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The remains of a rocket that carried cluster munitions found in a Ukrainian field. Alice Martins/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

There is no legal reason the US can’t supply cluster bombs to Ukraine – but that doesn’t justify Biden’s decision to do so

The US administration said that it had received ‘written assurances’ from Ukraine that it would use cluster bombs carefully. Nonetheless, the munition will provide an additional risk to civilians.
Chinese engineers pose after welding the first seamless rails for the China-Laos railway in Vientiane, Laos, June 18, 2020. Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua via Getty Images

China is financing infrastructure projects around the world – many could harm nature and Indigenous communities

Through its Belt and Road Initiative, China has become the world’s largest country-to-country lender. A new study shows that more than half of its loans threaten sensitive lands or Indigenous people.
Survivors of the dam disaster take refuge at a temporary shelter in Laos’s Attapeu province. ABC Laos News/EPA

The Laos disaster reminds us that local people are too often victims of dam development

Images of the aftermath of the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam collapse in Laos went around the world. But many other dam projects harm locals and the environment in less visible ways.
People use the Wawa River in the Philippines for many purposes. Phoebelyn Gulunan, 2016

Sanitation projects will go down the toilet unless we ask people what they really want

Community participation is vital to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. But at the moment it often comes too little, too late.
The proposed railway hasn’t got everyone in Laos excited. LUONG THAI LINH/EPA

High speed rail could bankrupt Laos, but it’ll keep China happy

Despite impressive economic growth rates over the last decade, a third of Laos’s population still lives below the extreme poverty line of US$1.25 per day. Most of the extreme poor Laos are ethnic minorities…
How do you stop young Australians from participating in risky activities overseas? Flickr/vampirogordo

Fatal attraction: young Australians travelling on the edge

Australians love to travel the world. In 2011 more than 7.5 million Australians (or more than one third of all Australians) travelled outside the country. Of course, most Australian travellers abroad have…

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