by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at the 6th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, The Nelson Mandela Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa - The African Renaissance is now at hand. It is within reach. It is embedded within the honest and seeking minds of the young, the professionals, the activists, the believers in our continent. Difficulties remain, no doubt, trouble spots abound for sure, and many seek to discredit this process, but we have reached the threshold and there is no turning back from the irreversible transformation.

by Myrtha Désulmé, Jamaica Gleaner, Jamaica - For some time now, a scapegoating campaign has been afoot, to create in Jamaica's collective unconscious the perception that Haitians are the ones destabilising Jamaica by bringing guns into the country, when it is, in fact, Jamaicans who are going to Haiti to trade drugs for guns.

by Stephanie Hanson, Garowe Online, Somalia - As global demand for energy continues to rise, major players like the United States, European Union (EU), and Japan are facing a new competitor in the race to secure long-term energy supplies: China.

by Emily B. Landau, Ha'aretz, Israel - The time for smarter diplomacy - preferably back-channel - is now.

by Laura Carlsen, North American Congress on Latin America, USA - About every six months or so, the media provide a fleeting show of North American unity. Whether on the shores of the Mexican Caribbean, the forests of Quebec, or the hurricane-torn streets of New Orleans, the script is pretty much the same. It includes a lot of back-slapping and almost no public information.

by Susan Saulny, International Herald Tribune, France - In an environmentally conscious tweak on the typical way of getting food to the table, growing numbers of people are skipping out on grocery stores and even farmers markets and instead going right to the source by buying shares of farms.

by Farangis Najibullah, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - There are at least 30 hostels in the Jamal Abdul Naser area of Dubai that house Iranian immigrants. Muhammad, a young Iranian, lives in one of those pensions in a narrow back street, paying some $14 per night.

by Lisa Murray, Asia Sentinel, China - Traces of the murder of a human rights activist climb higher into Jakarta’s power structure.

by Mona Alami, Inter Press Service, Italy - Can beauty arise from conflict? When looking at the art scene in the Middle East, where a fault line of political instability stretches from Lebanon, Syria and Israel to Iraq and Iran, the answer seems to be a resounding 'yes'.

by Riazat Butt, Guardian, UK - The Vatican yesterday criticised the Church of England's decision to press ahead with the ordination of women bishops, saying it presented a "further obstacle" for reconciliation between Canterbury and Rome.

by Amanda Schaffer, Slate, USA - In talking about sex differences, it's easy to assume that what you see is what you get—on average, women are better listeners, men are better navigators, and those patterns of thinking and motivation are relatively fixed.

by Elisabeth Abeson, Combat Law, India - A determined action has marked the beginning of the end of “the POSCO era” – a particularly sinister period characterised by Orissa government's support of a corporate land-siege which threatens to rob farmers, forest dwellers and indigenous people of their lives, livelihood, and cultural heritage.

by Fatma Disli, Today's Zaman, Turkey - When Turkey's already tense political environment -- due to a closure case the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) now faces -- was strained further with additional detentions over the Ergenekon gang, a crime network with alleged links in the state, many moved to uncover the underlying reasons for Turkey's never-ending political strife and agreed it was a struggle for democracy.

by Michelle Gavin, Christian Science Monitor, USA - As the crisis in Zimbabwe deepens, the international community – and particularly African leaders – can play a significant role in saving the important Southern African country from political and economic implosion.

by Nisha, Yemen Times, Yemen - While coming back from a presentation on early marriage in Yemen, a colleague and I started talking about women and technology. To be precise, we were talking about why women in Yemen are not so visible in technical education streams.

by Danielle Toppin, RH Reality Check, USA - For many people, prostitution still maintains that almost-mythical status, a practice that many see as the ultimate representation of the under-bellies of our societies.

by Wangari Maathai, The East African, Kenya - Conserving the Congo forest, and indeed all of our forests in Africa, as well as accelerating forestation efforts, is vital to our survival on a continent where the Sahara Desert is expanding to the North and the Kalahari Desert is expanding to the Southwest.

by Marifeli Perez-Stable, Miami Herald, USA - Chile is Latin America's success story. Per capita income has grown from $4,720 in 1990 to $13,936 in 2007.

by Vivian Song, Edmonton Sun, Canada - Well known in Canada for a variety of causes, Maude Barlow has become the Al Gore of the water world.

by Mercedes Sayagues, Inter Press Service, Italy - "As a child, I learned on the street that a woman should be beaten and I had to un-learn it," says Matombe.

by Nomi Prins, CNN, USA - There's a lot we don't know about how the oil futures markets now work. Congress should find out.

by Petra Marquardt-Bigman, The Warped Mirror, Israel - "What, exactly, is a decent person supposed to think?" That was Bradley Burston's question in an emotional piece published on the website of Ha'aretz shortly after an Arab resident from the southeast Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher killed three and injured dozens in a bulldozer rampage on Jaffa Road last Wednesday.

by Rosemary Righter, Times, UK - Now that the world economy has hit rocky times, the major leaders could make themselves useful at the G8 meeting.

by Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times, USA - Wenza Ali Mutlaq walked a bit uncertainly up the long street near the main government offices here on June 22, the hot wind stirring her heavy black abaya.

by Vasanthi Vasudev, The Hindu, India - The fear of having to live up to unrealistic expectations, the threat of disapproval and the menace of corporal punishment – when will our children be free of these nightmares?

by Lijia Zhang, Guardian, UK - Countless thousands of people in China are blacklisted, harassed, intimidated and locked up merely for what they say or because of the job they do.