One thing was bothering me when I looked up these articles: It seems that far too often anything that happens outside North America, Europe, or the "developed world" is ignored. Sometimes it seems that Latin America, Africa and most of Asia only come onto our (American, European) radar screens when there's some horrible disaster, some political upheaval, or some new atrocity; the rest of the time it can seem like they hardly exist. This can lead to a rather distorted view of the rest of the world, as if they aren't regular people like "us". Not everybody in Brazil or Mexico or the Middle East is a supersitious religious fanatic, for instance -- there are plenty of intellectuals, skeptics, and rebels there, too, even if it may be harder for them to express themselves.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now...