Global food prices have reached a record high point according to figures released overnight by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The FAO’s Food Price Index of 55 commodities reached 215 in December (the average from 2002-2004 = 100), reports Richard Farmer.
Take a look at some of the latest WikiLeaks embassy cables, including Peter Garret's admission that it was unlikely Australia would support the International Whaling Commission's plan to allow certain whaling and US concerns over a suspected FARC terrorist.
Salmaan Taseer, Governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, was assassinated by one of his bodyguards yesterday just days after announcing on Twitter that he would not back down on his opposition to Pakistan's "man-made" blasphemy laws, writes Shakira Hussein.
In a very moving piece of anniversary journalism, the NY Times investigates citizens from Port au Prince, Haiti, a year after the tragic earthquake killed hundreds of thousands and left over a million people injured, displaced and struggling to survive.
It depends on where you drown, whether dead boat people become news in Australia, suggests Richard Farmer. When you capsize off the coast of Yemen you obviously don’t rate, based on the recent reports of 80 asylum seekers drowning.
Last November the people of Burma went to the polls for the first time in two decades, and although the country's slow journey towards democracy has generated widespread resentment it marks a crucial turning point in its plight to shake its reputation as a pariah, writes Nicholas Farrelly.
Sudan president Omar al-Bashir may be accused of international war crimes and genocide in Darfur, but isn't as evil as progressives like to claim, declares Simon Tisdall, as he explains al-Bashir's role in the Sudanese elections.
Twice president of Venezuela, the victim of political coups, misuser of millions of dollars in public funds and mortal enemy of current president Hugo Chavez, Carlos Andrés Pérez died aged 88 on Christmas Day.
Read this intriguing indepth profile on recently released Aung San Suu Kyi, Crikey's person of the decade. Interviewer Hannah Beech dodges government spies trailing her taxi in order to interview the famous Burmese political leader.
A key group of Taliban fighters known as the Haqqani network have not conducted a large scale attack in Kabul for seven months, which suggests recent tactics from US troops are working, writes Eric Schmitt.
