Nate Silver is a brilliant statistician. But he's not clairvoyant -- nor is he crazy -- and you'd have to be one or the other to attempt to forecast the 2012 presidential election with confidence.

That's why in Sunday's New York Times Magazine article entitled "Is Obama...

In Laos recently, a 10-year-old boy was killed by a buried bomb he and a friend disturbed while playing. While his friend was killed instantly, the boy survived the initial blast. In a video exhibit at Vientiane's Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE), his parents recount the details...

The phenomenon of forced disappearance is not well understood outside of the countries in which it takes place. Of course, how could it be? Imagine that one night police abduct your teenage son from your home without observing any protocol for arrest and detention, offering no explanation and...

In November 2010, in Hatton, Sri Lanka, Devarathnam Yogendra cooperated with the Bribery Commission to catch police officer IP Wijesuriya accepting bribes. A representative from the Bribery Commission watched as Wijesuriya accepted a bribe, then arrested him on charges of bribery (Case No.: 50600/01 in the Chief Magistrate's...

Legal scholars have explained why the U.S. government has not violated the First Amendment, journalists have dismantled claims that Assange is a press hero, and national security experts have debunked arguments that the leaked cables are innocuous. Yet somehow WikiLeaks defenders continue to support this misguided project, resorting to arguments...

In June 2009, a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, brought water to Muslim women working in a field with her. They rejected the water because a non-Muslim had touched it, and an argument ensued. In the aftermath of what should have been a minor incident, the leader of the local...

Past the ethics of "To publish or not to publish?" there's a second major journalistic issue in the WikiLeaks scandal -- that's the tide of irresponsible reporting on the WikiLeaks and US government response. Eager to find fault with the United States, commentators have leaped to turn government condemnation of...

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Bon Om Touk festival stampede that this Monday night caused at least 378 deaths and left more than 700 injured also left open questions about Cambodia's government and its handling of the disaster.

Prime Minister Hun Sen recognized Monday night...

While a narrow view of what constitutes democratic government has periodically impeded U.S. foreign relations, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, so, too, has a willingness to overlook the shortcomings of un-democratic regimes. For the sake of convenience when attentions and resources were diverted elsewhere, in the name of...

For more than a year, Pakistan's Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill has languished in legislative limbo, awaiting political resuscitation. The National Assembly passed the bill on August 4, 2009, but the Senate failed to do so within the three months mandated by the Constitution, opting to let...

Last week, a Filipino woman working in Qatar as a maid gave birth on a flight from Bahrain to the Philippines, and then abandoned the child in the lavatory trash. She told officials she had become pregnant after being raped by her employer. Only a few weeks before,...

Last week, the government of Pakistan announced that it would push the National Assembly to pass the long-awaited Acid Control and Burn Crime Prevention Bill this month. The bill, first introduced in January 2010, emerged from collaboration among the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), the National Commission...

September 8, 2010, has joined February 4, 1948, and September 7, 1978, as a pivotal date in the democratic history of Sri Lanka. In 1948, Sri Lanka won independence from Britain, but in 1978, President J.R. Jayawardene and the United National Party (UNP) passed Sri Lanka's third Constitution, establishing expansive...