Happy New Year?

Douglas Forbes, 12.30.2009

Public Relations Consultant and Writer

I'm sorry, but did I miss something? Can someone please explain to me why exactly I'm supposed to be so happy?

Arab Countries Aim to Improve Journalism Education With UNESCO's "Model Curricula"

Magda Abu-Fadil, 12.30.2009

Director of Journalism Training Program at the American University of Beirut

Arab countries are making strides in trying to improve journalism curricula, but still face strictures, obstacles and challenges to press freedom as w...

A Lesson In Leadership

Lloyd I. Sederer, MD, 12.29.2009

Each of us can go beyond ourselves. By rising above our self-perceived limitations we each can achieve personal greatness and thereby transform a culture

The Trouser Bomber Effect: Watching Government Cure Incompetence with Idiocy

Thomas Lipscomb, 12.28.2009

Senior Fellow at the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future

Incompetent State Department officials and poor enforcement of visa procedures that have been in place long before the personal computer, or even the jet airliner, are the problem here. And we aren't hearing a word about it.

Invictus We Trust

Stacey Kalish, 12.28.2009

I never gave a damn about rugby. But that didn't stop me from begging my dad to find last minute tickets to the 1995 Rugby World Cup finals where the underdog hosts, the South African Sprinkboks, were playing the New Zealand All-Blacks.

Lifting a Third World Curse

Susan Kim, 12.28.2009

Playwright, TV writer. Author: "Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation" w/Elissa Stein

One out of every ten school-age girls in sub-Sarahan Africa routinely skips school about 50 days a year. The reason why is so unbelievable it boggles the mind. It's because they're menstruating.

The Nile's Future War

Mohamed Elmenshawy, 12.28.2009

the Bureau Chief for Egyptian Daily “Ashorouk” in Washington, DC.

Thousands of years ago, the Nile River gave birth to civilization. Today, that same water may be North and East Africa's undoing.

Leadership Growing Up: France and the US

Vivian Norris de Montaigu, 12.28.2009

Based in Paris and holds a PhD in Cinema Studies

What is described in a Financial Times article as Obama's "reserve" and Sarkozy's being "intuitive, impulsive and direct," represents not only a contrast, but also how the two have been influenced by different backgrounds.

Will the TSA React Smartly or Foolishly?

Philip G. Baker, 12.28.2009

author "From Concept to Consumer"

With the recent terror plot foiled on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, let's see if our government officials react sensibly or foolishly. If their past actions are an example, I'm not hopeful.

Terrorism Hysteria

Malou Innocent, 12.27.2009

Foreign Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute

In times of terrorism, the first casualty is American values. The Obama administration must counter its impulse to overreact to this recent terrorist incident.

How the Story of Christmas Saved Islam

Kamran Pasha, 12.25.2009

Hollywood filmmaker, author of "Mother of the Believers"

I would like to share a Christmas story that many people today do not know. The true story of how the tale of Jesus and Mary saved the nascent religion of Islam from annihilation.

The Copenhagen Accord: A Big Step Forward

David Doniger, 12.23.2009

Policy Director, NRDC Climate Center

Too many observers, in my view, are judging the Copenhagen Accord by the wrong yardsticks.

Copenhagen: A Theater of the Absurd

Sam Black, 12.22.2009

Research Associate at the Stimson Center

I think we owe it to the Copenhagen participants to recognize that, for these two weeks, they made the debate over health care seem reasonable by comparison.

The Susans I Met In The Slums Of Nairobi

Susan Smalley, Ph.D., 12.21.2009

Susan L. Smalley, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at ...

I visited Kiberia last week. With local NGO leaders as our guide (and two soldiers carrying automatic rifles) we walked through an adjacent neighborhood slum of Nbuta to visit some families that live there.

'Five Myths about Sudan' in The Washington Post

John Prendergast, 12.21.2009

Co-Founder of the ENOUGH Project

Let there be no mistake, with unfree elections coming in April and a referendum on the independence of the South the following January, Sudan is at di...

Climate Deal Flop Reveals Leadership Crisis

Sarah van Gelder, 12.28.2009

Co-Founder and Executive Editor of YES! Magazine, www.yesmagazine.org

The failure of world leaders to come to terms with the climate crisis provoked anger and disappointment. My colleague at YES! Magazine, Brooke Jarvis, reported on the early responses to the climate deal.

Uganda's Anti-Gay Law: Opposition Grounded in Bipartisan Confluence of Human Rights and Public Health

Dr. Mark Dybul, 12.19.2009

Former United States Global AIDS Coordinator, Co-director, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

Gay men and women cannot be legislated out of existence. The practical impact of a proposed anti-gay law will be to undermine Uganda's efforts to combat its HIV epidemic.

Invisible Children Exhibit: From Darkness to Sight

Priyanka Boghani, 12.17.2009

Freelance journalist and Huffington Post intern

At the Bleecker Street gallery, the sight that greets you is a floor strewn with beaten straw mats and ragged blankets. This is the detritus of living through one of Africa's most treacherous wars.

Obama and Clinton Fight International Parental Kidnappings

Edward Lozzi, 12.17.2009

Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly voiced her support and threw the weight of her office behind a Hague parental kidnapping case of a boy kidnapped by his mother four years ago.

Five House Chairmen to Obama: We All Promised Global AIDS Funding ...

Matthew Kavanagh, 12.17.2009

AIDS and Human Rights Activist

It would seem to be in Obama's interest to make good on the US's global AIDS promises: save a lot of lives, and keep some key allies happy.

Copenhagen Meltdown

Sanjay Khanna, 12.22.2009

Climate-change writer and journalist

The U.N. Climate Conference is falling apart. Protesters are being beaten in the street, Hugo Chavez is taking the high road and the whole thing might end without a new agreement.