Society Highlights

The New York Times Magazine recently dedicated an entire issue to the global concerns facing women and girls; award-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn have been writing about these subjects for years and their book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide was published this week; the Campaign for Female Education (Camfed), a non-profit that fights poverty and AIDS in rural Africa.

Peter Phillips, Mickey Huff, and Ben Fryman present Project Censored's Censored 2009: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007-08.They detail some of the past year's most under-reported stories, and describe their efforts to promote independent, investigative news sources.

Peter Phillips, Mickey Huff, and Ben Fryman present Project Censored's Censored 2009: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007-08.They detail some of the past year's most under-reported stories, and describe their efforts to promote independent, investigative news sources.

Journalist E. Benjamin Skinner discusses his book A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery. He explains that contrary to popular belief, slavery is still thriving, and describes his experiences coming face to face with slaves and slave traders.

Irish President Mary McAleese delivers a speech as part of a special ceremony awarding her an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the University of San Francisco.In the speech, she tackles global issues ranging from poverty to war, explaining how they can only be solved with an increased sense of global community.

It's not just consumers in advanced economies that can benefit from design. Truly great design can improve lives, create economic opportunity, and lift people out of poverty across the world. Leading practitioners and entrepreneurs discuss how design can make the difference.

Rev. Charles J. Chaput talks about how he feels about abortion and how it rescinds the human rights of the child.

Global prices for food staples have risen dramatically, resulting in protests and unrest around the world.What factors are driving prices up, and can they be tamed? What will the political fallout be for governments that fail to act, and what role can global institutions play?

The world economy is now characterised by intense international competition for skilled immigrants. At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 21 May, Professor Peter McDonald considered how Australia can recruit the migrants that it needs and what the potential obstacles may be. Peter McDonald is Professor of Demography and Director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Australian National University.