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"Syria has disappeared from the internet. That's not an exaggeration either, nearly the entire Middle Eastern country has been cut off from the web. A post from research company Renesys reveals that what effectively amounts to all of Syria's internet connectivity shut down earlier today: Starting at 10:26 UTC (12:26pm in Damascus), Syria's international Internet connectivity shut down. In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet. We are investigating the dynamics of the outage and will post updates as they become available. A more detailed post reveals that 77 networks, representing 92% of the routed networks in the country experienced an outage. The outage comes among increasing violence in the country. According to the Daily Star, the government cut off internet as well as cell phone activity amid increasingly fierce clashes between government troops and rebels."

"The population of an area changes as people move in and out of an area to work. For the workday population the usually resident population is re-distributed to their places of work, while those not in work are recorded at their usual residence. This map shows the percentage change, for 16-74 year olds, experienced in each area, as recorded by the 2011 Census. Hover over the map to explore the change in your area. "

China's ruling Communist Party meets from 8 November to rubber-stamp sweeping changes that will put in place the country's leaders for the next 10 years. Here are eight reasons - eight being an auspicious number in China - why the world should pay attention to what happens in the secretive corridors of Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"Brazil has announced that it will cancel or restructure almost $900m (£600m) worth of debt with Africa. Oil- and gas-rich Congo-Brazzaville, Tanzania and Zambia are among the 12 African countries to benefit. The move is seen as an effort to boost economic ties between the world's seventh largest economy and the African continent."

"A key focus is the southern agricultural growth corridor of Tanzania (Sagcot), an area covering about a third of the country, earmarked for attention by the government in 2009 to develop its agricultural potential. The corridor stretches from Dar es Salaam in the east to Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya and Sumbawanga heading west."

"If population levels continue to rise at the current rate, our grandchildren will see the Earth plunged into an unprecedented environmental crisis, argues computational scientist Stephen Emmott in this extract from his book Ten Billion"

You need to read this one . Might be an idea to print it off and add to your notes

The clock is ticking. Every second, it seems, someone in the world takes on more debt. The idea of a debt clock for an individual nation is familiar to anyone who has been to Times Square in New York, where the American public shortfall is revealed. Our clock (updated September 2012) shows the global figure for almost all government debts in dollar terms.

"Millions of Brits drink a cup of Assam tea each day, but it comes at a terrible price. Plantation workers on 12p an hour are easy prey for traffickers who lure away their daughters to India's cities. Now pressure is growing on big tea brands to safeguard better pay"

"In June 2012, "Welcome to the Anthropocene"-a film about the state of the planet-opened the UN's Rio+20 summit on sustainable development. The summit was the largest UN meeting to date. 3mins 38 worth watching A 3-minute journey through the last 250 years of our history, from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the Rio+20 Summit. The film charts the growth of humanity into a global force on an equivalent scale to major geological processes. "

"About 10,000 people are feared to have died and an estimated 4.5 million people have been affected but whole areas have yet to be contacted after the devastating typhoon"

"An eight-year-old girl becomes China's 'youngest' lung-cancer patient as doctors say high levels of air pollution responsible for her condition"

"'The results show that based on plausible climate trends and a total failure to change course, the global food supply system would face catastrophic losses, and an unprecedented epidemic of food riots'"

"The Chinese authorities have set up 25 "baby hatches" across the country to allow parents to safely abandon their unwanted infants. They plan to establish many more over the coming months, despite criticism that they could encourage people to give up their babies. The hatches, which consist of an incubator and a delayed alarm, increase the chances of a baby surviving. Most of those abandoned have disabilities or serious illnesses."

"She spent her childhood working in the fields, feeding the family's pigs. The destruction of rural China became for Xiao Zhang a liberation - and an opportunity. This is the story of how her life changed as much as her country."

thisis an excellent article about trade. Lots of issues here recommend you read

"After six years of negotiations, Apple has reached a multiyear deal with China Mobile, China's largest wireless carrier, to sell the tech giant's flagship iPhone device in that country. The partnership, which was expected, gives Apple much greater access to the world's largest mobile market, with an estimated 1.2 billion users. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and iPhone pricing details will be released at a later date. China Mobile is the world's largest wireless carrier with 760 million subscribers."

"The UK will give £720m to an international fund to help poor nations cope with climate change, the Guardian can reveal."

"Police in Paris set up checkpoints around the city on Monday to enforce a vehicle ban in an effort to cut dangerous pollution levels. All vehicles bearing even-numbered license plates are banned from driving in French capital for the day. The restrictions were introduced after pollutions levels reached dangerous levels for five days in a row"

"They are known as the mule women of Melilla. Everyday they carry heavy loads across the border between the Spanish enclave and Morocco. Melilla is an important entry point for goods into North Africa - and if the women can carry them, they can be imported into Morocco duty-free"