Nation & World

The fourth annual Harvard African Development Conference drew experts from across disciplines and the world for a snapshot of innovation in “the continent of the future.”

: The United States must do more to help its newest generation of veterans reintegrate by capitalizing on their desire to serve, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said at a panel event in honor of Harvard’s veterans.

U.S. Rep. Eric I. Cantor, the House majority leader, embraced immigration reform, education changes, and medical research funding during a speech at the Harvard Kennedy School.

With a New England winter storm as an ironic counterpoint, a delegation of Senegalese officials arrived at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics Friday. In the lead was Macky…

Panel discusses “Forum on Food Labeling: Putting the Label on the Table,” in a presentation by the Harvard Food Law Society.

A new project at Harvard’s Pakistan Innovation Network brings professors and their research to students, activists, and entrepreneurs across South Asia via video conferencing, making possible connections that could spark social change.

Harvard anthropology doctoral student Nicolas Sternsdorff Cisterna is living in Japan to study food safety and how people make decisions to keep their families safe following the nuclear meltdown.

Andrew Young — minister, activist, politician, and diplomat — reflected during a Harvard appearance on the battles of the American civil rights era, and on the economic problems that remain.

Two political philosophers explored the role of religion in public life during a discussion sponsored by the nonprofit organization The Veritas Forum.

Harvard Kennedy School’s Indonesia Program is using a combination of faculty research, student backing, and direct engagement with Indonesia’s elected officials to learn about and support the sprawling island nation’s democratic efforts.

In an ever-more-crowded media landscape, journalists and academics alike must think creatively about how to bring overlooked human-rights issues to Americans’ attention, said Nicholas D. Kristof ’81 as he accepted the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism at the Harvard Kennedy School.

During an appearance on campus, Michelangelo D’Agostino explained how he worked to mine fundraising data, helping President Barack Obama win re-election.

A Harvard Divinity School panel explored the workings of Shariah law and the rights of women under its rules, in part through the eyes of its first female judge.

Berkman Center Fellow Ruha Devanesan described some of her research on the “Kony 2012” campaign in a recent talk and in an interview with the Gazette.

Harvard President Drew Faust’s coming trip to South Korea and Hong Kong is framed against a long history of Harvard’s engagement with Asia’s many nations.

At India’s Kumbh Mela, the largest temporary city in the world, public health researchers from Harvard and beyond staged a small but nimble operation to follow health measures and disease outbreaks. The results will hold lessons not just for future Harvard students, but for urban health planners in India and elsewhere.

With the sequester closing in, the Gazette asked Harvard analysts to weigh in on how the dramatic spending cuts might affect the economy, politics, and the funding of research universities.

By the end of the conference, “Governance of Tobacco in the 21st Century,” a few recommendations for international controls stood out: Consider public health a basic human right, and tobacco promotion a violation of that right.

A team of students with the Harvard College Engineers Without Borders is working with residents in a tiny town to improve both access to water and its quality.

An Institute of Politics panel at the Harvard Kennedy School — including a politician, a soldier, and an activist actor — praised the resilience of post-earthquake Haiti but acknowledged the country’s long road ahead for recovery and stability.

In remarks at Harvard Law School, Professor Lawrence Lessig eulogized Internet pioneer Aaron Swartz and proposed a closer examination of minor versus major cyberspace crimes and what he called “extremism in prosecuting computer laws.”

Anson Chan, the former chief secretary for administration for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, outlined her hopes for a more democratic China when she delivered the Rama S. Mehta Lecture at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

The Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, spawns a city of millions virtually overnight — and with it, a thriving ecosystem of commerce large-scale and small. Harvard Business School researchers traveled to India to search for the festival’s unlikely lessons in infrastructure, governance, and informal networks.

NRA President David Keene and Jonathan E. Lowy presented their views on gun policy during visits to Harvard.

Gazette staff writer Colleen Walsh spoke with budgeting expert Linda J. Bilmes, a Harvard Kennedy School senior lecturer in public policy, about the looming government sequestration, and some possible ways to avoid it in future.

One forum, one stage, and one podium — it’s potentially deadly territory for photographers to document night after night. Yet over the years, four Harvard University Photographers — Jon Chase, Rose Lincoln, Stephanie Mitchell, and Kris Snibbe — have made the most of the multitiered space of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School.

The Sangam — the point where the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet — is one of the holiest spots in India, drawing millions of Hindus for the Kumbh Mela festival. As a group of Harvard students learned, it’s also a place where centuries-old religious practices and modern-day environmental politics collide.

Professor Charles J. Ogletree joined writer-director Eugene Jarecki for a Q&A after a screening of Jarecki’s documentary, “The House I Live In,” Feb. 5 at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.

After Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, Harvard College students at the Institute of Politics watch party offered their first impressions of President Obama’s second-term agenda.

The Gazette asked Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, a professor of Roman Catholic theological studies at the Divinity School, to weigh in on the decision by Pope Benedict XVI to step down.