Today American’s set forth to escape the ciaos that has become our everyday lives to spend the day amongst family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, and as we gather around tables covered in American traditions old and new, let us not forget the meaning of the holiday. As you gather around your tables today, remember […]
*At the White House, President Barack Obama pardoned a turkey named Courage. Yes, even the pardoned turkeys must be inspiring. “Thanks to the interventions of Malia and Sasha—because I was planning to eat this sucker—Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate,” Obama said, regaining his coolness points. *The day after Thanksgiving marks […]
This article in the Times about the struggles the Iraqi national football team are dealing with is an insight that should not be overlooked—if the country’s beloved national side is mired in controversy, all is most certainly not well. Transitional States has been closely following international football and next year’s World Cup in South Africa. […]
If you’ve been betting on Copenhagen, as many of us have, then things are looking up. “President Barack Obama will attend climate-change talks in Copenhagen next month, offering an emissions-cut goal of about 17 percent by 2020…” reports Bloomberg News here. The White House blog confirms this and bullets the major initiatives that the administration […]
Here is a post from climate change blogger Bill Hewitt: “I wrote about The Earth here a while back. It was really about soil and focused on a fantastic article in National Geographic Magazine. I’ve become more and more interested in ‘cool farming,’ teach this stuff in my climate change classes, and have even had […]
TheAlliance for International Education and Cultural Exchange notes [t]he Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved last week a measure that would make changes to foreign assistance programs, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), CQ.com and Foreign Policy.com both report. The approved bill would authorize $255 million over six years to establish a council within […]
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the […]
Returning from two weeks in India – with my mind full of thoughts, I came across Hans Rosling’s video from Ted India. I adore how excited Rosling is about statistics (b/c I’m not), and think GapMinder is quite clever (b/c helps people like me to “get it”). Since my mind tends probe the non-Western experience, […]
This week it was announced, to the surprise of many, that the U.S. will indeed commit to a greenhouse gas reduction target, in time for the Copenhagen summit. There is much speculation that the target will be consistent with the proposed 17-20% reduction targets (from 2005 levels, by 2020), contained in the climate legislation currently […]
GUINEA: Shoring up children’s health amid turmoil Some 1.6 million children throughout Guinea are receiving vaccinations, nutritional supplements and mosquito nets in a bid by UNICEF and the Health Ministry to shore up children’s health, which experts say has been hit hard by unrest in recent years. After some progress in the late 1990s and […]
26 journalists were reportedly murdered in the Philippines earlier this week. The murders brought a swift response from the international journalism community. In a letter to Philippine President Arroyo, the Overseas Press Club said, in part: “The members of the Overseas Press Club of America are stunned by the news received today of the massacre […]
Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was awarded the Foreign Policy Association medal at the organization’s Fall Dinner on November 18th. Watch the video of Dr. Hamburg’s remarks. A partial transcript can be found below: And so, as I take on my new role as Commissioner of the Food and […]
OK, that’s not really what he said. But he may as well, choosing to blame India for Taliban attacks inside Pakistan. Dawn has the quote: “India should refrain from such nefarious activities,’ said Mr Qureshi, speaking of India’s alleged support of militants. ‘Unless (India) dispenses with its visceral animosity towards Pakistan, attaining viable peace and […]
I wrote about The Earth here a while back. It was really about soil and focused on a fantastic article in “National Geographic Magazine.” I’ve become more and more interested in “cool farming,” teach this stuff in my climate change classes, and have even had the opportunity to write an article about biochar. Here is […]
Iran recently rejected a compromise plan proposed the UN Security Council members that would have sent uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel rods and sent back to Iran for use in a research reactor . This would have been a classic compromise, one that satisfied no one and yet […]