The "iron law of climate change" says that this challenge cannot be achieved by making energy substantially more expensive. Across the world in countries rich and poor, people have repeatedly indicated that while they will pay some price for environmental objectives, that willingness has its limits.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has said the world can end extreme poverty in 17 years. But do the numbers add up?

With Africa’s economies riding the crest of the global commodities wave, there is an unprecedented opportunity to convert the region’s vast resource wealth into investments that could lift millions out of poverty, create jobs, and bring hope to future generations.

Even in good financial times, development aid budgets are hardly overflowing. Government leaders and donors must make hard decisions about where to focus their limited resources. How do you decide which countries should get low-cost loans or cheaper vaccines, and which can afford to fund their own development programmes?

The latest estimates about human trafficking indicate at least 21 million people on the planet are currently in slavery. For years human traffickers have used the latest technology to profit from the slave trade, but now software engineers at big data companies are enabling anti-trafficking organizations to fight back.