Ancient travelers feared it, and called it a place of no return. But Singaporean Yap Kwong Weng decided to take on the Taklamakan desert , even though he says he is no adventurer.

Find out why as he talks to Devika Misra.

Eliminating nuclear threats is a matter of necessity, not choice. The world’s 23,000 nuclear weapons – many still deployed on high alert – can destroy life on this planet many times over. That the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has not so far been repeated owes far more to luck than to good policy management.

For poor countries, political leadership, accountability and adequate budgetary allocations for the Goals are cited as key criteria to drive sustained progress.