Human beings as inventors and creators have reached a tipping point.  We are transitioning from dependence on oil to reliance on renewable resources and the paradigm-shifting potential of nanotechnology.  Unfortunately, USA and China are fueling their technological growth, in an increasing desperation, to maintain their superpower standing or to gain political negotiation power in the world. 

Like much of India's highly touted "potential", the healthcare system is hampered by the stunning disparity in wealth that is evident in the country. It doesn't matter that wealthy foreigners from other parts of the world now fly to India to be treated to some of the best possible medical care and some of the world's most highly trained physicians. The fact of the matter is that hundreds of millions of people in India still go without the most basic healthcare because the system is either too far removed from them or too expensive for them. 

A year ago, Souktel-a non governmental organization (NGO), announced that it would use an innovative �€˜voice recognition�€™ mobile technology in Morocco to connect illiterate job seekers with prospective employers. The country is confronted with a difficult odd; the adult illiteracy in Morocco is among the highest in the world, and as a result there are a large number of illiterate job seekers. The �€˜voice recognition�€™ mobile technology will enable the illiterate unemployed youth to upload their voice CVs or resumes and send them to employers. This is just one of the many recent examples to show that the use of mobile phones in Arab countries, as in the rest of the world, is no longer about just making calls but increasingly about utilizing mobile phone applications for positive societal changes. Mobile phones have now emerged as a new tool to facilitate socioeconomic development and for political mobilization in Arab countries. 

In today's day and age, charity is no longer just the immediate kindness we extend to one another. As the scope and scale of the problems in the world have grown, so too has the organized response to tackling them. The word philanthropy has come to denote an entire machinery, a whole infrastructure, comprised of donors, NGOs, corporate houses and more. 

A spate of attacks on Pakistan's navy has uncovered a possible infiltration of terrorism into the rank and file of the country's defence forces. Although not discussed much in the media, the attack on PNS Mehran was the third of a series of attacks on the Pakistani navy stationed in Karachi. Before Mehran there were two other attacks on naval buses - one on April 28th and the second two days later on the 30th. Why and how was the navy being attacked repeatedly within Karachi? According to Saleem Shahzad, Pakistan's Bureau Chief for Hong Kong-based Asia Times, the first two attacks were traced back to Al Qaeda. Shahzad claimed that certain naval officers were detained for their links to the terrorist organization and the bombings of three navy buses were �€œwarning shots�€ to force the navy into a negotiation process. Shahzad claims that the extent of infiltration became concerning when AQ was able to track the whereabouts of these officers once they were brought in for questioning. When the negotiation process fell through and AQ chief Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad the last retaliatory shot on PNS Mehran was of a much larger scale.

After years of experts talking about the environmental impacts of big dams, the Chinese government has finally admitted that there have been mistakes in the planning of the Three Gorges Dam. In May this year, the Chinese State Council acknowledged serious flaws in the dam. This may come a little too late and may prove to be hardly a consolation since the construction of other similar projects continues unabated. It is clear that for a lot of Chinese projects, geared to tackle the problem of severe water shortage facing China, the risk-benefit analysis has not been conducted comprehensively. As a result, in the next few years, instead of serving their purpose, these gigantic projects may actually end up worsening the situation.

With the per capita energy consumption at 439kgoe, India�€™s energy needs are expected to rapidly expand in the coming years. Based on the growing energy market, there is huge a potential for wider penetration of solar energy in India. 

Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa have put a spotlight on the role and status of Arab women, who stand to either lose or gain from the winds of change sweeping the region.