Eighteen months ago the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1,100 garment workers, and prompting global shock and outrage. Companies responded by promising to improve their act: more than 150 international retailers signed up to the Bangladesh accord on fire and building safety, a legally binding agreement designed to make factories safer for workers. As a result of the accord, garment factories in Bangladesh are now being properly inspected for the first time, bringing key safety issues to light. Although not everything is resolved – victims and families of people killed in the disaster are still waiting for full compensation – the accord does at least show that companies can be made to acknowledge and act upon their supply-chain responsibility. [...

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Monday, received Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed Najib and discussed with him a variety of topics concerning regional and international peace and stability and ways to achieve sustainable development in the Islamic World. Sheikh Mohammed and Najib discussed the significance of the 10^th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), which will convene in Dubai from October 28-30, 2014. [caption id="attachment_10144" align="alignleft" width="300"]

India on Saturday decided to buy 8,356 Spike anti-tank guided missile and 321 launchers from Israel for Rs 3,200 crore, rejecting US offer of Javelin missiles that Washington was lobbying hard for. The decision was taken following a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, that lasted for over two hours with Defence Secretary, the Chiefs of all three services, DRDO Chief and other senior officials attending it. India will outright buy 8,356 missiles and 321 launchers from the Israeli firm Rafael Advanced De...

PREPARATIONS for the first section of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) included clearing nearly 400 hectares of land and building roads to a nearby port. The industrial park is scheduled to open in the middle of next year and some of the 22 companies set to move in will begin building their factories by the end of the month. Yet the most immediate beneficiary will not be Myanmar’s economy. Takashi Yanai, head of the Burmese-Japanese joint venture developing Thilawa, jokes that the monastery sitting in a finger of forest jutting into the park has much to gain. “You cannot touch a monastery in this country,” says Mr Yanai. With every corporate groundbreaking will come a donation to the monks that may one day pay for a grand golden stupa.