Tajikistan joins a string of Central Asian countries eager to boost their standing on the political arena. President Emomali Rahmon unveiled the country’s ‘National Development Strategy’ (NDS), which aims to promote the conditions for ‘sustainable human development’ by 2030. Priorities include: transforming Tajikistan’s agrarian-heavy economy into a more industrialised one, reforming state institutions and reducing…

In 1984, 37 people lost their lives as a result of what is now known as a limnic eruption on Lake Monoun in Cameroon. Two years later, the same natural disaster claimed the lives of more than 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock living around Lake Nyos. The US initially believed biological weapons were being tested…

Recent commercial projects between Russia and Cuba echo the friendly Soviet-Cuban alliance of the twentieth century. Although the two nations share a history of cyber security and intelligence gathering, President Vladimir Putin and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel have pledged to revive robust bilateral ties in a number of trade sectors, including energy, transport and agriculture.…