Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

German official blames China for Somalia’s famine

With east Africa in the grip of famine after its worst drought in 60 years , Germany's Africa policy coordinator has fingered an unlikely culprit: China. Agence France-Presse reports : Guenter Nooke told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau it was clear...

Published Fri, Jul 29 2011 3:23 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, China, Germany, Food/Agriculture

Why Libyans Hoped for More from Obama's Speech

China Calls Congress ‘Really Absurd’ for Renaming the Street Address of Its Embassy

Former Rwandan Official Worries That Kagame's Administration is Backsliding into Mass Murder

The Carmen Sandiego election

Everyone seems to be having some fun at the expense of Romney campaign advisor Pierre Prosper, who referred to "Czechoslovakia" when discussing missile defense in a conference call with reporters. Lord knows we've done our share of foreign...

Published Thu, Apr 26 2012 8:30 AM by FP Passport

Turkey's Kurdish leadership debates the definition of terrorism

Members of Turkey's Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) proposed a more decentralized Turkish government at a Brookings Institution panel on Tuesday. "We don't believe that a centralized system of government that manages all of these...

Published Wed, Apr 25 2012 7:26 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Europe, Security, Human Rights, Politics, Middle East, History, International Relations, Turkey, Syria, Arab World

China bans use of English -- and Chinglish -- in media

Taking a page from L'Académie française , China's state press and publishing body has banned the use of foreign words and acronyms - especially English - in newspapers, periodicals, books, and on the Internet. The General Administration of Press...

Published Wed, Dec 22 2010 9:56 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Media

Sochi Watch: Everything You Need to Know about Russia's Massive Olympic Security Operation

Just five weeks before the 2014 Winter Olympics kick off in Sochi, two bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd have highlighted security concerns in the volatile region, and drawn attention to the massive security apparatus emerging around the Olympic...

Published Mon, Dec 30 2013 3:07 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Europe, Security, Russia

Meet the Journalists Exposing Yanukovych's Deepest, Wettest Secrets

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE When he hastily fled Kiev on Saturday, Feb. 22, ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych left behind a monument to corruption: his lavish Kiev mansion filled with a private zoo, a Spanish galleon, and...

Published Thu, Feb 27 2014 6:03 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Corruption, Eastern Europe, Media

Biden on Mubarak: "I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

Whose bright idea was it to send Joe Biden out to talk about Egypt? The U.S. vice president just made a major faux pas tonight, the Christian Science Monitor 's Dan Murphy reports : Ahead of a day that could prove decisive, NewsHour host Jim Lehrer...

Published Thu, Jan 27 2011 5:09 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Egypt

Seven Times Lady Grantham Completely Embarrassed Herself in Sierra Leone

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 An errant charity trip to Sierra Leone may have just ruined Downton Abbey forever. Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Cora, the Countess of Grantham on the hit British show Downton Abbey...

Published Thu, Jan 23 2014 1:56 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Fun Stuff, Foreign Aid

BlackBerrys in UAE deemed threat to national security

BlackBerry phones may be unwelcome guests at dinner parties, in class, or at the movies, but in the UAE, the smartphones have recently been labeled a "security threat." "As a result of how Blackberry data is managed and stored, in their...

Published Wed, Jul 28 2010 4:54 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, Security, Middle East, Intelligence

Clegg apologizes for using word "nutters"

In the wake of "Bigotgate," British candidates are apparently not taking any chances with political correctness. Nick Clegg has apologized to mental health groups for use of the word "nutters" to describe people who are, well, nuts...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 10:57 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Britain

Morning Brief: Gulf of Mexico oil spill five times larger than previously thought

Gulf of Mexico oil spill five times larger than previously thought Top story: U.S. Coast Guard officials say the amount of oil seeping from a sunken rig in the Gulf of Mexico has increased to as much as 5,000 barrels a day, five times more than was originally...

Published Thu, Apr 29 2010 4:55 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Quiz: Which country has the highest percentage of its population in a DNA database?

For those of you who don't subscribe to the bimonthly print edition of Foreign Policy , you're missing a great feature: the FP Quiz. It has eight intriguing questions about how the world works. The question I'd like to highlight this week...

Published Wed, Mar 31 2010 3:35 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Drugs & Crime