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The article looks at Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, as of December 2012. It recounts his background, including his family's commitment to both Islam and secular education. It notes he studied and taught engineering in the U.S. for several years in the 1970s and 1980s, and says when he returned to Egypt he was associated with the Muslim Brotherhood organization. His years in the Egyptian parliament beginning in 2000 are discussed. The author analyzes the balance in Morsi's politics between a commitment to creating an orthodox Islamic state and a practical, pluralistic approach to governing. His role in the Israel-Hamas cease-fire and his decree against judicial review of his actions, both in November 2012, are discussed.

The author discusses the threat to stability in Iraq posed by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, and calls upon the Coalition Provisional Authority to stop Sadr and his followers before they became even more dangerous. The Shia uprising is the disastrous result of a year of miscalculations by L. Paul Bremer and his associates. Isolated in the Green Zone in Baghdad, and ill-informed about Sadr's military muscle, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was essentially presented with two options in dealing with the upstart cleric. One course was to try to bring the cleric into the fold of the occupation. The other was to crack down hard on the cleric and his supporters early on, trying to silence Sadr before his support swelled. Unfortunately, the CPA did neither. Little known to Iraqis when the war began, he burst into prominence immediately after the 101st Airborne Division stormed into Najaf in April 2003; Sadr unleashed a series of fiery speeches against the U.S. occupation from his late father's mosque in Kufa. Then came the killing of Khoie. After Khoie's murder, senior CPA officials, who rarely left central Baghdad, had little sense of how strong Sadr's following was. Even as Sadr's brigades were becoming a serious threat to stability, the CPA did little to equip or train the Iraqi security forces that might have helped stop his army, especially in the Shia south.

Focuses on the issue of educational injustice towards the minority students in the U.S. Observation that American high school students have been held hostage to the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), which is poorly formulated, confusing and irrelevant; Establishment of an iconoclastic SAT preparation course Princeton Review, by guerrilla fighter, John Katzman.

The article discusses United States Special Forces operations within Timbuktu, which has become a focal point in the global war on terrorism. Islamic terrorist groups look to the region for recruiting and training grounds, while the Bush administration is using the area to train Malian troops in counterterrorism.

This article discusses the tension between the coalition military forces and the Coalition Provisional Government in the wake of the Iraq war. Eleven months after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, it's hard to find a soldier in the field with a kind word to say about the CPA, the 2,500-employee, civilian-run administration based in Baghdad and headed by L. Paul Bremer. Civilian chief Bremer and his military counterpart, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who have offices near each other in Saddam's former Republican Palace in Baghdad, have sparred over many aspects of the occupation--especially Bremer's decision last May to disband the Iraqi military, a move soldiers blame for fueling the insurgency that has led to the deaths of over 260 American soldiers. When Bremer took over in May 2003, the military's impatience with the CPA continued. These frustrations reflected a dangerous difference in philosophy: Troops in the field were preoccupied with quickly fixing local problems, while the CPA in Baghdad favored a longer-term, broader but sometimes ineffective approach.

This article discusses the current condition of the resort islands off the coast of Kenya, and the effects that terrorism has had on them in the recent years. According to Gerald, the men were providing backup for CIA operatives and American Special Forces troops who had recently snuck across the border into Somalia to kidnap a Yemeni, known as Sheik Jaylani, who is linked to the suicide boat-bomb attack against the USS Cole in Aden three years ago. The Thanksgiving Day 2002 suicide attack on the Paradise Hotel near Mombasa and the simultaneous attempted downing of an Israeli jetliner with shoulder-fired missiles have badly damaged Kenya's tourism industry: Though in 1996 Kenya attracted more than one million tourists, the Kenya Tourist Board says that it drew roughly 480,000 between January and November of 2003. On the seaside patio of the Peponi, a small, family-run hotel on Shela beach that's the social center of the island, there was the usual crowd of Europeans and the occasional American who gossiped over stiff drinks while Kenyan beach boys in Rastafarian hairdos proffered rides on old wooden sailing dhows, traditional ships that historically plied the coasts of Africa and Arabia. But, in the dank warrens of Lamu Town two miles down the beach, there are more serious problems. The residents of Lamu Town are primarily Muslim traders, fishermen, boat-builders, and coconut farmers. Most do not share in the island's tourist-generated wealth and have felt neglected for decades by the Christian-dominated Kenyan central government. And, though Lamu is hardly a hotbed of Islamic extremism, Moi's mistakes and the dichotomy between Western tourists and the Lamu Town poor have created a welcoming atmosphere for Muslim extremists' anti-Western message.

