seas threaten to engulf their dwindling habitat in the coastal mangrove forests ofBangladesh, researchers said on Jan. 20. A projected sea-level rise of 11 inches (28 […]
Russian people are used to humiliation and oppression, but they always draw the line at Lake Baikal. This is a lesson that PM Vladimir Putin should have considered carefully before giving his chum and Russia’s richest man Oleg Deripaska (pictured above) the green light to begin polluting the UNESCO-protected national treasure. When the Soviet government […]
The Joint World Bank and IMF Financial Stability Assessment Program (FSAP) has just published its latest report on Bangladesh’s financial sector. Since 2003, when the last FSAP was published, Bangladesh’s financial sector has been improving steadily. Non-performing loans have decreased steadily throughout that time, while the total assets of banks doubled and credit given to […]
Not surprisingly, critics and opposition politicians found much to disparage and little to like in Jacob Zuma’s ambitious State of the Union speech. Independent Newspapers Group Deputy Political Editor Gaye Davis thinks that above all Zuma desperately needs a better speechwriter. The Democratic Alliance (DA), Independent Democrats (ID) and Congress of the People (COPE) have […]
The anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International believes that Kenya runs the risk of becoming a “failed state” because the bogged-down political process in that country means corruption is going unattended to. This seems like a dramatic, and not especially useful, overstatement. Kenya has had more than its share of difficulties, to be sure. But the […]
The European Union has extended most of the sanctions against Zimbabwe for another year, citing the lack of progress on negotiating for a new government. It is hard to argue the lack of progress part, but I am just not sure that continuing sanctions is part of the solution rather than part of the problem. […]
At The Boston Globe Derrick Z. Jackson reminds us that Nelson Mandela has prescient things to say about the global economic system more than ten years ago: When Mandela came to Harvard University in 1998 to receive an honorary degree, he said, “The current world financial crisis also starkly reminds us that many of the […]
The video depicting the death of Neda Agha-Soltan during the June 2009 protests in Iran has won the George Polk Award for Journalism. This video is the first anonymous video to win the award.
Vice President Joe Biden is on his way to the region, making stops for meetings with Israeli and the Palestinian Authority officials. The administration has focused on shuttle diplomacy to resume peace talks and pressure Israel to halt settlement activity. Special Envoy George Mitchell has been at the epicenter of this strategy, but Secretary of […]
The Mail and Guardian asks a range of South Africans where they were when Madiba was released from prison twenty years ago. The New York Times asked seven former political prisoners to write about what Mandela’s release meant to them.
Over at The Mail & Guardian Verashni Pillay has some fun at the expense of South Africa’s white liberals.
Nawaz Sharif present flowers to Justice Khawaja – daylife Saturday February 13 – The Chief Justice of Pakistan defied Presidential orders through a suo moto action against the Presidential notification for appointment of certain judges. Chief Justice, in a rare nightly emergency session, formed a three members bench that suspended two recommendations for judges’ appointment […]
Presidential campaign is underway in Sudan. The president Omar al-Bashir has allowed presidential election in what observers believe is an attempt to garner support and legitimacy in the face of the International Criminal Court indictment for his role in the Darfur conflict. Coming to power after a coup in 1989, Al-Bashir is promising new measures […]
In what will surely go down as one of the most important moves made possible by the American troop surge and shift to Gen. McChrystal’s COIN/Special Operations strategy, thousands of American, British soldiers, partnered with thousands more Afghan troops, are as we speak attempting to dislodge the Taliban from one of their strongest home bases […]
In a first for the city, Pune was struck by a terrorist attack that killed nine and injured 45 peoplelast night. A few foreigners are among those killed. An explosive left behind in a backpack at the German Bakery in Pune’s Koregaon Park area exploded at around 7.15 pm. The Home Minister P Chidambaram said in a […]