They live in the margins of society, the children of prostitutes in Calcutta, India. They are given time and space to discuss their lives with New York-based photographer Zana Briski. Briski, who co-directed the film with Ross Kauffman, started a photography class with several of these children. She gave them cameras and let them choose […]
By Cordelia Rizzo In 2007, Mexico City’s legislature affirmed a woman’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy during the first trimester. Today, this remains the only pro-choice law in the whole country. In response, conservative congresses in other parts of Mexico have toughened their own anti-abortion laws. But ordinary Mexicans are just beginning to […]
I took a quick look at Heidi Cullen’s new book The Weather of the Future recently. (I still have to read it. But I’ve got an Ian Rankin and Lester Brown’s Plan B 4.0 ahead of her in the queue.) But don’t wait for me. See her here with Stephen Colbert. Then read the book. […]
Zimbabwe’s HIV-positive children seek treatment abroad A lack of access to medicines in Zimbabwe is spurring a new wave of migration to Botswana and South Africa of children with HIV/AIDS in search of antiretroviral drugs. Zimbabwean authorities offer free antiretroviral treatment, but waiting lists and an exhaustive vetting process leave the vast majority of HIV-positive […]
There’s been some back and forth this week between Julian Ku and David Bosco about Jeremy Rabkin’s recent critique of the ICC in the Weekly Standard. I’ll add my two cents, for to me, Rabkin’s piece seems like a ghost story told around a campfire. Rabkin intends to make the ICC seem really really scary, […]
ProPublica reported last week that BP has committed funding of $52 million to treating mental health victims affected by the Gulf oil spill. This has come after the publication of the Mailman School’s release of a study (“Impact on Children and Families of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill“) which interviewed over 1200 residents of Louisiana and […]
I’ve been off the air for a week because we’ve been on vacation: Vienna for a few days, then down to Istria for some beach, mountains and sight seeing. We visited a wonderful Croatian national park today: Risnjak. Meanwhile, here’s just a quick hitter on an item I saw on “green curtains” from the excellent […]
Anna Lappé is the co-founder, along with her mother Frances Lappé, of the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute, an international network for research and popular education about the root causes of hunger and poverty. They have also founded the Small Planet Fund which has raised more than $500,000 for democratic social movements worldwide. Anna’s first book […]
Today’s commentary from the UK Telegraph: SIR – The parlous state of the public finances in Britain provides the perfect opportunity for British taxpayers to end their half-century-long experiment with “development aid”, which has, since its inception, stunted growth and subsidised bad governance in Africa. As Africans, we urge the generous-spirited British to reconsider an […]
Information about the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative has been notoriously slow for those of us trying to deliver services and prepare for funding shifts. Secretary Clinton’s recent speech at Johns Hopkins’ SAIS sheds some light on the initiative; Nandini Ooman’s excellent analysis is here.
After weeks of criticizing government flood relief efforts, some Pakistani media have begun to cautiously praise Islamabad’s response while warning that if the public’s “urgent” needs are not met, Pakistan will become a “failed state.” English- and Urdu-language media continue to carry varying amounts of praise for U.S. flood relief efforts. Some media have reported allegations that floodwaters were diverted to […]
The future of the world’s first seed bank, maintained by the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry near St. Petersburg, Russia, is threatened by real estate developers looking to build new homes on the prime real estate owned by the Institute. According to the Washington Post, The station was founded in 1924 by Nikolai Vavilov, a […]
The New Republic offers this interesting response to Secretary Clinton’s speech two weeks ago at my school. Compare and contrast. I don’t necessarily agree with the argument that the new Global Health Initiative is doomed to fail, but it’s certainly true that lined up against the budget for military spending, funding for foreign aid looks […]
Following reports that the editor of Indian magazine Naveena Netrikkan has been arrested and tortured, press freedom organizations are calling for his release. Mr. A.S. Mani was reportedly arrested, imprisoned and tortured after reporting on police corruption in the Indian state of Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. Reporters Without Borders issued the transcript of an interview […]
The United Nations has again made a clear and strong denouncement against the use of rape during conflict. The move follows a 2008 denouncement of the practice by the Security Council, who unanimously adopted a resolution which acknowledged the use of rape as ‘a tactic of war and an impediment to peace’. There for the […]