Tuesday 10 July 2012
Tourists Causing Water Crisis
South Sudan Update
Summer Washout!
After several months of water restrictions and we have just had the wettest June on record and all the water companies have lifted hosepipe bans. For information, including how the Jet Stream is causing our soggy summer, try these links: The Guardian or The BBC. For facts and figures about June's record breaking weather. look here. But it's not just the UK that's suffered from flooding recently - this article is about floods in Southern R|ussia and explains how human actions and mismanagement of rivers may have made the situation much worse.
Monday 7 May 2012
South Sudan branded 'enemy' state
Sudan's parliament votes unanimously to brand the government of South Sudan "an enemy" in the wake of the seizure of a disputed oil field. Read the full article here.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17727624 >
America's homeless resort to tent cities
Development isn't always straight forward! Read about America's homeless living n tent cities here.
Syria's escalating conflict
Afghanistan and poverty
According to this report, over half of Afghanistan's families live in poverty. Read the full article here.
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan’s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/
Aid needed in the Sahel (again!)
Oxfam says urgent action is needed to stop drought in the Sahel region of West Africa turning into a humanitarian disaster.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17308913
Soldiers loot after coup in Mali
Renegade troops in Mali loot the presidential palace in the capital as the leaders of the coup call for calm and say all borders are closed.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17474946 >
Sudan and South Sudan clash on the border
Clashes break out between Sudan and South Sudan in what is described as the biggest confrontation since the South's independence last July.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17515209 >
Multiculturalism in London's schools
Evidence of multiculturalism (including an interactive map) of various different aspects of multiculturalism in London's schools.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/2012/apr/12/london-school-pupils-poverty-race?cat=uk&type=article
Brazil, conservation and Aid
Wednesday 22 February 2012
So you want a revolution?
Who is Srdja Popovic?
Question: what do the so-called "colour" revolutions – Georgia (2003) and Ukraine (2004), and the rest – have in common with the uprising that drove Egypt's Hosni Mubarak from power? Answer: the great majority of the people involved avoided committing acts of violence; and the organisers took advice from a young Serbian revolutionary called Srdja Popovic and his colleagues.
Read the full article here.
Question: what do the so-called "colour" revolutions – Georgia (2003) and Ukraine (2004), and the rest – have in common with the uprising that drove Egypt's Hosni Mubarak from power? Answer: the great majority of the people involved avoided committing acts of violence; and the organisers took advice from a young Serbian revolutionary called Srdja Popovic and his colleagues.
Read the full article here.
World Bank classification of countries into income groups
Click here to see how the world bank classificies countries according to income. Although there are similar maps in text books it is always useful to see an updated version.
"This map classifies all World Bank member economies and all other economies with populations of more than 30,000 for operational and analytical purposes. Economies are divided among income groups according to 2010 gross national income (GNI) per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method."
"This map classifies all World Bank member economies and all other economies with populations of more than 30,000 for operational and analytical purposes. Economies are divided among income groups according to 2010 gross national income (GNI) per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method."
Thursday 20 October 2011
The world's top 100 brands
Yes I know its from a newspaper I don't exactly promote but this is a really useful graphic. I have had to change the size of the image for this page so it is worth seeing the full version. Read the article here so see how they got their information.
Bric nations become increasingly interdependent
This is a great article from April 2001 which looks at the interdependence and the growing power of the BRICs.
Kosovo Serbs defy Nato demands over blockades
Kosovo Serbs defy Nato demands over blockades.
"Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo have defied demands by Nato to remove roadblocks, amid tensions over control of border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo.
Nato peacekeepers had given the minority Serbs until Tuesday to remove barricades set up at two crossings. But Nato troops sent to the area left without dismantling them in an apparent bid to give the Serbs more time. The blockades were erected in July when the mainly ethnic Albanian government sought to seize the crossings."
Read the full article here.
"Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo have defied demands by Nato to remove roadblocks, amid tensions over control of border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo.
Nato peacekeepers had given the minority Serbs until Tuesday to remove barricades set up at two crossings. But Nato troops sent to the area left without dismantling them in an apparent bid to give the Serbs more time. The blockades were erected in July when the mainly ethnic Albanian government sought to seize the crossings."
Read the full article here.
Bank of England governor calls on China to import more to help solve global financial problems.
Bank of England governor Mervyn King calls on China to import more to help solve global financial problems.
Mr King explained that countries such as the UK and the US, which import more than they export, were facing debt problems and had unsustainably high levels of consumption.
