Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
As officials, activists, and entrepreneurs from 130 nations meet this week in Istanbul to seek better ways to manage the world's water problems, there is one solution under discussion that might seem obvious: exporting water from wet countries to dry ones.
As Iraq's central government seeks to extend his control over northern hotspots like Mosul and Kirkuk, Kurds are warning it not to go too far. The situation makes Prime Minister Maliki's efforts to build on security successes in the south and Baghdad appear both urgent and risky.
Switzerland has devalued its currency, the franc, as the country tries to adjust to the wild fluctuations of the global economic crisis. The move raises concerns that as the crisis continues, more governments may be tempted to manipulate their currency exchange rates in hopes of gaining advantages for their export sectors -- a destructive move for the global economy.
The world is looking to the G20 meeting in London on April 2 for a coordinated strategy for reviving the global economy. But in the run-up to the summit, it is becoming clear that the United States and Europe have very different philosophies about how to get out of the current crisis.
Scientists excavating a Kazakh site have found the earliest evidence yet of tamed horses. The discovery suggests horses were reined in 1,000 years earlier than is generally assumed.
China's prime minister says this year will be the most difficult the country has faced this century. Wen Jiabao said that China maintains its economic target of growing by 8 percent each year, but that doing so requires going ahead with a promised half-trillion-dollar stimulus package. His speech comes as China's export market shrinks with the global recession and the country finds itself at a crossroads.
Armenia's national currency, the dram, has lost some 30 percent of its value in one day after the Central Bank stopped intervening to support it. The sudden drop is the first blow from the global economic crisis to strike Armenia, which until now has been largely shielded by its dependence on remittances from abroad.
Germany has Europe's biggest economy, so many Europeans regard it as the natural leader for forging any united response to the financial crisis. But so far, Berlin has avoided that role, partly because Germany has been less hard-hit than its neighbors.
Just a few weeks ago, at the start of this year, the euro celebrated its 10th anniversary. At the time, the eurozone's single currency looked strong and -- compared to the dollar -- immune from the global economic crisis. But today, the euro's value against the dollar is sinking. And some economists worry the European currency will keep weakening.
Eastern Europe -- a region including the new EU states, the Balkans, and Ukraine -- has seen fast economic growth in the past decade. But much of that growth is due to Western banks having extended a huge amount of credit to regional business and consumers. Now, as Western countries reel from the global economic crisis, they are suddenly realizing their own economies could be in serious trouble as a result.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's top concern as she heads to Beijing will be U.S.-Chinese trade ties. It is a subject of utmost importance, since that partnership has been one of the growth engines of the world economy.
Opportunities for any significant easing of bilateral tensions have been few and far between, but by most accounts include the period shortly after Mohammad Khatami's election as president in 1997.
This week and next, Iran is marking the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. The 10 days of observances mark the time it took the revolution's leader, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Kohomeini, to topple the last vestiges of the Shah's rule following his return to Iran on February 1. Since then, the Islamic Revolution has proved to be one of the world's most durable. But has it succeeded in making life better for ordinary Iranians?
Lots of political newcomers have been met with a fresh emphasis on local problems in the run-up to Iraqi elections. The result is unprecedented electioneering and greater exposure for aspiring politicians of all stripes -- but not necessarily genders.
The ruble is set to fall today against the euro and dollar. Russia's Central Bank says it is establishing a new floor for the currency at 36 rubles to the U.S. dollar. The action is the latest and biggest in a series of 20 mini-devaluations since November that has sought to adjust Russia's currency to lower oil prices and the country's worst economic outlook in a decade.
Dutch legislator Geert Wilders, the creator of a controversial web-based film stigmatizing Islam, is to be prosecuted in Amsterdam on charges of discrimination and incitement to hatred.
Diplomats may be shuttling to Cairo in hopes of getting a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. But Syria and Iran, the main backers of Hamas, are making it clear that any road to a truce also goes through them. By demonstrating that they can slow down or speed up the pace of negotiations, they are amassing capital for their own purposes in the Middle East.
Turkey is Israel's major regional ally and the two have good military and economic ties. But Turkey's prime minister has been noticeably critical of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Touring the Mideast recently, he accused Israel of perpetrating "inhuman actions." Is he playing to regional popular sentiment? Or is he redefining the Israeli-Turkish alliance?
After five years of fighting and with Iraqi authority now at unprecedented levels since the launch of the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, the level of violence appears to have finally eased to the point that citizens can again plan for the future.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has confirmed he will close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and "make sure we don't torture," calling those steps necessary "to regain America's moral stature in the world." The closure of Guantanamo would end one of the most controversial chapters in U.S. President George W. Bush's war on terror.
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