A new book by Naomi Sakr, Transformations in Egyptian Journalism (I.B. Tauris, 2013), should be required reading for American public diplomacy specialists who want to engage Egyptians through the media. Bilingual Sakr, a media policy professor at the University of Westminster and director of its CAMRI Arab Media Centre, draws on new research and decades’ experience tracking Arab media trends to offer a readout on how Egyptian journalists and their employers have been struggling and coping yet also innovating since the 2011 revolution.

Since Somalia's 1991 civil war and the political instability it wrought, capital city Mogadishu has struggled to rebuild. But recently, signs of better times have begun to emerge. With Al-Shabab militants no longer in control, a new, technocratic government has helped plant signs of stability while attracting a substantial new wave of investment from longtime ally Turkey and other members of the Somali diaspora.

The Afghan capital erupted in joyous pandemonium Wednesday night after the national soccer team defeated India to win the South Asian Football Federation championship. It was the first international soccer trophy ever for the war-weary nation and the first ebullient mass outpouring anyone here could remember.

It's a June night in Kinshasa, and rapper JB Mpiana's weekly VIP bash is just starting to heat up. Toned groupies splash like mermaids in a sunken pool. Middle-aged businessmen perch on the ledge above to watch. A minute before midnight, JB runs onstage among a huge posse of gyrating dancers in sunglasses. He rips into some of his biggest hits; a bombastic performer, he glides across the stage with a beefy grace, dressed in a hunter-orange jumpsuit and matching cap.

Peace talks to end Colombia's half century of conflict resumed today following a brief but tense suspension amid complaints from leftist rebels that the government moved too quickly on some of the thorniest issues the two sides must tackle. Delegates from the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) met this morning in Havana, Cuba, despite a surprise “pause” in negotiations declared by the FARC on Friday.

Colombia's police are already strategizing for the end of the country's conflict with Marxist rebels, even as the task of combating the guerrillas is increasingly falling to the police instead of the military. With talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) now almost a year old, General Jose Roberto Leon Riaño, who was director of the Colombian National Police until earlier this month, declared "the new model of service [for the police] is anticipating a post-conflict scenario, a scenario of peace."

Metal wheelchairs colliding, balls gliding, and players falling -- sounds like some hybrid between bumper cars and football. It’s wheelchair rugby. These players who served and sacrificed their limbs for their country now play with more intensity than the best professional athletes. They are wounded soldiers brought together by ArcAngeles, a non-governmental organization (NGO).

More than 20 years after the end of El Salvador's brutal civil war, its legacy of pain and misery still lingers. Until now, an amnesty has shielded from prosecution those suspected of atrocities. But the discovery of a secret directory of death squad targets has given campaigners hope that the guilty can at last be held accountable. On this edition of People & Power, we investigate how evidence of atrocities committed by government forces during the civil war sparked efforts to overturn the amnesty laws.