On the other hand, countries such as China, Japan and Germany had persistent trade surpluses.
He argued that in order for countries with trade deficits to sort out their debt problems, countries like China had to import more, so that indebted countries had a chance to grow their economies and pay off their debts.
Read the full article here.
Should Russia be a BRIC?
Have a look at this article www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13684335 that argues that Russia should no longer be included as a BRIC economy as it isn't showing the same potential for economic growth as the other 3 economies.
Which country does the article suggest SHOULD be added to this group now?
Climate change a grave threat to security and health
Read this article from the BBC. It is useful for the 'security' bit at the end of the Conflicts module and the Health AS module.
Friday 2 September 2011
Climate Change in the Himalayas
Climate change is happening quickly in the Himalayas, and there will be huge impacts on the people in Southern Asia who depend on the glaciers for their water supply. An expedition is being led by the Mountain Institute to see these impacts first hand. You can read about the expedition here, and you can follow the expedition blog here. The blog includes a video clip too.
Thursday 11 August 2011
Africa's mobile economic revolution
The article here describes how the massive growth in mobile phone ownership is fuelling Africa's economic growth.
From the article:'Africa has experienced an incredible boom in mobile phone use over the past decade. In 1998, there were fewer than four million mobiles on the continent. Today, there are more than 500 million. In Uganda alone, 10 million people, or about 30% of the population, own a mobile phone, and that number is growing rapidly every year.'
From the article:'Africa has experienced an incredible boom in mobile phone use over the past decade. In 1998, there were fewer than four million mobiles on the continent. Today, there are more than 500 million. In Uganda alone, 10 million people, or about 30% of the population, own a mobile phone, and that number is growing rapidly every year.'
Swazi HIV patients 'eat cow dung'
Some HIV-positive patients in Swaziland are so poor they are eating cow dung to fill their stomachs and make anti-retroviral drugs effective, activists say. Read the story on the BBC news website here.
Tiny blood card offers easy tests
A cheap and portable blood test could provide a breakthrough for diagnosing infections in remote areas, a study in the journal Nature Medicine says. Read the story on the BBC website here. The U.S developed device will cost about 60p and has shown almost 100% accuracy in tests for HIV and Syphilis in Rwanda.
The researchers hope the device will boost testing of pregnant women, especially in Africa.
Barely a quarter of pregnant women in low and middle income countries are tested for HIV, a figure which provides scant hoping of reaching the United Nations goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission by 2015, according to the 2010 UNAids Report on the Global Aids Epidemic.
In Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, only nine and six percent, respectively, of pregnant women currently receive HIV testing, according to the report.
The researchers hope the device will boost testing of pregnant women, especially in Africa.
Barely a quarter of pregnant women in low and middle income countries are tested for HIV, a figure which provides scant hoping of reaching the United Nations goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission by 2015, according to the 2010 UNAids Report on the Global Aids Epidemic.
In Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, only nine and six percent, respectively, of pregnant women currently receive HIV testing, according to the report.
China's illegal children will be confiscated
A brief editorial from The Economist (found here) suggests this is one way the One Child Policy is being enforced.
It is fairly clear that although the policy has had noticeable success in it's original aim of reducing the birth rate in China, the policy has created demographic issues that will need tro be dealt with in the future.
It is fairly clear that although the policy has had noticeable success in it's original aim of reducing the birth rate in China, the policy has created demographic issues that will need tro be dealt with in the future.
U.S. Debt
Who does the USA owe money to and how does this affect the global balance of power?
The map here shows who the USA owe money to and how the amounts have changed over time.
The website says:
Our goal with this visualization was to show which countries are lending us money and to let people interact with data on a country by country basis to see how this lending has changed over time. For example, mousing over the large dot on China shows that Chinese lending to the United States has gone from $59 billion ten years ago to more than $1.15 trillion today, or one quarter of the total foreign owned debt of $4.45 trillion.
If the USA owes so much money to China where does that leave our traditional view that the USA is 'developed' and that China is 'developing' or an emerging economy?
The map here shows who the USA owe money to and how the amounts have changed over time.
The website says:
Our goal with this visualization was to show which countries are lending us money and to let people interact with data on a country by country basis to see how this lending has changed over time. For example, mousing over the large dot on China shows that Chinese lending to the United States has gone from $59 billion ten years ago to more than $1.15 trillion today, or one quarter of the total foreign owned debt of $4.45 trillion.
If the USA owes so much money to China where does that leave our traditional view that the USA is 'developed' and that China is 'developing' or an emerging economy?
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