Western business papers have a stubborn, but misleading tendency of portraying India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a liberal reformer who unfortunately happens to have some authoritarian tendencies. It is actually the other way round. He is an authoritarian leader who has never shown much interest in market dynamics, but does have a tendency of pandering to powerful corporate interests.

A new book casts light on social inclusion and societal awareness in education – and on how to bring both about in sub-Saharan countries.

Kristalina Georgieva is staying on as the top leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The executive board expressed confidence in her early this week. Because of a scandal dating back to her time at the World Bank, her tenure had been in doubt. In my eyes, she is at most guilty of minor sins and deserves to stay at the helm of the IMF.

The western-led military intervention has suffered defeat. Opinion pieces in various German media keep reiterating that it was a mistake to try to build a modern democracy in a society which is, the authors state, marked by “mediaeval traditions” and “tribal attitudes”. This narrative is self-serving because it avoids even mentioning the serious flaws that marked western engagement in Afghanistan. It is also condescending because it blames failure on the victims, the Afghan people. As editor-in-chief, Hans Dembowski has been observing the conflict for two decades and he now concedes that two crucial issues are still not well understood in western countries.