Should rich countries — or investors based there — be buying agricultural land in developing countries? That question is raised in Transnational Land Deals for Agriculture in the Global South, a report issued last year by the Land Matrix Partnership, a consortium of European ...

It took longer than anticipated, but there is finally a victor in Egypt’s first truly competitive presidential elections. Mr. Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, prevailed over former Gen. Ahmed Shafik. The outcome is symbolic on many levels, but most significantly because ...

A new comprehensive study of eyesight around the world has found that 80 to 90 percent of secondary school graduates in East Asia suffer from nearsightedness, or myopia. The new study, published in the Lancet medical journal recently, found that neither genes nor increased ...

Mr. Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, has been convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity. The judgment on April 26 by the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on the premise of the International Criminal Court in The Hague ...

The word “orangutan” comes from the Malay and Indonesian words meaning “person of the forest.” Unfortunately, soon there may be no forest and no “person,” either. The encroachment of palm oil companies into orangutans’ natural habitat and the illicit trade in baby orangutans have ...

Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victors,” but justice may be decided that way, too. In the 10 years since its inception, the International Criminal Court has found detractors who claim the court is biased. Supporters of the court argue that a ...

The scandal over the repellent way the World Bank president is appointed has obscured an equally scandalous situation: the appointment process of the rest of the senior managers at the bank and the International Monetary Fund. They too are selected through opaque, quota-driven negotiations ...

The last two decades were the era of hypermarkets — massive superstores that could dazzle customers with an astonishing array of standardized products. But there are signs that the superstore’s age of dominance may be over. In recent months, hypermarkets around the world — ...

President Vladimir Putin in Russia, President Bashar Assad in Syria and President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe are detested by many of their fellow countrymen who would like to see them overthrown and tried for human rights abuses. They depend on a close coterie of ...

While many dismiss China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) as a “rubber stamp,” its annual meeting provides valuable insight into the thinking in Beijing. This year’s 10-day conclave, which concluded earlier this week, was scrutinized particularly closely since China is set for a leadership transition ...

When India selected 126 French Rafale fighter aircraft (£13 billion) over the U.K.-manufactured Typhoon involving a consortium of European countries, some British politicians and commentators demanded that aid to “ungrateful” India, a fast-rising economic power, be stopped. The press dredged up Finance Minister Pranab ...