An inner city public high school consisting of poor students -- mostly immigrants -- has become a remarkable example of what a school can do. One hundred percent of the students graduate, and almost all go to some of the nation's top colleges.
Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis on Friday hailed an 11 percent drop in homicides and a 9 percent dip in all crimes during the first seven months of 2009 as a "very encouraging" sign that his department's strategies are working.
Chicago's first lady, Maggie Daley, created an after school program two decades ago that serves 25,000 kids, enrolling them in programs of art, dance, sports, science and video to keep them out of trouble and learning.
The last remaining 45 guerilla fighters of the Guevarista Revolutionary Army have handed over their weapons on August 21st.
Colombia's citizens have shed their fear and have more confidence in the State, thanks to the consolidation of democracy and security following years of fear imposed by terrorists, the South American nation's President Álvaro Uribe Vélez said at the UN General Assembly. Over two-thirds of the 60,000 terrorists who had "ravaged the country at the start of the new administration" have turned their back on criminal activity and are taking part in a reintegration program.
Ten new species of amphibians -- including three kinds of poisonous frogs and three transparent-skinned glass frogs -- have been discovered in the mountains of Colombia, scientists announced Monday.
To improve living conditions, attract business and reduce the constant threat of disease, Kabul's Old City has been cleared of rubbish and mud — so much that street levels dropped by nine feet uncovering building foundations submerged for over 60 years. Thanks to the Turquoise Mountain Foundation's clean-up and restoration of the original ground level, […]
Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country's conflict -- and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has lauded Iran's long record of generosity in hosting one million displaced Afghans since 1998 calling their settlement camps maybe the best in the world.
Tens of thousands of schoolchildren in Kabul are set to benefit from a $24 million donation from Japan, under an agreement signed today with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to construct around 1,000 classrooms. And, the UN Mine Action Program for Afghanistan announced that the city's electricity supply has improved as a result of its mine-clearing operation in the north of the country.
The UN has reported a sharp decline in the production of opium in Afghanistan (used for heroin) and cocoa plants in Columbia (used to make cocaine). In these two countries, which produce over 90% of the world's supply, crop size has dropped 19 and 18 percent respectively since last year, reflecting government security efforts.
Band-e-Amir, a vast expanse of amazingly blue lakes set in austere desert cliffs, nearly 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) high in the Hindu Kush mountains, has opened as Afghanistan's first national park.
National Guard troops from a half-dozen heartland states are taking their civilian farming know-how to Afghanistan in a little-noticed aspect of the Obama administration's efforts to stabilize the war-torn country.
Small grants given directly to villagers have brought important changes to Jurm, where people have taken charge for themselves — using village councils and direct grants to bring new water taps, replace the poppy crop and offer women health care.
The Women's Action Plan for Afghanistan, outlined by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the London Conference on Afghanistan on January 28, seeks to increase Afghan women's security, leadership in the public and private sectors, access to judicial institutions, education and health services, and ability to take advantage of economic opportunities, especially in the agricultural sector.
A remarkable scene played out this week between an aggrieved father and the most senior special operations officer in the United States military. Vice Admiral William McRaven -- the commander of Joint Special Operations Command -- showed up with two sheep, and in the cultural understanding of the region, surrendered himself. And the father -- who has lost two sons, two daughters and one grandchild -- accepted McRaven's apology.
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has gone down by a fifth as compared to last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported today. Thanks in part to good local leadership coupled with a drought, the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008 showed a 19 percent decrease in opium cultivation to 157,000 hectares, down from a record harvest of 193,000 in 2007.
Pakistani and Afghan political and ethnic tribal leaders meet in Islamabad on Monday to try to agree on ways to tackle rising militant violence including the possibility of opening talks with the Taliban.
Iran said on Monday it had been invited by Group of Eight president Italy to an international meeting on Afghanistan, which is also expected to be attended by the United States. Italy wants to hold a conference bringing together the world's richest countries and Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, China, and Turkey among others to find ways of bringing stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan today joined colleagues in releasing 21 doves ahead of the International Day of Peace for a country which has witnessed intensifying conflict over the past year.
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