IB Geography Global Interactions

Mobile phone use has exploded in the last seven years, according to a U.N report. The number of global subscriptions quadrupled from around 1billion in 2002 to 4.1billion at the end of last year.

The idea of using renewable energy to power cell phone base stations in rural areas is nothing new. The latest variation on this comes from Ericsson and Orange Guinea Conakry which plan to deploy more than 100 solar-powered base stations:

M-PESA is a new Safaricom service enabling money transfer using a mobile phone. Kenya is the first country in the world to use this service, which is offered in partnership between Safaricom and Vodafone.

Is it a dictatorial tool of the rich and powerful? Does it destroy jobs? Does it ignore the concerns of health, the environment and development? Emphatically no . Criticisms of the WTO are often based on fundamental misunderstandings of the way the WTO works.

Yesterday, at its headquarters in Paris, Unesco unveiled its first comprehensive and online database of the world's endangered tongues. According to its team of specialists, there are around 2,500 languages at risk, including more than 500 considered "critically endangered" and 199 which have fewer than 10 native speakers.

India is the fastest-growing mobile communications market in the world. The rural poor are rapidly adopting phones, so the technology could become a platform for providing banking services. Sanjay Swamy, CEO of the mobile-payment platform mChek, talks about the potential.

Five billion aluminium drink cans are sold in the UK every year and each one could be recycled over and over again, saving energy, raw materials and waste.

Tonnes of artilces in this edition about the power and folly of the WB & IMF

The WTO has been the focus of much of the campaigning against globalisation. Mike Moore and John Madelely put forward their contrasting views on the organisation's role in advancing development and the possibility of a new trade round, while Adrian Wood argues the case for a development round.

Fantastic guide covering various globalisation issues

Cultural homicide, ayoh! Ziauddin Sardar arrives in Singapore to find it's been occupied

In this three-part series, the BBC's Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus explores the fundamental shifts in the global system since the end of the Cold War. PODCASTS