Mr. Obama knows that nonprofits have been overwhelmed by the demands for their services during this Great Recession. Legal services for the poor, nonprofit day-care centers, and many other types of groups strain to keep up with people knocking on their doors for aid. Yet, though he rhetorically urges more volunteerism, as all presidents do, [...]

Would a “psychosocial toolkit” help advocates of bold climate action to better cope with anger, sadness, or loss they may be feeling about accelerating changes to the climate system and the lack of mobilization among the general public and policy makers? Contents of a psychosocial toolkit would include: Notes from the frontlines – anecdotes and [...]

HO CHI MINH CITY, 1 March 2011 (IRIN) – Vietnam’s inflation rate is among Southeast Asia’s highest and its population is struggling to keep up with sharp increases in food, fuel and electricity prices. On 1 March the government increased electricity prices by a record 15 percent to an average 1,242 dong (US 6 cents) [...]

You are surely as inspired by events in Cairo, Tunis, and Benghazi as the rest of us. And you are surely as distressed by events in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan as your fellow Americans. Now is as good a time as any to face a grim fact: you and your recent predecessors are abject failures [...]

Rather than pursuing negotiations with the Palestinian national movement concerning territories in the West Bank, the prime minister keeps pointing to the precedent of the unilateral transfer of areas of Gaza to the ‘subsidiary’ of the Muslim Brotherhood, without negotiations,  Akiva Eldar of Haaretz reports. Read more here: Netanyahu is exploiting anxiety over instability to stave off [...]

SHREWSBURY — Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of peaceful opposition to South African apartheid, is scheduled to speak at a Massachusetts high school this spring. Michael Welch, headmaster of St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, calls Tutu’s visit scheduled for May 23 “humbling and a privilege.” St. John’s [...]

RAMALLAH, 28 February 2011 (IRIN) – Violence between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the West Bank appears to be worsening, say UN agencies, NGOs, and the Israeli and Palestinian communities living there. An increased number of Palestinian civilians have been injured and had property or land damaged in incidents involving Israeli settlers living in the [...]

Tunisia – The arrival of nearly 6,500 Egyptian migrants alone at the Ras Adjir border crossing between Tunisia and Libya on Friday alone highlighted the growing numbers of migrants and Libyans now fleeing the violence in Libya. An estimated 15,000 Egyptians are now stranded at this border area awaiting evacuation help. Read more here: IOM – [...]

This weekend’s vote was a historic first. Russia and China, both distrustful of international justice, joined with the once equally wary United States to raise their hands in favour. Crucially, the referral makes clear that those around the Libyan leader are vulnerable if they remain loyal to his declared policy of killing “cockroaches” and cleansing Libya “house by house.”

TUNIS — Security forces and anti-government protesters clashed in the Tunisian capital Sunday, with police firing tear gas and warning shots to disperse stone-throwing youths in a third day of violence. Read more here: ReliefWeb » Document » Tunisia protesters in new clashes.