I hate Valentine's Day. It's the one day of the year when I am forever reminded that I am single. I have only once had a boyfriend on Valentine's day and that was at school, and only because I was away skiing as we broke up as soon as I got home. Overall my dating stats aren't that great...

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i have given up dancing. i did not think to mention it, but i am spending so much time on facebook looking at photos of my dancer friends suspended in air, crying because i cannot join them. (i do not cry as much as it seems in these adjacent posts, but oh well.) i have been eight months in recovery on my hip and still have a good deal of pain. i am trying to shed the pounds i put on in recovery, but each time i feel a little stronger, exercise a little harder, the pain returns and i must back it off again. a vicious cycle. and there have been setbacks, the other day in class, when i pulled my hamstring on the opposite side of my injury. it was near the end of class, i hyperextended my knee, and limped out quietly without so much as a word. i would gladly destroy myself for a moment's joy ...

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Iran has announced that a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander, Haj Hassan Shateri, has been killed "by Zionist agents" "outside Iran." While one of the reports says he was in charge of "reconstruction efforts in Lebanon," the fact that the commander of the IRGC Quds force, the force responsible for overseas operations, offered condolences to the family suggests a more operational responsibility, and there are reports saying he was killed in Syria. If so, the "Zionist agents" claim is likely diversionary. While Israeli agents have no live for IRGC commanders, there have been allegations of IRGC forces providing support for the Asad regime in the Syrian conflict. That seems at first glance to be the likeliest explanation here.

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By Fareed Zakaria President Obama's State of the Union address presented an expanded vision of smart government to create jobs and revive the economy. Yet he lowered his sights on the single policy that would both jump-start the economy in the short term and create the conditions for long-term growth: infrastructure spending. Having tried several times to propose [...]

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It screens at the at the 3rd annual New Voices In Black Cinema Festival, presented by BAMcinématek and ActNow Foundation, which runs from February 15 - 18, at BAM Rose Cinemas, but ahead of that news, announced this evening, Joshua Sanchez's Four, an adaptation on an off-Broadway play by Christopher Shinn, has been acquired for distribution by Wolfe Releasing. Wendell Pierce of The Wire fame, stars in the film, alongside Aja Naomi King, Emory Cohen, E.J. Bonilla and Yolanda Ross. The film's script was both a 2007 Tribeca All Access award recipient, and a 2008 No...

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Daniel Sturridge has really hit the ground running at Liverpool and his inclusion in the team has given Luis Suarez a slightly wider forward role that if anything has seen the Uruguay striker play even better.

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Thousands of anti-fascist protesters blocked a neo-Nazi march in the German city on the 68th anniversary of the British and American air campaign that killed 25,000 people in 37 hours.

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An insider's guide to choosing the new pope.

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It started today, but I'm only just learning about the Toronto Black Film Festival, which is why this press release is being posted on the day the festival begins. But for our readers in the Toronto area (and I know there are more than a few), if you didn't already know about this, now you know! The festival runs from today, through the 17th. Within the lineup, you'll find several films that we've covered in the last 12 months, and a few that we haven't. Needless to say, I'll be researching those that we haven't, to highlight individually in separate posts. But to the festival directors, congratulations of your first year! It's an impressive...

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Via the data-driven journalism mailing list, I came across this opportunity that I wanted to share with Kabissa members. Learning to work with data to tell stories and make a case is becoming increasingly important, for journalists and civil society practitioners alike. If you decide to take advantage of the course please let us know how it goes!

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While much attention from the U.S. foreign policy establishment is focused on Mali at the moment, Washington's top diplomat on Africa made a compelling case to a packed auditorium at the Brookings Institution this week for why the Democratic Republic of Congo deserves a higher position on the list of strategic U.S. national priorities.

"After many years of looking at and trying to deal with a string of recurring crises in the DRC, many people have ignored or written off the country as simply hopeless," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, speaking at an event on Monday hosted by the Brookings Institution's Africa Growth Initiative. But to do so would be "a serious mistake" for the Congolese people, Congo's neighbors, and the international community, ...

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In a letter to newly appoint Secretary of State John Kerry, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) called on Secretary Kerry to make the appointment of a special envoy to the Sudan(s) a top priority. The United States has always played a vital role in trying to resolve the conflicts within Sudan and between the governments of Sudan and South Sudan since before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA. Wolf noted in his letter to Secretary Kerry:

In September 2001, President Bush appointed Senator Danforth as special envoy and his leadership was in fact instrumental in securing, after two and a half years of negotiations, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), thereby bringing about an end to the war. Danforth was a high-profile appointment. He had the ear of the president and the ...

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