A recent article in The Chronicle – ‘Is Europe Passé‘ – examines the US’s higher education efforts with new partners and how this affects relationships with the UK, among others. In response, the British Council’s higher education manager in the US, Janice Mulholland, suggests a different form of partnerships for institutions in a global economy.

I was a 20-year-old smart ass when I first picked up Samantha Power’s book, A Problem From Hell, in the fall of 2004. My international politics professor had assigned her thick chapter on Rwanda, so on the night before class, still smarting from a botched date in Philadelphia and hurtling toward Swarthmore College in a rickety SEPTA train, I opened to page 329. There I read about the inept American response to the massacre of 800,000 human beings in 100 days in 1994. And just like that, Samantha Power’s words changed my mind, and my life.

Allegations of mass, indiscriminate government surveillance have sparked a global spat about its proper limits. In defending their programs, the United States and Britain have exposed a troubling, two-tiered approach to the right to privacy in the digital age. Neither government seems willing to recognize the privacy interests of people outside its borders. One thing is clear: as our lives become more connected through the Internet, the right to privacy has never been under a greater global threat.

President Barack Obama is canceling plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month — a rare diplomatic snub. The move is retribution for Russia's decision to grant temporary asylum to Edward Snowden, who is accused of leaking highly secretive details about National Security Agency surveillance programs. It also reflects growing U.S. frustration with Russia on several issues, including missile defense and human rights.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has presided over an incredible year so far in Mexico, pushing through reforms of the telecom and educational sector. But this week, just days after Pena Nieto’s successful thyroid surgery, the president and his PRI party are set to introduce their biggest proposal yet — proposing sweeping changes to the nation’s oil laws that have for decades protected the bloated state oil monopoly Pemex and prevented foreign investment.

The United States temporarily closed nearly two-dozen embassies and consulates last week, mostly in North Africa and the Middle East, with 19 set to remain closed for the rest of the week. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama cited intelligence about potential terrorist attacks by al Qaeda in Yemen. On Tuesday, Washington stepped up security precautions in Yemen by ordering all non-emergency embassy personnel to leave the country and urging all U.S. citizens to depart immediately as well. Similar actions were taken by Great Britain.

Israel has authorized the young winner of the Arab Idol talent competition to move from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank as a "humanitarian gesture," an official said Tuesday. "General Eitan Dangot, coordinator of government activities in the (Palestinian) territories, accepted a West Bank residence request for Mohammed Assaf," the defence ministry official said. "This will allow his to travel abroad much more easily than from the Gaza Strip," the official explained.

Argentina will have the opportunity to represent Latin America at the UN Security Council, said Foreign Minister Hector Timerman in reference to the presidency his country will play in that organ this month. Timerman made these statements after two meetings President Cristina Fernandez held last night with Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota, and the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, Telam news agency reported here.