Tracey SheltonMarch 26, 2013 06:01

IDLIB PROVINCE, Syria — Eight-year-old Fatima Harmadi doesn’t seem very different than most children. She laughs and jokes with her friends as they begin their walk to school at 7 a.m. in the rain, excited to be returning after two weeks away. But it's a wonder her school is open at all. Bombs and artillery have bombarded her village for the past fortnight, forcing her to stay home.

Oxford librarian gets boot after letting students "Harlem Shake"

Faine GreenwoodMarch 20, 2013 06:26

Oxford university librarian Calypso Nash has been sacked after 30 students participated a rousing rendition of the "Harlem Shake" in the prestigious British stacks.

Steubenville football players found guilty of rape

Samantha StainburnMarch 17, 2013 11:57

An Ohio judge has found two Steubenville, Ohio, teenagers guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl while she was drunk, CNN reported. Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, both football players for Steubenville High School, could be detained in juvenile jail until they are 21 years old, the New York Times reported. According to CNN:

Obama library campaign heats up in Chicago, Honolulu

Talia RalphMarch 16, 2013 11:14

Obama's presidential library is years away from being built, but the campaigns over where it will be located are in full force. Both Chicago and Honolulu, the president's home states, are vying for the chance to house the library, with a range of public and private efforts already in place.

Will Wikipedia replace the academic thesis?

Jakub ParusinskiMarch 19, 2013 06:01

KYIV, Ukraine — Click on a Wikipedia topic about optometry in the Polish language or Newtonian mechanics in Ukrainian and the article that pops up may well be a college student thesis. That’s because universities in Poland and Ukraine are exploring new requirements. Instead of cribbing research from Wikipedia for papers that will probably only gather dust, advocates of the idea say students would be better off writing their own Wikipedia articles.

Foreign exchange student says he paid $4,000 to work at McDonald's

Ashley Lutz, Business InsiderMarch 12, 2013 15:58

A student from Argentina who came to the United States to do a work-study program says he was "exploited" and forced to work unreasonable hours.

Harvard secretly searched dean's email in search of cheating evidence

Faine GreenwoodMarch 10, 2013 10:54

Harvard University secretly searched the email accounts of sixteen deans, media reported on March 10th, as central administrators looked for information regarding a media leak about a widespread cheating scandal at the internationally renowned institution.

Talia RalphMarch 9, 2013 16:45

Bee attack in South Africa leaves 44 children injured

A swarm of bees attacked a group of 80 young children during their visit to a bunny park in South Africa.

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A pictures shows bees at an apiary near the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Bureij on April 19, 2010. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

A massive bee attack is not exactly the best way to end a field trip. But that's exactly what happened to a group of about 80 South African pre-schoolers Friday.

Vince GawronskiMarch 8, 2013 07:21

Why I loved Hugo Chavez

Commentary: He provided many teaching moments of fun and fascination.

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Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez laughs during a news conference while attending the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 20, 2006. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — I loved Comandante Hugo Chavez. I loved him not because I’m some sort of pinko populist, but because he makes teaching Latin American politics so much more fun and fascinating. He provided so many great teaching moments to share with my students.

Since the 2002 coup, he has given me a steady stream of new material. His anti-American, and especially anti-George W. Bush, views became near obsessions. Chavez believed that the United States was plotting to assassinate him, or even launch a full invasion of Venezuela. Now Vice President Nicolas Maduro claims that enemies, including the US, caused Chavez’s cancer.

Lex Rieffel and James FoxMarch 12, 2013 06:18

Are aid donors repeating mistakes in Myanmar?

Commentary: How to make aid to the impoverished country more effective.

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Myanmar daily wage laborers work at a construction site in the country's new administrative capital Naypyidaw, on Dec. 3, 2007. The transition in Myanmar that began in 2011 has encouraged more than 100 official aid agencies and internationals non-governmental organizations to pledge aid with the hope of helping make the transition a success. (Khin Maung Win/AFP/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON — The transition in Myanmar that began two years ago — from a military to a quasi-civilian government — is the largest and most encouraging turnaround in the developing world in years.