A blog devoted to on-the-ground reporting around the world.

Charles M. SennottSeptember 29, 2012 14:27

Burma: A cautious turn in "the long road to freedom"

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent at the San Francisco Freedom Forum. Her safe acceptance speech made it clear that she is becoming a political leader.

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Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent at the San Francisco Freedom Forum (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In the front rows at the San Francisco Freedom Forum were heroes of human rights from around the world, all looking up at Aung San Suu Kyi and all that she has come to stand for. The Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was taking the stage to give a speech titled “The Long Road to Freedom,” and for these other activists still traveling on that long and often treacherous road, this was a moment to pause on the journey and perhaps summon the strength and inspiration they’ll need for the many miles they have left to travel.

Charles M. SennottSeptember 28, 2012 13:53

Aung San Suu Kyi, and other stories from the San Francisco Freedom Forum

GlobalPost executive editor Charles Sennott brings us stories from the first Freedom Forum held in the US.

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Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be honored at the San Francisco Freedom Forum on September 28, 2012. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO — I am here at the San Francisco Freedom Forum, which is one of a host of forums around the world sponsored by the Human Rights Foundation. Tonight the Freedom Forum is honoring Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for her work in helping Burma make a transition to democracy. There is still much work to do, as she is expected to share tonight in her speech.

Charles M. SennottSeptember 28, 2012 10:39

Delegates laud Obama's commitment to end human trafficking

In his speech at the Clinton Global Initiative, President Obama announced an Executive Order to coordinate efforts in the government to work toward ending human trafficking, which he referred to as "modern slavery."

Obama clinton global initiative human trafficking september 25 2012

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US President Barack Obama speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting on September 25, 2012 in New York City. (Mario Tama/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK — In a wild week of foreign policy here and all the posturing and the drama that comes with it amid the hype of a presidential campaign, there was at least one tangible action taken that deserves some time in the spotlight.

That is, President Obama's Executive Order to coordinate efforts in the government to work toward ending "the injustice, the outrage of human trafficking," or as he referred to it, "modern slavery."

Obama presented the idea in his speech at the Clinton Global Initiative, a call to action that was very much in the spirit of President Clinton's gathering of leaders in business, government and philanthropy to try to get them working together and inspiring each other to be change agents for the world's most intractable problems. Obama highlighted the estimated 20 million people who are trapped in prostitution rings, in lives as child soldiers or as indentured laborers in copper mines and on South China Sea's fishing boats.

Charles M. SennottSeptember 25, 2012 20:25

Morsi represents 'new Egypt' at Clinton Global Initiative

Egypt's new president appealed to an assembly of leaders and investors, hosted by former US President Bill Clinton.

President Morsi Clinton Global Initiative

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Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City on September 25, 2012. (Charles M. Sennott/GlobalPost)

NEW YORK — Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi made his debut on the world stage here Tuesday by condemning the recent anti-American violence in the region and hastening to add that freedom of speech must be joined with responsibility.

Morsi, who emerged from Egypt’s once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to become Egypt’s first democratically elected president earlier this year, addressed a packed audience of leaders in American business, government and philanthropy gathered for the Clinton Global Initiative.

Kevin Douglas GrantSeptember 19, 2012 14:23

Arctic resource race heats up as new record melt announced

Countries and corporations commit resources to carving out a piece of the melting Arctic.

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with a researcher and the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs onboard the Arctic research vessel Helmer Hanssen during a boat tour with Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs off Tromsø, Norway in the Arctic Circle on June 2, 2012. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

The record pace of the Arctic's melting ice remains an environmental crisis of global import, but has also begun to clear the way for a bonanza of natural resource extraction that is gaining international attention.

The New York Times reported Wednesday on China's increasingly intense focus on securing a share of Arctic "treasures" including vast oil, gas and mineral deposits using its economic and political clout.

Charles M. SennottSeptember 17, 2012 06:19

Coptic Christians remain in eye of the storm as protests subside

Egypt’s minority Christians in tenuous position after anti-American unrest in Egypt and across the Middle East.

