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  Confucius Institutes are partnerships between Chinese entities and schools in other countries, arranged and funded in part by Hanban, which is affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education. There are more than 500 Confucius Institutes worldwide and 96 located at colleges and universities in the United States as of December 2018. Some researchers, government officials and others have raised questions about whether the institutes are sources of undue Chinese influence.  The stated aim of the institute is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and facilitate cultural exchanges. The organisation has been criticized because of concerns regarding increasing Chinese influence in the countries in which it operates. However, many programmes have renegotiated their contacts to promote the academic freedom of host universities. School officials, researchers and others in many countries describe the benefits and concerns related to th...

They call it ’blue gold.’ Around the world, demand for water is exploding. By 2050, at least one in four will live in a country suffering from water shortages - creating ideal conditions for a new market... Banks, investment funds and hedge funds are all rushing to invest billions of euros in anything related to water. A real monopoly of water has begun. The financialization of water is a battle taking place on many fronts: ideological, political, environmental, and of course, economic.  The fate of nearly 10 billion inhabitants around the world depends on its outcome. Freshwater is limited is no longer a resource anymore, it has become a commodity. And it this commodity is limited that today many people are seeking after. Its natural distribution on earth is not equal in all nations and in many regions of the world it is considered as precious as gold. Water covers 70 per cent of our planet, and it is easy to think that it will always be plentiful. But, freshwater-the one we drink...

As the year-end with the world fixated on the US presidential elections in late October, it was worth mentioning the decision by Malawi's Constitutional Court to annul last year's election and  called for a new ballot within 150 days.   In a landmark judgement that most experts hailed as a step forward for democracy, Malawi's Constitutional Court found that evidence of fraud and malpractice meant the result of the poll could not be allowed to stand. A decision that came as a surprise to many, sparked celebrations in the streets and gave a fillip to democracy on a continent where the political process is too often abused. Gary Van Staden, an analyst at NKC African Economics based in Paarl, said in an emailed note to clients, 'The days of politicians playing fast and loose with electoral law are clearly numbered.' 'That is encouraging for the consolidation of democracy on the continent.' At a time when standards of leadership and democracy are under threat eve...

  The International Crisis Group has just published a report called  All That Glitters is Not Gold: Turmoil in Zimbabwe’s Mining Sector  that delves into illicit mines of the country and particularly those toiling for gold and what the government should do to ensure the mineral wealth stays in Zimbabwe while its miners are cared for.  As the country’s economy continues to weaken, especially following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the majority of those of working age can be found in the artisanal mines, scrimping out a living, especially with the hopes of finding gold.  A surge of attacks linked to Zimbabwe's growing artisanal mining sector has killed hundreds of miners.  Zimbabwe’s economy has been in desperate straits for a long time now; this is evident in any of the small towns dotted around the country which have been hit by endemic unemployment, the chronic cash and fuel shortages and the ever-rising inflation rate which hit 838% in July 2020...

George Blake, the former British intelligence officer, who served as a double agent and went down in history as the most well-known agent of the Cold War era, died. George Blake, who informed the Soviet Union while working for the British secret service, has lived in Moscow for more than 50 years. Former British intelligence officer George Blake, one of the best-known double agents of the Cold War era, died in Russia. Blake died at the age of 98 and managed to escape from prison in 1966 and go to Russia. With the information which was given by Blake, who worked as a Soviet agent, 40 MI6 agents who were on duty in Eastern Europe were exposed. Blake was convicted and imprisoned in 1960 and managed to escape six years later. Russia's foreign intelligence service released a statement regarding Blake's death, stating that "he had a sincere love for our country". Born in 1922 in Rotterdam, Holland under t...

The insurgency in Cabo Delgado  is an ongoing conflict in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique , mainly fought between Islamist  militants attempting to establish an Islamic state in the region , and Mozambican security forces. Civilians have been the main targets of attacks by Islamist militants.  The main insurgent faction is Ansar al-Sunna , a native extremist faction with tenuous international connections. From mid-2018, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has allegedly become active in northern Mozambique as well  and claimed its first attack against Mozambican security forces in June 2019.  In addition, bandits have exploited the rebellion to carry out raids.  Northern Mozambique needs a Marshall Plan to generate mass employment for local young people and prevent them from turning to the region’s extremist Islamic insurgency. Attempts at development  in northern Mozambique, which has been grappling with the insurgency since 2017, need to...