France’s center-right and left political parties are coalescing around a controversial issue: the idea of a national, parliamentary ban on the niqab. Proponents of the ban cite the threat of Islamism to France’s position as a secular state, and argue further that the niqab is both a symbol of and an act of the oppression of […]
As with any change in life, growing older can present its challenges. Beyond relatively incipient social-networking programs like Twitter and Facebook, or newfangled cell phones to deal with, there is the transition from the workforce to retirement, and adjustments as some friends or spouses pass away. New routines must be established. How is this time […]
After nearly two months of questioning in the Hague, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) has temporarily adjourned the Defense’s questioning of former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor, due to the illness of lead counsel Courtenay Griffiths QC. The SCSL, an ad hoc international-national court – or ‘hybrid’ tribunal – was established by the […]
U.N. Guide for Sex Ed Generates Opposition Conservative groups have reacted angrily to a UNESCO-proposed set of guidelines on sex education as being age inappropriate and supportive of access to abortion as a right. The guidelines, aimed at curbing HIV/AIDS transmission, were to be distributed to government, school systems and teachers around the globe but […]
Read the full article about Tim Hetherington here Among the new books that come out every fall, there are always a few stand-outs. Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold is one of them. Although the book was technically released earlier this summer, the thought-provoking combination of photojournalism, reportage, and international affairs history is notable […]
As we kick back and relax for our long Labor Day weekend, enjoying some work and stress free days among family and friends, relishing in the freedoms of a fair wage, children across the globe toil away as child labors. Often these children, who sometimes are only a few years old, are placed in hazardous […]
BRUSSELS, 3 September 2009 The President of the African Development Bank Group Donald Kaberuka said that the international response to the global crisis and the reform of the global financial aid architecture has failed to take into consideration the issues facing least developed countries. “People here call it a financial crisis but in Africa it […]
It was certainly a dramatic and convincing victory, but how much will it really change Japan? In the recent election, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan routed the Liberal Democratic Party, who had been in practically uninterrupted control for the past half century. The landslide triumph is a historic break from the past, but is […]
As I try to wrap things up before departing on my holiday weekend I wanted to note one of the more interesting things that caught my eye in a week dominated by news of California wildfires and celebrity burials. As the U.S. military continues a top-level assessment of the war in Afghanistan the public debate […]
While I am not a specialist in green technology, I could not help but be depressed by an article in the New York Times Tuesday about China’s rare earth minerals and metals. The Times and many other papers announced Tuesday that China which “currently accounts for 93 percent of production of so-called rare earth elements” […]
It took director Tom Peosay 10 years to make this documentary. The film covers Tibet’s history and focuses mostly on its occupation by China in the last 50 years. It is clear from the beginning that the makers of this movie side with those calling for a free Tibet. Chinese officials who are interviewed about […]
Barry Commoner wrote The Politics of Energy in 1979. In it, he called for a transition to renewables – with natural gas as the bridge to the future. 30 years later this still sounds pretty good. One difference, of course, is that we’re so much farther along on renewables than perhaps even Dr. Commoner could’ve dreamed. A […]
A court in Kazakhstan sentenced a prominent human rights activist to four years imprisonment for manslaughter yesterday in a case that many observers believe was politically motivated. The charges against Yevgeny Zhovtis stem from a car accident in July where Zhovtis hit and killed a man while driving his car. However the initial forensic exam […]
It is no secret that Mexico lags well behind European, North American and other Latin American countries in regards to women’s participation in government. Though Mexican women have been legally entitled to vote and stand for election since 1953, there is still a wide gap in terms of their equal representation in the three branches […]
September is Washington D.C.’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the event which was established thanks to the efforts of the DC Task Force on Human Trafficking. The Task Force was established in 2004 with the DC police department and the DC US Attorney’s office, membership is now open to open to any D.C. metropolitan area law […]