This article presents a defense of the United States media's predominately negative coverage of reconstruction efforts in Iraq and includes a first person narrative by the author. In recent weeks, a chorus of critics ranging from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to occupation leader L. Paul Bremer have lambasted the media for harping on bad news in Iraq and ignoring coalition forces' successes. Iraq's crippled oil industry needs an estimated $7 billion to rehabilitate production and refineries, but Oil Ministry officials admit that instability has scared off potential investors, including corporate giants like Exxon. Since violence in Iraq, if it leads to U.S. forces leaving the country, could have a similarly large impact on the region's economy and politics, why shouldn't it be given top billing as well? What's more, the violence, which may be spreading to Shia areas (witness the gunfight this week between Shia radicals and American troops), has unhinged Washington's efforts to bring in international troops.

Reports on the decline of hope for peace between Israel and Palestine. Consideration of the role of John Wolf as special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; Commitment of the Bush administration to the peace process; Contention that the U.S. has been helpless to deal with any of the core issues at the heart of the conflict; Claims that the road map to peace was a tool to facilitate the Iraq war rather than to be a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian battle; History of American involvement in the peace process; Impact of the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on the peace plan.

At the end of February, with war in Iraq looming, United Nations Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen paid a visit to Yasir Arafat in his shattered compound in Ramallah. For months, the Palestinian leader had believed the outbreak of war would work to his advantage, restoring him as a key player in peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But Roed-Larsen laid it on the line: According to diplomatic sources, he told Arafat that the Palestinian leader would be "finished" unless he immediately appointed a prime minister with substantial powers--a precondition set by Ariel Sharon and the White House for restarting the peace process. Then, in dozens of phone conversations and meetings in smoke-filled rooms in Ramallah over the next two weeks, reformers from the Fatah movement, a faction within the Palestinian Authority (PA), persuaded key Arafat loyalists to block Arafat's bid to retain de facto control of the PA. On March 18, the Palestinian Legislative Council rejected by an overwhelming majority Arafat's attempt to weaken the post, giving Abu Mazen total control over Cabinet appointments and other key responsibilities. The sidelining of Arafat and the ascension of Abu Mazen have both been hailed as a critical boost to the" road map," the Middle East peace plan drafted last year by the diplomatic quartet comprising the European Union, the UN, Russia, and the United States.

Presents information on the political scenario of Macedonia. Description of Hassan Zelili, deputy mayor of the village of Selce, being caught in a crossfire; Blockade of electric and telephone service to Selce; View that Macedonia is a false democracy; Comments on the discrimination against Albanians in Macedonia; Information on the fact that Albanians now boast significant representation in Macedonia's police force, officer corps, and local government; Information on the fact that since Democratic Party of Albanians, headed by Arben Xhaferi, joined a coalition government in the fall of 1998, discrimination against Albanians has declined dramatically.

Presents an article about the violence and civil war in Monrovia, Liberia in April 1996. Efforts of entrepreneurs Alex Willoughby and Shawi Bsaibes in protecting their businesses in the city; Role of warlord Roosevelt Johnson in the violence in the region; Strategy used by Bsaibes to keep his hotel from being looted by the government militia.

The author of the article discusses Western security contractors involved in the Iraq war, comparing a 2005 trip to the Green Zone with one in 2008. The success of the surge and the alliance between U.S. armed forces and Sunni insurgents against Iraq's Al Qaeda has created a feeling of stability. But with these improvements, mercenaries have seen their fees drop dramatically.

Focuses on elections in Egypt and the potential for reform. Campaigning of Gamal Mubarak, the son of the incumbent candidate, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; Details of Mubarak's reform platform, including creating more jobs, opening more schools and jump-starting the stagnant economy; View of Gamal Mubarak that Western-influenced reform is the best way to lure foreign investments to Egypt; View of critics that the elections were a rigged charade, but the democratic door cannot be closed.

