The spectre of a global food crisis has reared its head again. Soaring corn prices, which on Monday recorded their biggest one-day rise since 1973, have triggered fears of a return to the turmoil of 2007-2008. Far-reaching measures are needed to prevent a recurrence. Rising prices over the last decade are in part the result of burgeoning demand from emerging markets such as China and India. The emergence of commodities as...

With one in three women around the world being beaten, coerced into sex or abused, more must be done to ensure the human rights of women, a member of the United Nations expert body monitoring compliance with the international pact on eliminating discrimination against women said today. “Significant progress has been achieved with respect to women’s human rights but we know that much more needs to be done throughout the whole...

When India  won its bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games seven years ago, the event instantly became an emblem of national prestige. But as the country prepares to open the games on Sunday evening, an opportunity to burnish its global image has instead become a national embarrassment. The litany of problems plaguing the games — collapsed footbridges, filthy dorms, cartoonish corruption — have not only made headlines around the world....

With business leaders and the Australian Government finally acknowledging the need to put a price on carbon, climate change is back on the agenda here in Australia and it's also on the agenda this week internationally. Representatives from countries around the world, including Australia, are assembling in Tianjin, China, as part of a crucially important United Nations Climate Change Conference that starts today. After last year's Copenhagen talks nearly collapsed, the...

The United Nations marked World Teachers’ Day today with top officials calling on governments to make up a projected deficit of over 10 million teachers by 2015 and stressing the crucial role teachers play in recovery from natural disasters and conflict. “Without sufficient numbers of well-trained and professionally motivated teachers, we risk falling short of the promise made 10 years ago at the World Education Forum to the world’s children and...