THE THIRD ARAB REVOLT

The Arab spring is the third Arab revolt in less than a century.

CHINA: WAITING FOR NEW GOVERNMENT AND MAJOR REFORMS

A recurrent prediction of western politicians says that China, with its economic development, will inevitably transform itself into a democracy. Nonetheless, after five weeks traveling around the country, I have no doubt that if there were elections today, the Communist Party (CCP) would win elections with a wide majority.

CAPUT MUNDI

Coffee aficionados say that one of the finest cafes in the world is Rome's Sant'Eustachio, located in the city's historic centre. Since 1938 it has been the site of coffee pilgrimages and a must for the most ardent espresso devotees. The line often stretches far outside the shop.

DANIELLE MITTERRAND: TIRELESS CHAMPION OF FREEDOM

Danielle Mitterrand, one of the world's most prominent and extraordinary women, has died after a fearless lifelong fight for the poor and marginalised.

CHINA: THE ECONOMY GROWS WHILE CULTURAL IDENTITY DISAPPEARS

Xie Jing is 15 years old and belongs to the generation that in 2020, according to predictions, will see China transformed into the major world economic power. But Xie has no political or cultural interest. His generation is very different from previous ones. She lives in her own world, completely globalized, where the North American life style is the main reference point. She dresses herself as a North American teenager, listens to the same music, has the same idols and the same relation with the Internet and virtual world. The governmental newspaper, China Daily published two striking articles. On the 28th of October it revealed that electronic matrimony became very popular amongst youngsters. A game called cybermarriage registered one million participants in the first month. It is calculated that the electronic matrimonies have reached 30 million subscribers, and that 70% of the "married couples" are under 18.

BIOFUELS ARE NOT A SOLUTION TO THE CLIMATE AND ENERGY CRISIS

Science tells us that we are heading for a climate crisis, yet it is within our means to change course.

THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM

The relative dynamism of emerging economies over the past several years has meant that these countries, many of them in Asia, have come to play an ever-growing role in the world and to account for a larger share of economic activity. Adjusting politically and organisationally to shifts in economic power takes time. As we work towards a new equilibrium in international cooperation, new relationships and leadership patterns will inevitably emerge, just as they have throughout history.

GLOBAL FINANCE LOST IN CYBERSPACE

High-speed trading and cloud computing have far outrun government oversight and control.

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP COMES TO CUBA

Law 288 recently passed by the Cuban government finally made it legal to buy and sell private real estate on the island. Even the most hard-core of the Obama administration spokespeople have approved the development as "a positive step" in the process of change set in motion by the Cuban government and President Raul Castro.

THE ENVIRONMENT: RIO+20 MUST SPARK REAL ACTION

The objective of the Rio+20 Conference (4-6 June 2012) is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress made to date and the gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits, and address new and emerging challenges.

UNFREEZING DISARMAMENT

Since 2008, eloquent affirmations of the desirability and necessity of achieving a world without nuclear weapons have poured out from many quarters, not least from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US President Barack Obama. Yet the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva has displayed an impressive immunity to the marked shift in rhetoric, remaining mired in deadlock. Operating under an absolute rule of consensus, the UN-affiliated body has conducted no negotiations whatsoever since it produced the text of the agreement banning all nuclear test explosions in 1996.

THE WORLD SUMMIT ON MICROCREDIT AND THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSIVENESS

Opening a small shop in a town in Bangladesh, founding an artisans cooperative in Peru, setting up farm in sub-Saharan Africa, or encouraging the formation of economic alliances of women anywhere in the world -these are concrete examples of the goals of microcredit, a new financial system set in motion decades ago in Bangladesh by Professor Muhammad Yunus, a social leader who was awarded the Asturias Prize in 1998 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

HOW BRAZIL DODGED THE ECONOMIC CRISIS WHILE SLASHING HUNGER

Guiding the transition from one cycle of development to another is among of the most daunting tasks in politics.

NUTRITION AND POVERTY: RAISE THE MOTHERS AND THE CHILDREN WILL FOLLOW

For the next 1000 days, 75 million African children will be in the most critical development period of their lives.

SEVEN STEPS TO OVERCOME THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

There has been a growing wave of protests against the casino capitalism that brought us a series of economic crises and a growing gap between rich and poor, within and between countries. Inspired by the Arab spring, mass protests erupted in Israel, then the "Occupy Wall Street" movement began and is now spreading throughout the US, Europe, Japan, and Korea- so far only as protests without proposals.

BETTER AID MEANS BETTER DEVELOPMENT

Oxfam and major aid donors of the DAC, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are often on opposite sides of the fence. Today though, we are on the same side making sure that effective aid lifts people out of poverty. The DAC represents government donors and promotes ?better aid?. Oxfam?s job is to blow the whistle when the DAC fails.

LIBYA: WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE?

It is a safe assumption that people in general neither like nor love war, they prefer peace. There are distinguished prizes for peace, and peace people like Gandhi, Luther King., Dalai Lama and Mandela to name a few are revered by everyone. There is nothing similar for those who bomb, kill and rape. In consequence all wars and security and defence policies are legitimated by noble motives, among them the wish to maintain or create peace.

THE END OF RECOVERY AND THE START OF A NEW GLOBAL DOWNTURN

It is growing increasingly likely that the world will face renewed risks of instability and slowdown before fully recovering from the so-called Great Recession. This is largely because the fragility and imbalances that have built up over recent years as a result of misguided policies in the US and Europe cannot be easily undone, regardless of the policy pursued today.

THE NEW “GLOBAL SYSTEM”

Ten years from the attacks of September 11 and three years from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, what are the features of the new "global system"?

MICROFINANCE GROWS UP

The original Microcredit Summit was held in 1997. When delegates gathered nine years later at the Global Microcredit Summit in Halifax, Canada in 2006, it had just been announced that Muhammad Yunus would share the Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen Bank, the institution he founded decades before. A year earlier, the United Nations had celebrated the Year of Microcredit, and just one year later, the Microcredit Summit Campaign surpassed its goal set in 1997 of reaching 100 million of the world?s poorest families with credit for self employment and other financial and business services. Those were indeed heady times for microfinance.

BRAZIL: UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES FOR SOUTH-SOUTH COMMUNICATIONS

The power of the media has grown enormously across the world. The question of access to the new forms of information and communications is especially urgent in Brazil, which is growing increasingly prominent among the emerging nations because of its economic status and especially the entrance of great numbers of its population into the middle class and the ranks of consumers.