world

The New York Times ran a story on its front page last Saturday about the king of Swaziland, Mswati III, who leads a life of ostentatious luxury while the people of his small and proud nation struggle with poverty, malnourishment and HIV. The story of a greedy leader bilking his people is a sadly common…

The deeply divided political system in Pakistan makes for strange bedfellows. Former President Pervez Musharraf’s resignation on August 18 shed light on one marriage of convenience, a short-lived ruling coalition led by two of Pakistan’s largest political parties—the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The December 27, 2007 assassination of PPP…

There has been much talk and much written about the significance of Barack Obama’s candidacy to African Americans. But Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic Party nomination is an unprecedented moment for blacks Europeans, too. As we watch, we do so with the hope for similar strides in our communities, in our countries. To see this…

With thousands of Olympic tourists flooding out of China this week, now may be a good time to book a trip east. With the streets relatively quiet—well, as quiet as they get in Beijing—it is likely a great time to hit the markets and find a bargain. If you’re adventurous and impulsive enough to strike…

The U.S. national basketball team, dubbed the Redeem Team, won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics with a 118-107 win over Spain—very late—Saturday night. It was the culmination of a three-year program to rebuild the national team and restore American primacy in basketball. However, the gold medal isn’t the end of a long, arduous…

Ainsley Reid is the face of HIV/AIDS in Jamaica. Smiling in a bright yellow shirt under the words “Positive Truly Positive,” Reid, 43, is part of a campaign on the island to raise awareness about HIV and fight the stigma and discrimination. On posters, billboards and television ads, he looks strong and healthy and is,…

Activity in the Barkhor, a vibrant and bustling area in Lhasa, courses steady and strong like blood running through veins. I, on the other hand, needed red blood cells, any red blood cells, during my travels there. At 12,000 feet above sea level, the decreased oxygen in the air left me feeling car sick, hung…

With the Olympics underway, Americans are devoting countless hours to Googling their favorite athletes and using the Web to find out all they can about China. But how free are people in China to interact online with fellow citizens and the world? How easy is it to surf the Web in China? The Chinese government…

I recently spent some time in Mexico, where it seemed that every surface was covered by ads for Bimbo, a wildly popular baked goods company. In a country where tortillas and pan dulce reign supreme, Bimbo’s success in peddling packaged breads and sweets to the masses is no small feat. In fact, the company even…

The international conflict between Russia and Georgia over the status of Georgia’s breakaway territory of South Ossetia rightly brought about hand-wringing from a war-weary international community. The crisis has already caused a humanitarian catastrophe in which thousands have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced in and around South Ossetia. The idea of…