With the presidency of the African Union already in its grasp, Rwanda is now campaigning to take the lead at the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the world's largest bloc of French-speaking nations. Given that the Rwandan government has spent years turning away from France and the French language, why the sudden change? Jonathan Beloff explains that for Rwanda's leaders, a shot at major global influence trumps France's dark history of involvement in the 1994 genocide.

Deaths related to pollution are on the rise in many parts of the world, most notably sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. There are many reasons behind these troubling trends, but Jonas Gamso suggests that one looms especially large: China’s booming economy. Not only has this created an environmental crisis in China itself, but the nature of its trade with developing nations also threatens their air, water and soil.