The startling agreement announced today–the U.S. providing North Korea food aid in exchange for the North’s putting a moratorium on uranium enrichment, nuclear weapons tests and long-range missile testing–would seem by any reckoning a very positive step in the right direction. The mere fact that North Korea’s new leadership is putting the immediately nutritional needs […]
I’m sitting with the father of a young boy killed in a firefight in Afghanistan. His child was eight years old. He told me his story: Just before dawn on February 8th, helicopters carrying dozens of French and Afghan troops landed in a remote village in Kapisa province located in northeastern Afghanistan. The soldiers searched […]
UNICEF has recently published their flagship publication, The State of the World’s Children, which each year examines a key issue affecting children. Last year’s report, The State of the World’s Children 2011: Adolescence – An Age of Opportunity, focused on adolescence; this year’s report highlights the shift of the world population to urban areas and […]
Many hold a view that the terms Africa and nuclear security have no correlation. This is a false and dangerous perception. South Africa’s Energy Minister Dipuo Peters announced on Tuesday 28 February 2012 that the country plans to use nuclear energy as part of diversified mix to help cure South Africa’s energy crisis and to […]
I recently came across this report from BBC News about a U.S. casualty in World War II. The report provides the back-story on the first American casualty in Europe on the eve of the war, made all the more tragic because it was a case of friendly fire. The report is interesting on its own […]
Neglected tropical diseases have been getting a bit of press recently, possibly because it’s been a slow news week or two in the world of global health. Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are so named because they’re precisely that: generally ignored by funders, scientists, advocacy organizations, and governments. They are often endemic in developing countries, where […]
The release of the film version of the popular novel, “The Hunger Games,” has been preceded by a joint venture between the films stars, producers and two leading food aid organizations; World Food Programme (WFP) and Feed America. The goal of the partnership is to draw attention to global hunger through a special “The Hunger […]
Traditionally the deployment of U.S. armed forces into a conflict zone is one of the most difficult and controversial in U.S. foreign policy. In general, it is often stated that vital national interests that are at stake and the potential political risks as well as costs of a deployment of U.S. armed forces are among […]
In a recent speech in Rome, Bill Gates addressed the global agriculture community, encouraging a revitalization of the world’s agriculture and food system. Stating that the current system is “outdated and inefficient,” Gates argued that increasing coordination among international food agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), and International […]
February 11 marked the one year anniversary of the official fall of Hosni Mubarak from power. What started with street demonstrations and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) overthrowing the President and dissolving the Parliament, was followed by a referendum to amend the existing constitution and fresh Parliamentary election. On February 22, the […]
I saw these two reports within a few minutes of each other and the contrast wasn’t exactly hard to see. The first piece detailed China’s rapidly increasing military spending: China’s defense budget will double by 2015, making it more than the rest of the Asia Pacific region’s combined, according to a report from IHS Jane’s, […]
The 56th session on the Commission on the Status of Women will begin on Feb. 27 at the United Nations headquarters. The theme – empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, sustainable development and current challenges – will be the driving force to bring a change to millions of women […]
Behind the lines in India’s polio fight In New Delhi, at several of the 7,000 vaccination booths that span the Indian capital, children get two drops of an oral polio vaccine, after which one of their pinkie fingers is painted with indelible purple ink — a procedure that is being repeated across the vast country, […]
To judge from reports that appeared in The New York Times and Washington Post, as well as Science magazine, it appears that the World Health Organization will recommend, over U.S. objections, full publication of the bird flu studies showing that an air-transmissible, mammal-to-mammal form of the H5N1 virus can be engineered. A Times story that […]
A number of years ago while still in the military I was stationed in a highly volatile part of the world. The crisis was pretty intense and it was the first job I held where my boss was routinely on the evening news on both U.S. and world television stations. As has happened numerous times […]