Focuses on political conditions in Cuba as citizens discuss who will succeed dictator Fidel Castro as the country's leader. Decline of Castro's health; Pressure placed on Cuba from the United States in the form of an economic embargo; Claim that political and social change will not happen quickly after Castro; Report that the U.S. Treasury Department has reduced the number of licenses it grants to U.S. groups for cultural and academic visits to Cuba and the number of visits that Cuban exiles can make to family members in Cuba; Relations between Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez; Possibility that Castro's brother, Raul Castro, will succeed him as the leader of Cuba.

Offers a look at a growing popular discontent among Palestinians with Hamas, a radical Islamic group, in the Gaza Strip as of September 2004. Plans of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from Gaza by the end of 2004; Report that reformers within Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's Fatah Party have begun criticizing Arafat for his failure to exercise control over his security forces; Statement that Palestinians are increasingly condemning the political violence of Hamas; Possibility that Hamas will participate in the Palestinian general elections of 2005; Comments made by Mohammed Dahlan, a possible candidate to replace Arafat.

This article looks at the civilian security contractors and mercenaries operating in Iraq. It was just before dusk at Baghdad's Al Hamra Hotel, and the patio by the swimming pool was humming with activity. In the last few months, Baghdad's corporate warriors have all but taken over the city. Blackwater provides bodyguards for officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and escorts military supply convoys along Iraq's dangerous highways. When I flew around northern Iraq two weeks ago on an inspection tour of police academies with Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus--the former 101st Airborne Division commander who is now rebuilding Iraq's security forces--Petraeus's entourage was guarded, in part, by Blackwater's private security men.

Discusses how former members of the Rwandan Armed Forces are being reeducated and reintroduced to Rwandan society after being in exile for 10 years. Consideration of how those involved in Rwanda's genocide have been living in denial of their actions; Efforts of the Rwandan government to encourage citizens to educated themselves about the truth of the atrocities associated with the genocide; Plans for a genocidal memorial and museum in the capital Kigali for the tenth anniversary of the killings; How Hutu suspected killers are asked to confess their crimes in prison in exchange for provisional release.

Presents letters to the editor. Consideration of letters referencing how the death of Christ was interpreted in the motion picture 'Passion of the Christ' directed by Mel Gibson; Responses to the article 'Uncivil Military' regarding how Congress assigned the rebuilding of a cement plant in Iraq to Iraqi contractors; Efforts of politician Ralph Nader to run as a candidate for the U.S. presidency.

Reports on the proliferation of private security companies selling their services to foreign workers in Iraq. Concerns that competition between security companies lead to inflated reports of danger that serve primarily to stir up more business; Details of the foreign security companies operating in Iraq, Estimates that the market for security companies is enormous; Details of how "Newsweek" decided to move its correspondents to a house owned by a private British security firm.

Details the military campaign launched by Israel against Palestine guerrillas in Nablus in 2002. Description of the battle; Arrest of several Palestinian men by Israeli soldiers; Information on Palestinian terrorist groups target by Israeli forces; Information on Al Aqsa Brigades leader killed by Israeli forces; Reason Israeli finds it difficult to eliminate the Hamas terrorist groups.

Focuses on relations between Egypt and Israel. Hostility of Egypt towards the Jewish state and its effect on commerce and diplomatic relations; Reasons for the failure of peace processes between Egypt and Israel; Evaporation of the Red Sea tourist trade that attracted 400,000 Israelis per year in the 1990s; Efforts of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resolve the East Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East; Pressure on Mubarak to take a tougher anti-Israel stand-closing the embassy, ending commercial flights; Insistence of Arafat to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat to arrest Islamic militants; Discussion of anti-Israel propaganda and the vilification campaign against Israel that is being fueled by Egyptian media; Statement that the most dispiriting aspect of the vilification campaign is that it effectively suppresses the free exchange of ideas.

Discusses that Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat has launched his most serious crackdown on radical Islamic Jihad militants following the December 2001's suicide bomb attacks in Jerusalem and Haifa. Aim of Arafat to intensifying pressure from the U.S. and Israel; Arrest of Abdul Hakim Massalmeh and others from Islamic Jihad and Hamas; Pessimism from both sides that the latest cease-fire will not be successful.

Presents information on the socio-political situation in Kashmir, India. Attacks on Muslim women's in Kashmir who were not wearing burqa; View that the Kashmiri society is growing less liberal by the day; Demand for the removal of Western movies from Kashmiri cable television; Influence of fundamentalists has sharply ratcheted up tensions between Pakistan and India; Death of 30 people recently in cross-border shootings; View that radical Islam may be growing in Kashmir, but it is not yet dominant.

