Are we becoming obsessed with soft news?

Ask anyone what the most important issues in the world are today and one,two or all of the items in the list below are likely to come up. This is no particular order:
Iran, the war in Afghanistan, the economic downturn, Russia, global warming, Pakistan attacks, Middle East peace, China, Iraq

On a global scale, these are the most important stories – yes ?. These are the stories we are most interested in, right? According to one or two indices, wrong.

They are not what we are most interested in, judging by news websites in across the globe.

Does Africa have any good leaders?

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation , set up to award a $5m as an annual prize for African ex-leaders who have shown good governance , has said there will be no winner this year because it could not find anyone to award it to.