Quoted: A model presents a creation during a design competition at D.park in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 3, 2008. The competition unveiled the three-day "Beijing Olympics & Chinese Fashion" series activities held by Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG) and China Fashion Association.

Quoted: Political change in China, however gradual and inconsistent, has made it a significantly more open place for many people than it was a generation ago.

Quoted: The trouble is that the fighting is unlikely to end as long as the Taliban can finance themselves through drugs — and as long as the Kabul government is dependent on opium to sustain its own hold on power.

Quoted: The pirates attacked on a speedboat launched from a mother ship, a captured Asian fishing ship known as a longliner. Once on board, they regaled the crew with tales of famine in their villages.

Quoted: A group hunting suspected Darfur war criminals turns to Facebook and Google Earth to try to find them.

Looks very delightful! I haven't skied for so long.

Troubling news from Yemen.

Quoted: A simple early warning system that used local volunteers shouting through megaphones to warn people about the impending cyclone saved thousands of lives when Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh last week, and the system proved so effective that it might even become a model for other countries.