The Israeli government has approved the building of four more settlements in the Occupied Territories. The decision is highly controversial since building settlements in occupied territory is a clear violation of international law, and the consistent position of the US is that the settlements are not legal. Nonetheless, the Israeli government is proceeding despite the scheduled visit of US Secretary of State Kerry and his stated preference for restarting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Max Fisher of the Washington Post has written an interesting essay on racial tolerance in the world. Using data from the World Values Survey, Fisher made some heroic assumptions about the interpretation of one of the questions in the survey. His findings are displayed visually, and they raise some fascinating questions about what we mean when we talk about racial intolerance.
The campaign against female genital mutilation has scored an impressive breakthrough in Niger, as thousands of individuals in the country took vows to end the practice and to stop child marriages. The practice has been illegal in Niger for many years, but it has been difficult to end. The public ceremonies can go a long way in changing attitudes toward the practice, but the public vows need to be backed up with positive social and economic reforms as well.
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