Antoine Blua is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
Concerns about Chinese control over the supplies of crucial minerals have been intensifying in recent months amid steady reductions in the country's export quotas, and grew further this week after reports of Beijing blocking shipments of those minerals to industrialized countries.
Delegates from 193 nations are attending a UN meeting in Japan to discuss ways of addressing Earth's dramatic loss of biological diversity. The talks are aimed at agreeing new targets to slow the loss of animal and plant species over the next 10 years. And there's likely to be a special push for businesses to measure the financial costs associated with their impact on the environment.
Speaking in London, where he is preparing to launch a political party in a bid for a comeback as a civilian president, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistan's army should be given a constitutional role in the country's politics.
The UN food agency is holding a special meeting today to examine turmoil in the world's wheat markets and ways to avoid a repeat of the recent global food crisis.
North Korea says it will hold its biggest political meeting in a generation, amid speculation that leader Kim Jong Il is about to name his younger son as successor – a move that would take the Kim dynasty into a third generation.
Devastating fires and droughts are not the only consequences of the heat wave that hit much of the former Soviet Union this summer. Millions of people across the region are now hit by another misfortune: buckwheat shortages.
French lawmakers back controversial legislation banning the wearing of garments that cover the face in public -- a measure that would affect the minority of Muslims who wear the full-face veil.
France has begun to return hundreds of Roma rounded up as part of a clampdown on members of the community living illegally in the country.
At a meeting in Sarajevo with officials from the western Balkan states, the European Union reaffirmed its commitment to the region, while underscoring the need for each of them to continue along the path of reform.
As BP struggles to contain the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, a wary eye is being cast on offshore drilling projects around the world, especially in the Caspian Sea, where observers warn of severe consequences if steps are not taken to improve environmental oversight.
Member nations of the UN General Assembly today elected 14 unopposed new members to the UN's Human Rights Council, disappointing rights advocates who had argued that many candidates fell far short of the standards for membership.
Kyrgyz opposition leader Roza Otunbaeva says she is now head of a temporary caretaker government after the opposition said it had taken power. But who is she?
The UN wildlife trade body has taken steps to protect a little-known Iranian salamander that is often poached to meet online demand for exotic pets.
Ahead of World Tuberculosis Day, the International Committee of the Red Cross is praising Azerbaijan and Georgia for their success in helping bring tuberculosis under control inside prisons, and urging other affected countries to follow their example in tackling the problem.
The popularity of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul is now threatening the high-altitude lake's future. An international financial institution and the Kyrgyz government are trying to combat the threat.
A new project has been launched to protect an important steppe landscape in Central Asia, home to the saiga antelope and other unique species.
The breeding ground of one of the world's least-known birds has recently been discovered in a remote Afghan region.
Governments responsible for serious human rights violations have intensified attacks against rights defenders and organizations that document abuse over the past year. That's according to Human Rights Watch's 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. The group also urges governments that support human rights to make rights a central part of their bilateral relations.
Bribery in Afghanistan represents one quarter of the country's entire economic output -- and is similar in size to the proceeds from Afghanistan's opium trade. That's according to a new United Nations report.
In one of the major events kicking off the United Nations-sponsored International Year of Biodiversity, officials meeting in Berlin have warned that the loss of species is affecting human well-being around the world.
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