After months of political and legal turmoil, the archipelago nation of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean elected its new president on November 16. Abdullah Yameen, half brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ruled the country for nearly 3 decades. Yameen was declared a winner over a slight margin of 51.3%.

King Mohammed VI's visit in Mali, followed by a conference Morocco organised at the UN headquarters on Africa's future after 2015, are part of the country's initiatives to set up its new foreign policy in Africa. Moroccan authorities are trying to increase their influence on sub-Saharan Africa as they are aware of the geopolitical importance of that region. Therefore, getting closer to Sub-Saharan countries has been set as a top priority of its foreign policy, in order to keep its strategic...

The Supreme Court of Ghana confirmed the election of John Dramani Mahama as President last August 29, after the disputed results of December 2012. Over the last eight months, the appeal of Nana Akufo-Addo – the opposition’s leader – to the Court has been a real challenge for this country willing to embody a democratic model in Sub-Saharan Africa. Explanation. The election of President John Atta-Mills on January 7, 2009, revealed for the second time that a peaceful change of power was possible...

The general election has recently taken place in Norway. A centre-right coalition won the majority. Not until now, over three weeks later, the parties reached a solution on the government constellation. The result is making a big mark in Norwegian and European political history: the Progress party is one of the two parties to establish a government. The general election took place on September 9. A centre-right coalition, consisting of the Liberal, the Christian-democratic, the Conservative and...

Diwali or ‘The festival of lights’. A festival for which the whole nation celebrates in unison with crackers, fireworks and colorful light displays. It also celebrates the defeat of evil in the hands of good. However, there are many stories narrated behind this festival.

One year ago, a massive statue of Stalin was erected (again) in his native city Gori, Georgia, from a spontaneous movement of the local population. How can this bloodthirsty dictator be erected as a “great man” by a lot of Georgians in some regions, while he is to blame for the death of millions of people and he is the one who dismembered the Caucasus in order to enslave it? This comes from the current geopolitical context of common opposition between Russia and its “close foreigner”, its...

Pennsylvania, once seen as a Keystone of the US, both politically and economically, has failed to keep up with the country as a whole. A recent spat between the state’s Governor and Attorney General has thrown a spotlight on a changing state and its place in the US.

China can influence the weather. As the allegedly largest rainmaker in the world, China should theoretically be able to lower the overall pollution levels since rain contributes to lowering air pollution levels. Rainmaking uncovered. The Chinese ‘ability’ to influence the weather was previously demonstrated during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when meteorologists working for the Beijing Weather Modification Office of China used radars to hunt heavy rain clouds, which were then shot at with...

US spying worldwide is supposed to increase its national security. However, the scale and targets of those spying has alarmed US allies in Europe and further abroad. This threatens to undermine several major US IT companies as well as major US-led trade pacts which the US is hoping will underpin its continued economic leadership worldwide.

The state government of Gujarat has proposed to build a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who is also known as ‘Iron Man of India’. This statue once built would be the tallest statue in the world with a whooping height of 182 meters, which is more than twice the height of Statue of Liberty.