A US high-powered airborne laser weapon shot down a ballistic missile in the first successful test of a futuristic directed energy weapon, the US Missile Defense Agency has announced

The World Economic Forum returns to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, between January 27-31. Lyndon Driver profiles the annual meeting

Google Inc’s deal with Beijing to end a censorship dispute removes one irritant in U.S.-China relations, but the two countries still face deep divisions over the internet’s future

World wheat price rises are not yet sufficient to trigger global food inflation, an economist at the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation has announced, even though they almost doubled in the space of two months

Regional hubs give al Qaeda global reach, attacks show al Qaeda menace is evolving while there is a danger of the West overreacting, some experts say

Developments in cash-strapped Iceland and Greece nicely illustrate two themes for 2010: sovereign risk and financial balkanisation

Foreign minister shrugs off suggestions Tokyo is cosying up to China

Greece’s oldest consumer group has called for a boycott of German products and stores to protest a magazine cover of Venus de Milo making an obscene finger gesture which has infuriated Greeks

There is likely to be little movement in the Doha world trade talks by the end of this year and progress in 2011 will hinge on the outcome of November’s US mid-term elections, India’s commerce secretary has declared

US Republican state Senator Russell Pearce, a long-time fixture in Arizona politics but until recently a virtual unknown elsewhere, never expected to singlehandedly shake up national politics, let alone get under the skin of the White House

Pentagon spending on major weapons programmes

The Obama administration will put food security at the heart of its Africa policy, as it seeks to enhance ongoing US efforts on trade, investment and HIV/AIDS on the continent, a top US diplomat has announced