Presents information on the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the oil trade in Iraq. Preparation by the U.S. to launch a global military campaign against terrorism, Iraqis and those interested in doing business with them; Identification of Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, as the sponsor of Islamic terrorist cells; Anxiety of business community who are doing business with Iraq; View of the regime of Iraq that the U.S. foreign policy is responsible for the recent terrorist attacks; Steps taken by Saddam Hussein to fend off any U.S. sponsored assassination attempt.

Discusses Palestinian suicide bombers from Islamic Jihad who have come from the city of Jenin, Israel. Description of Jenin as one of the most parochial Palestinian towns that has always been more receptive to extremist messages than more cosmopolitan cities like Ramallah; View of Jenin's acting governor Haidar Irshid that his people believe that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have created a sense of balance between the powers of Israelis and Palestinians; Competition between Hamas and Islamic Jihad to produce the most bombers.

Reports on the political and social unrest in Amman, Jordan. Detail of the Al-Aqsa intifada, which erupted in the fall of 2000; Reason for economic upheaval, political unrest and the end of tourism; Problem faced by Abdullah II, Jordan's monarch; Information on Jordan's uneasy peace with Israel; Discussion of the Palestinian refugee camps, which are scattered across Amman; View that Abdullah's main worry is that the growing pressure to abrogate the peace treaty signed by his father in 1994 could spill into massive protests, bloodshed, and resentment of the monarch as a stooge of both Israel and the U.S.; Opinion of political leaders of the other European countries on Abdullah's activities.

Focuses on the socio-political condition in Brcko, Bosnia. Information on the three years of bitter fighting between Croats, Muslims and Serbs; Report that hundreds of Serb students, outraged at having to share their building with Muslims; Plan of U.S. President George W. Bush to pull American peacekeepers out of Bosnia; Information that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders see a U.S. pullout as a dangerous abdication of international responsibilities of the U.S.; Information on efforts to forge pan-ethnic Bosnian.

Focuses on political conditions in Yugoslavia, following the ouster of Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic from power. Milosevic's criticism of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and others who deposed him; Milosevic's allies in government positions; Public pressure on Kostunica to move against Milosevic; Changes in public opinion and perception of Milosevic.

Focuses on the murder of former United Nations translator Petar Topoljski in Pristina, Serbia. Debate on the rise of vigilante media; Enforcement of the law regulating the press; Failure of the United Nations to prosecute war criminals.

Focuses on the mayoral bid of Diego Turbay in the town of Florencia in Caqueta, Colombia. Threat made against Turbay by the 15th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC); Activities conducted by FARC and the Popular Liberation Army to destabilize the elections in Colombia; Criticism against the Turbay family from the press and politicians.

Reports on the efforts of the Chilean government to apprehend Paul Schäfer, an evangelical preacher and founder of a secretive enclave of German immigrants in country called Colonia Dignidad. Background of Schäfer; Association of Schäfer with the regime of Chile's former dictator Agusto Pinochet; Allegations of child rape and violence against Schäfer; Information on the victims of Schäfer; Influence of Schäfer on the residents surrounding the colony.

Focuses on the politics and government of the Falkland Islands, 15 years after the 1982 British invasion. Argentina having a longstanding claim on the Islands; History of British control; Procedure of rebuilding the economic infrastructure of the nation; Impact of the Argentinian-British war for control of the islands; Comments from residents of the islands.

Describes the economic and political conditions in Zaire as of March 1996. Financial status of the government President Mobutu Sese Seko; Information on how government officials in the country earn a living.

Explains that Zairian troops raided the Katale refugee camp in northeast Zaire and forced out Doctor Jean-Baptiste Butera, one of the 12 Rwandan Hutu officials forming the "social commission" that have run the camp as a fiefdom since the exodus from Rwanda. Former Hutu officials' practice of preying on the Zairians; Raid as signal of chance from the Zairian government's laissez-faire policy; Katale's suffering under the grip of Butera's social commission and its paid enforcers, the "interahamwe"; Genocide of Tutsis attributed to the interahamwe.

Presents an article about the ethnic conflict in Rwanda in 1994. War between the Hutu government and the Tutsi rebel group; Failure of the United Nations to prevent the civil war; Crimes committed against Tutsis by the Hutu militia.

