The EU's economic crisis took the blame after figures published Wednesday (3 April) revealed that aid to the world's poorest countries fell for the second year in a row. The statistics released by the Organisation for ...

The European Commission said revenue from a proposed financial transaction tax (FTT) should be set aside to fight poverty and climate change, as an investment against global instability. “I would very much want member ...

When the UN appointed Romano Prodi as its special envoy to Sahel in October last year, the hot, dusty Republic of Mali in south-west Sahara was rarely in the news. But a severe crisis was already brewing, with thousands ...

For those suffering from eurozone crisis syndrome, it is easy to forget that an economic world exists beyond the EU's borders. For all the talk of recession and depression it would be a mistake to think that economies ...

Reports say several hostages were killed when the Algerian army stormed a remote gas plant in the south east of the country on Thursday (17 January). The operation came after militants seized the facility - which housed ...

Europe’s economic crisis is pushing more people to the brink of poverty and social exclusion. According to figures released on Monday (3 December) by the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, over 24 percent of the EU ...

Development aid could be the major casualty from EU budget talks, with the European Commission and Parliament fearing that planned spending cuts of 13 percent would leave the EU unable to fulfil promises on aid and the ...

When the EU adopted a revolutionary approach to negotiating trade agreements in 2003, the event passed largely unnoticed. The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan set out to create legally ...

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso goes on his first official visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories next week, in a three-day-long peregrination from Sunday (8 July) to Tuesday. His ...

Mercury is an ancient metal rich in history, cloaked with mystery and power. It is liquid metal at room temperature, with an almost mystical silver hue, and was known to the ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Hindus. ...

This week, world leaders will gather in Brazil for the Rio +20 Summit to decide what kind of future we want. Twenty years after the original earth summit, the theme is the green economy in the context of sustainable ...

EU ministers will gather in Brussels on Tuesday (12 June) for a crucial vote on the general approach for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The developments of these last few weeks indicate that the ...

Higher global food prices are hindering attempts to reach UN targets for proper nutrition and lower infant and mother mortality rates. Jos Verbeek - the author of a World Bank study on the problem - tells EUobserver how ...

Staff numbers at embassies highlight EU interest in Turkey, China, the Western Balkans and in multilateral bodies, as well as member states' ongoing reliance on bilateral diplomacy. The EU's top 10 delegations in terms ...

Renewable energy in both developing and industrialised nations is essential to combating global poverty, the European Commission told reporters in Brussels on Thursday (12 April). "Investing in access to clean energy in ...

In recent weeks, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been in the news as rarely before, with a few important questions being raised about its accountability. For the first time in its 20-year ...

The effects of the financial crisis in the EU has resulted in many of the Union's richest member states sharply cutting back aid to developing countries. Figures released Wednesday (4 April) by the OECD, a Paris-based ...

The EU travel and financial ban against the son of a prominent Burmese businessman with close ties to the military junta should be lifted, according to a ruling by the EU's top court on Tuesday (13 March). The European ...

The town hospital of Guriceel, in the Galguduud region in central Somalia, is understaffed. The doctors who once worked there have all but fled the fighting that has afflicted the country for decades. Those who remain ...

Fresh statitsics have highlighted the wealth gap in the EU, with Luxembourg and Bulgaria at either extreme of the divide and Ireland and the Baltic states sliding down the scale. GDP per capita varied by a factor of ...

MEPs want the EU to keep a closer eye on the money it spends on joint EU/UN development projects after major shortcomings were identified in control and efficiency. In comments to be attached to the draft discharge of ...

On seizing power from Zaire's long-standing dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, Laurent-Desire Kabila changed the country's name to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was not until 2006, however, after a ...

Branching off the main Goma-Bukavu road on the shores of Lake Kivu, an earthy track climbs high into the mountains of Africa's Great Rift Valley, switchbacking incessantly through the lush green landscape before ...