By Janet Walsh, Special to CNN Editor's note: Janet Walsh is the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Women's Rights division. You can follow her on Twitter: @JanetHRW. The views expressed are her own. "If I looked nice, he hit me," Ana L., a mother of five in Colombia, told me. Ana (not her real name) [...]

[view whole blog post ]

As the M23 crisis has unfolded in the eastern Congo, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has emerged as a holdout within American foreign policy, a sort of minority report to the prevailing criticism of Rwanda and the M23.

The first indication of this emerged in June, when Rice delayed the publication of UN Group of Experts' interim report, insisting that Rwanda be given a chance to see the report first and respond. While these UN investigations are supposed to give the accused the opportunity to respond and explain--the Group says it was refused meetings by the Rwandan government, which Kigali denies--they rarely allow them to see the entire report before publication. In any case, the Group finally did brief a Rwandan delegation in New York in June in New York ...

[view whole blog post ]

The government is yet to finalise the process of implementing the payment of vehicle licence fees through a levy on fuel pump price as legal processes are still being addressed to facilitate the system. Meanwhile , the Road Traffic Directorate (RTD) is only accepting payments for motor vehicle licences for up to three months only [...]

[view whole blog post ]

Editor's note: Salman Shaikh is director of the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Salman Shaikh. By Salman Shaikh, Special to CNN Critics of the cease-fire reached Wednesday between Hamas and Israel argue that little [...]

[view whole blog post ]

So, despite the fact that his big American feature film debut - this past summer's comedy The Watch - didn't exactly work out as planned, actor/writer/director/comedian Richard Ayoade isn't going to let that setback keep him down for long. Returning behind the camera once again as a writer and director, after his acclaimed directing debut Submarine, Ayoade's latest project, The Double, which was shot this past May and June, is already rumored to be a sure-thing to premiere at the upcoming 2013 Sundance Film Festival In January. The film is a modern today adaptation of Fodor Dostoyevsky's 1846 novel The Double, and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Mia...

[view whole blog post ]

From the director Bruce Goodison (Our War, My Murder) comes a new film titled Leave to Remain, which is described as a provocative coming of age drama about young people cut loose from society because they live in the UK as asylum seekers. In the UK, when an asylum seeker seeks leave to stay in the UK, its called "leave to remain," hence the title of the film; further, as the film's website states, this can be anything from a day to 3 years, and comes with restrictions on being able to work and getting an education. 3 teenagers forced to leave everything behind, learn to live alone in a hostile country. That country is the UK. Fighting for survival they form a...

[view whole blog post ]

Just thought I'd point you to this AwardsLine (Deadline) Oscar interview with Denzel Washington, about his critically-lauded current movie Flight, which Washington is likely going to be receive an Oscar nomination for. In it, he talks about the fact that they (he and director Robert Zemeckis, and the other top-liners) were essentially given a take-it-or-leave-it $28 million budget by the studio, to get the film made, which meant that they all had to take drastic pay-cuts (he said he was paid a tenth of his usual salary, although there should be some back-end participation); he gives reasons for why he was willing to do that for this particular project. Also, he...

[view whole blog post ]

Fictional republic of Carana is location for training the African Standby Force, which is due to become operational in 2015

Standing in a tranquil spot in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, nestling under the lush, green shadow of Mount Entoto, it is almost impossible to imagine yourself in war-torn Carana. But that is exactly what the 106 participants in Exercise Njiwa (Swahili for peace) are trying to do in the grounds of the eastern brigade headquarters of the African Standby Force (ASF). The tinkling of cutlery that emerges from the refreshment tent is no substitute for the sound of gunfire and mortar rounds.

[view whole blog post ]

[IDS]We were treated to a fascinating Sussex Development Lecture yesterday from Hege Hertzberg, Political Director for Development in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

[view whole blog post ]