Describes the increasing rate of robberies and burglaries in Nairobi, Kenya. Number of carjacking attempts in Nairobi in 1992; Percentage of auto thefts in 1992; Factors affecting the increasing rate of crime in the country including the government's blatant corruption; Rise in police corruption; Growth in Nairobi's security problems; Description about various home security devices.

Focuses on the U.S. Army Special Force's mission in the guerilla-infested city of Mogadishu in Somalia. Factual background on the political, social and economic conditions in the country and the military operations conducted by the United States and the United Nations; Conflict between soldiers on duty and the local militia; Feelings of contempt among U.S. soldiers; Development of an abiding hatred for the Somalis.

Focuses on the traffic congestion problem in Lagos, Nigeria. Factors that contribute to the traffic crisis; Failure of the government's attempt to alleviate congestion with the Metropolitan Rail Project; Approval of dilapidated vehicles by crooked inspectors in exchange for a bribe; Discussion of the government's fuel subsidy; Comments on the new strategies being tried by the road commission.

Explains that many long-time expatriates and immigrants like entrepreneur Kamlesh Amin have chosen to stay in Zaire despite the country's near-complete economic collapse under President Mobutu Sese Seko. Enduring government pilferage, decrepit infrastructure, and two riots in two years; Bankruptcy of the treasury; Breakdown of the banking system; 3,000 percent a year inflation rate; Staying to make a living or to profit from the collapse; Amin's role in helping the government defraud itself into ruin; Coping with monetary crisis defines survival.

This article reports on crime and race relations in Cape Town, South Africa. Although the number of homicides declined by almost 6 percent in the last year, the body count was still staggering at 2,680. In Bantry Bay, a beach community just southwest of Cape Town, rape and drug crimes are on the rise. Locals have begun referring to the "Cape Times" as the "Cape Crimes" because of the number of stories about murders, assaults, and rapes. In Cape Town, gated communities occupied almost exclusively by whites are in extremely close proximity to small, run-down shacks inhabited by Xhosa tribespeople.

Maybe it was the morning in May 2003 that TNT Express set up shop in the lobby, offering door-to-door courier service from Baghdad to anywhere in the world in four days. Or perhaps it was the announcement of weekly, $650 flights to Amman, which sent scores of Iraq-weary correspondents scrambling to buy tickets. Whatever the case, for the hundred or so journalists who remain hunkered down at the Palestine Hotel, an earth-toned early '80s relic towering above the Tigris River, a change has definitely come over this place, the first stirrings of postwar normality. The Palestine Hotel was in some ways synonymous with the Iraqi war. On March 17, with the U.S. military preparing to attack Iraq, Ministry of Information goons removed correspondents from the more luxurious Al Rasheed Hotel across the river and re-based them in this down-at-the-heels edifice just off Al Fardos Square. Three weeks later, with fighting raging throughout the city, a U.S. Army tank shell slammed a fifteenth-floor balcony at the Palestine, killing two photographers. But despite all this, the Palestine Hotel also provides a glimpse of the burgeoning freedoms of postwar Iraq.

Describes the rise and decline of the city of Timbuktu, Mali as a bustling commercial crossroads for Saharan salt caravans and ivory, gold and slave traders from Africa. Impact of the rebellion of Tuareg nomads on the city's trade and Mali's nascent democracy; Factors contributing to Timbuktu's isolation; Influence of Mali's Islamic rulers on the city's economic and intellectual life.

Describes the civil war in Sierra Leone as of April 1995. Impact of the civil war on the country's economy; Cause of the civil war; Military conscription of male children; Threat made by rebels against foreigners in the country; Exodus of foreigners out of the country.

Criticizes the telephone service in Kenya provided by the state-owned Kenya Post and Telecommunications Corp. (KPTC). Variety of technical failures that affect telephone services; Impact of the crumbling infrastructure and lack of money to the growing problem with the service; Comment on the bureaucratic inefficiencies of KPTC; Problem with the telephone directory in Nairobi.

Presents a first hand account of political repression and atrocities in Sudan under the National Islamic Front (NIF) ruling party. Economic impact of repression and atrocities; Changes that the NIF has imposed on the social and cultural life of the country; Information on opposition leaders in the country.