Soon, 100,000 Western soldiers will be in Afghanistan -four hundred of them Belgians. Nonetheless, year after year the insurgency gains terrain. Nato is running the military operation in Afghanistan and would like to hand itself a victory, as a present for its sixtieth anniversary later this year. In reality, the organisation has to pull all string ...

Youssou N’Dour (49) is the most famous African musician in history. In 2007, Time Magazine declared him one of the hundred most influential people in the world. A new documentary -Youssou N’Dour. I bring what I love- was screened In Amsterdam. MO* seized the opportunity to interview the voice of Senegal.

China is growing, but do the Chinese that produce our clothes, shoes, mobiles and laptops profit from it? Is it true, in other words, that globalization gives chances to the labouring people in developing countries? In september 2008, just before the onset of crisis, John Vandaele went to the Pearl River Delta, where twenty million migrant worke ...

Assam is one of the northeast states of India, known for its excellent tea but also for its long-lasting ethnic rebellions. Hundred thousand people where chased away from their homes by community violence in the beginning of October. A few weeks later a well-coordinated bombing campaign caused over 60 deaths. Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak give ...

Maritime transport is one of the vital arteries of the world economy: no less then 95 percent of all goods traded are transported by sea. When this goes wrong, often the consequences cannot be overlooked.

According to a new dossier from the UN there’s an urgent need for regulations and transparency about nano-technology. Nowadays, hundreds of products with uncontrolled nano-parts have been commercialized.

In the European Union 78 million people live below the poverty line – this is one in six Europeans. For children the risk is even higher (19%). And despite the economic growth of the last couple of years, over 8 % of the working people also live below the poverty line.

The government wants to spend 0.6 percent of the national income or 2.2 billion euro on development aid. That’s 600 million euro more than in 2008. Just as in the case of comparable sudden increases, a large debt removal (in this case for Iraq and Congo) is part of the explanation. But there will also be real extra money.

Where is one of the world’s largest solar energy parks? In Serpa. Where is electricity gained from the swell? In Aguçadoura. Both are in Portugal.

Without energy-input, the productivity of the rural poor cannot be improved, and the Millennium goals will not be achieved. This is what the Economic and Monetary Union of Western African Countries (Uemoa) says in a new report.

On 10 December the French researchers Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier got the Nobel prize for Medicine. Twenty-five years ago these scientists discovered the virus that causes aids. Where are we today?

In the subway of Mexico City there’s a campaign running called Viajemos Seguras – Let’s travel safely. The initiative for this campaign comes from the city authorities and needs to rid the capital’s subway system of physical and sexual violence towards women.