This week found myself in a bit of a winter storm which took my power and left me unable to accomplish much work, not to mention that I found myself burring my food in the snow, piling on the blankets and reading by candle light. In many ways it was kind of relaxing to have […]
MALAWI: Better pediatric HIV services reduce infections More mothers and pregnant women in Malawi are attending antenatal clinics since the increased training of health workers in pediatric HIV care improved services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, and pediatric HIV testing and treatment. Today, 45 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women use PMTCT services, putting […]
In modern combat the atrocities of rape and mutilation, have become all too common strategic tools of warfare.The use of rape as a weapon is one of the most violent and humiliating offenses inflicted on the enemy, the brutalization of rape permanently scars the victim’s mind, soul and often body. The World Health Organization (WHO) […]
by Myra MacPherson The contrasting legacies of two 20th-century American journalists, now long dead, remain fascinating. Walter Lippmann and I.F. Stone are dynamic examples of opposing approaches to journalism. Lippmann the insider, fancied the fine life of being “inside” to a degree unthinkable for most journalists. He wrote speeches for U.S. presidents. When he visited […]
As the new year is falls into place the next big spending holiday lies right around the corner, Valentines Day, the day which is to give symbolic measure to love. Millions of couples are looking for that perfect token to show how they feel for their special someone. While the day may not be exchanging […]
The United States House of Representatives is back in full swing and with that renewed and new debates are brewing. One such debate that the House will soon vote on is a bill to repeal the health care reform, which was signed into law last March by President Obama. The repeal of the Affordable Care […]
Haiti’s former “President for Life” Jean-Claude Duvalier made a surprising return to Haiti on Sunday after 25 years in exile. He stated that he hoped to take part in the “rebirth” of the nation, and aging friends said they had begged him to come back and visit. But a simple Duvalierist reunion in the luxurious […]
Getting U.S. teens to “girl up” The UN Foundation has launched a new campaign to raise awareness among teenage girls in the United States about the lives of teenage girls in developing countries. The program, Girl Up, asks American girls to “high five” their less empowered peers by learning facts (one in seven is married […]
To day we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as all who followed and continue to follow in his footsteps. King’s fight for human rights is a legacy left for all children regardless of race, religion, or color. The fight he led for civil rights in the United […]
What a difference a few days make. Since writing my post on the demonstrations in Tunisia on Wednesday, President Ben Ali went from claiming that only terrorists and fanatics were protesting to announcing that he would not run for re-election when his current term expires in 2014. He also assured the population that […]
Stephen Rapp, the U.S. Ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, declared this week in Bangladesh that “(p)re-charging detention is not automatically a violation of international standards.” This statement could be taken innocuously – as arguably true; or it could be taken as an implicit nod of approval by the U.S. for the illegal detention and torture […]
The battle against smoking in Indonesia continues to rage on. The extreme nature of the problem was first brought to international attention when in May of last year a video of a two-year-old from the western Indonesian island of Sumatra, astonished global viewers as it went viral. The video of the toddler chain-smoking has been […]
by Sheila Jasanoff In May 2003, the United States and several cooperating countries filed a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) charging the European Union (EU) with maintaining an illegal, non-science based moratorium on genetically modified (GM) food and crops. Almost three years later, in February 2006, the WTO concluded that EU inaction between […]
Today in Tunisia, amid government blackouts and Western apathy among the press and government bureaucracy, social media and second generation journalism through blogs is emerging as one of the only methods for demonstrators to tell their tale for those willing to listen.
