Somalia’s new environment minister asked the United Nations on Wednesday to investigate possible hazardous waste that was washed ashore by last year’s tsunami. The waste may be causing illnesses among local people. The minister said strange objects washed ashore all along his country’s coastline when the tsunami struck on December 26 last year.

The signing of an agreement to end two decades of civil war in Sudan not only brings the opportunity for millions of people to return home and begin new lives, but also carries with it a chance for investors to make money in a needy country with large oil reserves and, now, substantial international goodwill.