Recent Columns

We're reading the papers in the heart of Africa and this is what we see: How a woman's derriere needs the right jeans. Photo included. A cartoon of a married fellow who'd rather give up drinking than sex on the side. And a story about boda-bodas — the motorcycle- taxis everyone here uses — and how ladies of the night like to proposition drivers while on board. One driver says he gets headaches if he refuses.

Yemen is an arms bazaar, but has far fewer firearms than the U.S., with its almost one gun per person.

The Middle East. Quick, what do you think of? Oil? Terrorism? Women wearing head-to-toe burqas? Islam? Script with funny squiggles? Can you honestly think of much good? If you had a free ticket to holiday anywhere, would this region even make your short list?

Canadians may fuss and fume from time to time over roads and traffic, but they know nothing -- I mean nothing -- about how truly horrendous the driving experience can be.

As obesity becomes an issue in developing nations, I ask you this: Will you go hungry with me?

You don't want to raise a generation that cares about others, do you?

Let's hope any pursuit of justice takes the highest road possible.

The booby prize given by the U.K.-based Plain English Campaign for funniest remark last year by a public figure goes to U.S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Christmas doesn't ask, Who is Jesus? It asks, Who are we?

A car is sprayed with gunfire. Several men in the bullet-riddled vehicle are left slumped over, bloodied, quite dead. A scene from The Godfather? No, just Yemen.

In the Middle East there s as big a debate over the media as there is here. Some back Al-Jazeera and some CNN. And some read independent papers.

Call me a dreamer, but ever wonder how things would look if John F. Kennedy was involved in today's so-called war of civilizations?

Liberal democracies almost never fight each other. They'd rather have the good things.

We're in what's called the Pearl of Africa, where red-dirt roads cross rolling, green countryside; where elephants get the right-of-way when on safari, and, even in the capital, wild monkeys might run across your tin roof and wake you in the morning.

Iraq. Can it be saved? Six months after its liberation, Iraqis are still short on power, electrical and otherwise. The Yanks are still being greeted with grenades as much as with flowers and hugs. And how did those weapons of mass destruction disappear?