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Arab Spring cought the West by surprise. The United States are currently facing a tremendous loss of influence in the region. Changing US policy toward authoritarian regimes has been like turning an oil tanker.

Nearly six months after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, the No Nukes Asia Forum organized its annual forum to reiterate its position against nuclear technologies and to foster debates on its dangers. Our Southeast Asia Regional Office supported seven Thais to take part in the event. As a result, the experiences and lessons from Japan must be learnt and taken in the Thai power development plan.

During the 1998 United States embassy bombings, the ambassy in Nairobi Kenya was attacked on August 7, killing approximately 212 people. The Kenyan drama film "From a Whisper" portrays the aftermath, capturing the lives of the victims and families who had to pick up the pieces of their lives shredded by the blast. An interview with the films director Wanuri Kahiu.

Human rights of Lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and intersexual persons (LGBTI) need to be promoted in developing countries and transformation countries just like everywhere else. However, only nine of 16,500 German foundations and organizations support those efforts. Compared with other groups whose human rights are threatened or restricted, they receive far too little political or financial support.

Are democracies are more environmentally conscious than non-democratic countries? Ideally, progress toward stable democracy and tackling climate change should proceed together. But sometimes political experimentation could retard the bold and urgent action now needed against climate change.

For the first few weeks of the social protests in Israel the press happily dismissed everything else – Palestinians, Iran, September, democracy barely reached back pages of the papers. The question at stake is, will the movement ultimately be forced by its own goals to confront and possibly re-interpret critical issues such in light of the newfound empowerment and social consciousness?

Some observers see incompatibilities between democracy, human rights and gender equality, on the one hand, and a world in which religion plays an active role in public affairs, on the other. Others ask whether it is useful to see religion as the nemesis of gender equality, and secularism as others ask whether it is useful to see religion as the nemesis of gender equality, and secularism as the precondition for it.

Protesters just over two weeks ago built a camp at the end of Rothschild Boulevard, just opposite Israel's National Theater and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. By the next day, there were fifty tents, and by week's end a hundred. By then, tent cities rose in a dozen cities and towns around the country. A report about the growing social protest against high rents and living costs which started in Tel Aviv and have captured the entire state of Israel.

The attacks of 11 September 2001 represented a historic turning point of a scope comparable to that of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. This year’s annual foreign policy conference took stock of the “war on terror” and formulated a vision for Afghanistan, the Middle East and global politics.

July 9th 2011 is the day that South Sudanese have been waiting for the past quarter century of struggle for self determination. From now on South Sudan has a mammoth task of building a credible and viable state. An analysis by Atunga Atuti O.J. 

The G20 could dramatically improve the working of international food systems if they chose to, and the broader benefits would be significant. Yet the final communiqué showed just how much work is still to be done.

Transatlantic 20/20: The US and Europe in an Interpolar World, held at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Berlin on June 16, brought together experts from think tanks, the media, and the foreign service to give their take on the scenarios and share how they think the future might unfold.

The first comprehensive study regarding immigrants on German city councils.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation actively supports the democracy movements in Tunisia and Egypt. In a newly developed special programme, the scholarship department of the Foundation is offering, with the kind support of the Federal Foreign Office, scholarships to Tunisian and Egyptian students who want to study in Germany.

After strong criticism voiced by Afghan human rights and civil society organizations, the Ministry of Justice has modified the draft law on how to celebrate weddings in Afghanistan. The result is disappointing: The changes are merely technical and do not address the common concern of too much interference in people’s private affairs.

Environment protection is one those issues that require education and discussion. Perhaps, a lot of parents do not consider environment issues significant enough to be taught because they think that the children themselves might know about it once they are grown-up. Or, they might think that it is the responsibility of schools and teachers to educate the children on these issues.

Wedding ceremonies have become ruinous for many Afghans. A new law now aims at limiting the expenses. The good intention of the initiative is tarnished, however, because the draft at the same time sanctions heavy governmental interference into personal affairs.

For the Canadian women the opening match of the World Cup against Germany is – for the time being – the highlight of an unprecedented boom in women’s soccer. 

The effects of radioactive contamination on biological objects are manifested on all levels of organization – from viruses to ecosystems. The most brightly such effects can be seen within the Chornobyl exclusion zone, where biological objects were critically affected by the radiation.

There is little faith in the reform of the UN system; nonetheless, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 – also known as Rio +20 – is not only to set the stage for a green economy, but also to provide an impetus for the institutional reform of the UN environmental sector.

Migration is a strategy to adapt to climate change, yet there are significant differences between men and women. Jenny Jungehülsing has conducted a case study in southern Mexico to put a gender focus on the discussion on migration and climate change.

Under the impression of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, our regional office in Bangkok organized a forum together with other organizations to exchange knowledge and draw conclusions for the local situation in Thailand.

Never will women’s rights be sacrificed in talks with the Taliban and never will the Afghan government close women shelters. These are the promises President Karzai made to his people in the middle of a heated debate on women’s rights in Afghanistan. These are two major commitments. Judging by the overall political trends in the country, it might not be easy to stick to them. The Afghan population and international community should watch about the implementation and take the president by his word.

The debate about whether to extend the German troops‘ mandate in Afghanistan or not is polarizing Germany. The deployment at the Hindukush has become less and less popular in Germany over the years. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan still big hopes are lying on particularly the German engagement. Even though the pull-out has not yet started, however, the Afghan population starts feeling left alone since one issue even here is not a secret: What is of least importance for the German parliament’s decision is what is really happening in Afghanistan.

Hearing for the first time about Afghanistan Woman's National Football Team, I found it really courageous and brave of Afghan women rising from a country where the conditions are not favorable for females and where the controversies about female football players have to be taken seriously.