March 5th marks the beginning of the 12th National People’s Congress, where Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is expected to assume full power as President and head of the Central Military Commission. Ahead of the congress, influential activists and scholars …

A fascinating first-person account by veteran journalist and media trainer Carolyn Robinson chronicles her experiences training broadcast journalists in Libya after the  death of leader Moammar Qaddafi. Robinson outlines some of the challenges she faced in managing two USAID/OTI grants for Internews in the early days …

A European initiative to fund pro-democracy groups was introduced to Polish activists this week by its new director, Poland’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Jerzy Pomianowski (left), UPI reports:

Pomianowski, appointed by the European Union last month to lead the …

Yemen’s transition process is on the brink of collapse due to the failure to reform security institutions and disempower former regime elements, a leading activist warned today.

Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh should be excluded from politics, and youth, women …

Bahrain will begin reconciliation talks this weekend with opposition groups, Reuters reports, in an attempt to end two years of conflict over demands for democratic reform.

Opposition groups contacted by Reuters suggested they would attend the talks but cited differences …

“If you’re not a socialist/liberal/radical at the age of 20, you haven’t got a heart. If you’re still one at 40, you haven’t got a head,” the cliché goes.

But there’s an exception to every rule.

“Evolving from pacifist to hawk …

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating the education of girls, has made her first video statement since she was nearly killed.

In the brief statement (above), she attributed her survival …

Since the collapse of Communism, the Council of Europe has “become the first way station for former Soviet bloc nations aspiring to join a web of Western alliances,” writes Judy Dempsey, editor in chief of Carnegie’s Strategic Europe:

As a …

US-Russian relations will remain strained as long as Washington continues to criticize the country’s human rights record, says a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

The US violated “a tacit understanding” to refrain from publicly criticizing Russia’s democratic regression, undermining …

Burma’s government today held talks with senior commanders of the rebel Kachin Independence Army in an effort to end a violent ethnic conflict that threatens to undermine the country’s reform process.

“The KIA is fighting for autonomy for Kachin state …