(February 12, 2007) Industrialised countries that knowingly lent billions of dollars in "irresponsible" debts to corrupt and dictatorial regimes in poor nations should cancel the debts and reconsider their harmful policies, a new study says.

(February 7, 2007) Much of the debate surrounding odious debts begs the question of whether the ‘odiousness’ of a debt can serve as a qualification for the rule of state succession. The legal and economics rationales of the rule date back to the classical writings on the subject and can be derived from state practice.

(February 1, 2007) Following the United States’ invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq,1 the U.S. government argued that the successor government in Iraq was not responsible for Iraq’s Saddam-era debt under the purported doctrine of odiousregime debt. This purported doctrine apparently excused—by operation of law—all successor regimes from repaying debts that were incurred by oppressive predecessor regimes.

(January 31, 2007) Sovereign debts are persistent – as financial obligations of a sovereign state, these debts survive the regime which contracted for them and bind future governments until the creditors are satisfied.

(January 27, 2007) On the shores of Hunan Province’s Dongting Lake — the second largest freshwater lake in China — lies the village of Qingshanyuan. As all too commonly found in rapidly developing China, industrial plants surround the lake discharging wastewater and emitting toxic gases into the air, regardless of the environmental consequences.