Renato Salazar, a senior fellow at the South-East Asia Regional Initiative for Community Empowerment, says that cultural poverty remains a major handicap in efforts aimed at reducing poverty in the developing world.

The Herald: Zimbabwe: End Cultural Poverty

Esther Brimmer, President Obama’s newly appointed assistant secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, says that the Obama administration is seeking a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council while being aware that critics of the council believe it has been ineffective

America.gov: Obama Administration Seeks Greater Involvement With UN

An American cargo ship was attacked by pirates armed with grenade launchers and automatic weapons in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, but the attackers failed to take over the ship, which was able to continue with its delivery of food aid to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

New York Times: Pirates Fail in Attack on U.S. Ship