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Coptic Christians attend a service in the Church of St Barbera on May 27, 2011 in Coptic Cairo, Egypt. Copts have found themselves at the center of an international crisis after a video made by an American Coptic Christian ignited violent protests across the Muslim world. (Peter Macdlarmid/AFP/Getty Images)

Egypt’s minority Christians are in the eye of the storm of anti-American unrest in Egypt and across the Middle East. With police identifying the key figure behind a crude film that denigrates Islam as a Coptic Christian of Egyptian origin living in Los Angeles, Copts in Egypt were bracing all weekend for sectarian violence to be directed against them.

Charles M. SennottSeptember 14, 2012 14:57

Anti-American unrest creates a '1979 moment' for Obama

Fury within the Muslim world creates an opportunity for fundamentalists and requires a skillful response from US and Egyptian leaders.

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Egyptian protesters throw stones towards riot police during clashes near the US Embassy in Cairo on September 13, 2012. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Rioters were storming the gates of an American Embassy in the Middle East. A Democratic president, seeking reelection, was under bitter attack by his Republican rival for being too conciliatory with the Islamic extremists behind the unrest.

A conservative Israeli government, watching from the wings with intense regional interests of its own, and American Christian fundamentalists were forging an alliance of convenience against the Democrats.

Charles M. SennottAugust 31, 2012 11:04

Shell takes lead in race for Arctic oil

Shell has received permission to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic, but the push for profit and influence in the Great North has just begun.

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The Bering Strait is open for the first time in recent memory, and will rival the world's great shipping lanes. Meanwhile, permission to drill has been granted and billions of dollars are at stake. Business in the Arctic is about to boom. ( NASA Goddard Photo and Video, Flickr/Courtesy)

THE BERING STRAIT — Our twin-engine plane cut through a thick fog as the choppy, gray waters of the Bering Sea came into view. A lone freighter left a frothy wake on its way through the Bering Strait just off the furthest point of Alaska's western coast.

The historic passage in the Arctic is one of the last great, wild places on earth where West meets East, the Atlantic meets the Pacific, the US meets Russia and where a global rush for oil, natural gas and minerals is underway.

Charles M. SennottAugust 27, 2012 14:23

Arctic sea ice melting at an alarming rate, hits record lows

Scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center reported Monday that the amount of ice covering the sea surface has shrunk to its lowest recorded level.

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A boat skims through the ice of Greenland's Ilulissat glacier, one of the biggest and most active in the world. The rate of Illulissat's melting, as well as other Arctic glaciers, has experts and indigenous peoples worried about what the future may hold for the ecosystems of the Arctic. (STEEN ULRIK JOHANNESSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

GIRDWOOD, Alaska — The area of the Arctic covered by sea ice has hit a record low, according to new satellite data.

The news confirms the fears of environmentalists here that the steady and dramatic thawing of the ice is threatening the delicate ecosystem of the Arctic, and it has further rattled native communities who see their traditional way of life threatened by the effects of climate change.

Charles M. SennottAugust 27, 2012 09:52

The Arctic is melting, and we're going to cover it

GlobalPost executive editor Charles Sennott begins a journey of inquiry about how the eight nations of the Arctic Circle are putting their heads together to solve a fateful geo-political puzzle.

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A sign reads: 'Gas!' in - 40 degree celcius weather in Novy Urengoi, just below the arctic circle, in far northern Russia. Along with Russia, the US, Norway, Finland, Greenland, Canada and Iceland are members of the Arctic Council, and in the coming years will decide what happens to our last untouched and valuable resource. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP/Getty Images)

GIRDWOOD, Alaska — The Arctic is melting.

And satellite data officially released today confirms that Arctic sea ice hit a record low this month, tracking below the previous record low which was set in 2007.

And it is not over. The ice will continue melting well into September, according to scientists from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

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Charles M. Sennott

Co-Founder and Executive Editor, GlobalPost. read more

Kevin Douglas Grant

GlobalPost's Deputy Editor for Special Reports. read more