An African administrative chief uses Twitter to help solve problems and maintain order in his Kenyan village, showing another example of how social media has evolved beyond wired metropolises to reach even the most previously unconnected corners of the globe. Chief Francis Kariuki — or, @Chiefka... Read more...
At the stroke of midnight on the first of January, the brilliant Times Square ball descends, signifying the birth of a new year, a time to renew, reinvent, and reenergize. As the confetti swirls through the air, there's something else afloat with it--Hope. Hope that no matter how fulfilling last yea... Read more...
Following two rough years of drought in the Horn of Africa, the United Nations has declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia. According to the UN, a famine means more than 30% of children in an area are malnourished, at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages and more than tw... Read more...
by Kersty McCourt Pretrial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Are Most at Risk is part of a broader effort to demonstrate how this single issue of excessive detention lies at the heart of a web of misfortune and abuse that disproportionally affects the poor and the excluded, and whi... Read more...
It’s a long way from the soccer fields of Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp to the Ivy League — but Morris Kaunda Michael made the journey. Last month, Michael, a 23-year-old Sudanese refugee, graduated from Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering with a B.S. in biomedical engineering. H... Read more...
Could wiki technology find Osama bin Laden? Imagine if any Pakistani could send an anonymous text message to the authorities suggesting where to look. Each location could be plotted on a map. The dots would be scattered widely, perhaps, with promising leads indistinguishable from rubbish. Bu... Read more...
“Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. His father — my grandfather — was a cook... Read more...