By Chloe Hickey-Jones, an intern in the Institute's Melanesia Program.
- The World Happiness Report for 2016 has been released. Australia is ranked in the top 10. Check it out here.
- The fourth annual Aid Budget Breakfast will take place this Wednesday 4 May, following the release of the latest Australian federal budget. You can watch the livestream of the breakfast here.
- Jonathan Pryke has a primer on the current state of the Australian aid budget.
- The Asian Development Bank is hosting its 40th Annual Meeting on the theme Cooperating for Sustainability in Frankfurt this week. ADB principal director of external relations Satindar Bindra has posted the first of a blog series documenting the meeting.
- Staying on the topic of sustainability, the World Bank Data Blog poses the question ‘Are people living longer, healthier lives?’
- Duncan Green and Deborah Hardoon try to get their heads around the fact that the world’s poor are getting poorer even though their incomes are rising.
- Venezuela has announced a two-day working week in a bid to conserve energy as it is crippled by drought.
- The New York Times 'Lives' series details a range of experiences from how a wounded veteran learned to play music by ear to tales about Syrian refugees (h/t Chris Blattman).
- India’s drought has resulted in forced migration as people move from rural to urban centres in search of food and water. The BBC's Pop Up program covered it last week:
