This Wired blog post is a couple weeks old now, but interesting if you didn't see it. The article discusses a presentation given by Joel Selanikio of the non-profit tech consultancy Datadyne. He makes a convincing argument that cell phone based text messaging are a more important and powerful tool for development than the internet. […]
Exactly one month to the day, Serb rioters broke into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade in a public display of their anger towards the United State for their recognition of Kosovo as an independent state. International Crisis Group completed an excellent briefing this week summarizing the events of the last month and laying out several […]
The United Nations on Thursday condemned an attack on civilians in West Darfur by forces backed by the Sudanese government. The U.N. report said aerial attacks accompanied ground forces on raids on several villages, resulting in over 100 dead and several thousand displaced. The United Nations is only as strong as its member states; very […]
-Ray L. Wilbur, third president of Stanford University © UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi All children are born into this world full of endless possibility, sadly many will face hardship and struggle for the entire duration of their childhood. The majority of children's struggles are preventable, disease, poor education, hunger, lack of proper sanitation and clean drinking water. […]
The British Department For International Development is partnering with the Guardian to sponsor a journalism competition on international development and reducing global poverty. Only UK residents are eligible, and they have separate categories for true amateurs and freelance writers. The finalists get their articles published and some computer equipment. This one essay contest isn't going […]
Middle East Online (and Al Jazeera magazine subsequently) published an intriguing article by Rima Merhi, a Lebanese human rights activist and research fellow at the Middle East Institute working on Arab media outreach to American public opinion. Based on the readership of the two publications, it is safe to assume that Mehri is speaking to primarily an […]
This week violence broke out the capitol city of Tibet. Tibetans demanding independence from China took to the street in a rare act of defiance from almost 50 years of Chinese rule. Tibet's government-in-exile said 80 Tibetans had been confirmed killed by the Chinese while trying to squash the protests. The Economist reports in-depth from Lhasa: “China […]
In a statement issued by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon's message on World Water Day targeted a lack of political will as the main reason for failure to achieve basic sanitation. However with today is marked to bring awareness to the plight of some 2.6 billion people world wide who are without proper sanitation facilities and […]
Under the shadow of the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, leaders of many Arab nations gathered in the tiny African nation of Senegal for the Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting. While the leaders of the impoverished nation wonder if hosting such an event will ultimately generate good graces from the wealthy […]
Man, I am a sucker for innovation, for using your head to come up with designs and systems that mimic nature and produce real energy and real energy savings. I’ve been reading a new book on renewable energy and alternative fuels and there’s some wild stuff in there: algae grown using carbon dioxide from power […]
“Today 2.6 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That's 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.” Children around the globe continue to endure needless suffering due to diseases brought on by a lack of access to clean drinking […]
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Jamhuri grounds, Nairobi, Kenya. January 2008 © Julius Mwelu/IRIN The battle for a peaceful Kenya is far from over as a semblance of everyday life remains a distant dream for most Kenyans. While this month saw the signing of a power-sharing deal, the fight for peace and stability in […]
This might only be amusing to me, but today my google alerts inbox had articles with African leaders stating completely opposite views on foreign aid. Gaddafi warned against imperialist powers using their foreign aid to buy influence in Africa. Meanwhile, the new leaders of the new coalition government in Kenya were asking Western diplomats to […]
I really do love the coverage in the “Financial Times.” It goes deeper than a lot of sources to give you stories that really mean something, rather than just the latest media frenzy over some political brouhaha or celebrity gossip. It also lives in the critical interface between commerce, public policy and international relations. (You […]
March 16 marked the 20th anniversary of a chemical weapons attack against a Kurdish uprising by the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 1988. The international community is just coming to terms with the events. With the U.S. pre-occupied with backing Saddam in his conflict with fever of Islamic nationalism gripping the Iranians, the […]