Thousands of southerners had lived in Khartoum’s impoverished outskirts for decades. Some were born there; some had been there for generations. Reports from the move were heartbreaking--with accounts of tear-filled farewell parties for long-time workers, who were sacked and told to “go home”. The Sudanese people are world-renowned for their hospitality, but many I talked to felt “hurt” by the south’s decision to split by a nearly 99 percent vote. 

Ten years after the fall of Baghdad at the hands of US forces, rumors of a breach in the Iraqi military command that facilitated the invasion continue to swirl. Some analysts trace the problem back to 1979 when professional military men in the upper ranks were replaced by Baath Party cadre with little experience. Some were promoted simply for being related to President Saddam Hussein, like his son-in-law Hussein Kamel, who became a top commander.

Arabs and Palestinians also relive history in this land. I remember a song from my youth that begins with the words, “The land speaks Arabic.” Sung in the classroom, it is meant to emphasize the ancient connection linking Palestinians to the land of Palestine. Indeed, the Arab names of many villages today date back to the pre-Israelite era. In many cases even Israeli archeologists will use the Arabic names to identify Biblical sites. 

The gang rape of the Swiss tourist in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh was front page news in newspapers across the country. The reverberations of the shocking story were felt well outside India’s borders. Even friends from as far away as California, emailed me the story. But while going through the newspaper, it was an inside page that shocked me even more. Under the headline of news about the Nation, there were eight stories. Six of them were about violence against women.

There have been plenty of second acts in politics, from former President Bill Clinton surviving a sex-turned-impeachment scandal, to former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry returning to public life from a crack-and-prostitute scandal. But rarely do political comebacks happen in the span of a few short months. And yet that appears to be the case for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice (not that anyone is comparing her Benghazi troubles to the very real transgressions of the aforementioned politicians). 

Silicon Valley has long pressed for change, and this year could bring a fix. Support is growing for a new startup visa that would let foreign-born entrepreneurs work with fewer hurdles. Talks are on in Washington about safeguarding the visa against fraud and phony companies, and ensuring that it would go to startup founders that look solid and might create jobs. Right now, there is bipartisan support for it. But the startup visa would likely get rolled into comprehensive immigration reform, and that path is unclear.

History was in the making last fall in the suburbs of Seattle. But voters didn’t know that when a young-ish, dark-haired blind man came knocking. “I wear sunglasses as do many people who are blind and I use a cane,” says Cyrus Habib, who door-belled 7,000 homes in his campaign for an open seat in the Washington state legislature. Habib raised more money to win election than any other Washington House candidate in state history. 

Draconian cuts in the budget for lawyers who represent indigent defendants have come back to haunt the Orleans Parish criminal justice system. Upwards of 500 indigent defendants may have been locked up without the benefit of an assigned defense attorney over the past year, according to a brief filed in the state Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. The brief charges that “many indigent people facing serious criminal charges in New Orleans do not have attorneys.”

"Sometimes I'm a journalist," Matt Kohn told me the day after the 2012 presidential election. "But I consider myself a filmmaker telling stories who uses journalism." The story Kohn tells in his documentary, Call It Democracy, is a sobering one. It's a narrative that meticulously examines the problems that were -- and are -- posed by the Electoral College. The film, which aired on the Documentary Channel last November, focuses primarily on the 2000 election debacle, and chronicles the measures that have been taken to prevent those problems from happening again. 

A civil lawsuit was filed Feb. 15 against the Encinitas Union School District in San Diego County alleging that the district, by providing instruction in Ashtanga yoga, is thereby “promoting religious beliefs.” The action was filed by The National Center for Law & Policy, an Escondido, Calif.-based nonprofit “legal defense organization” focusing on “protection and promotion of religious freedom, the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, parental rights and other civil liberties.”