Susan notes: I've missed the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the city of my birth. I don't have a TV here in Dubai, and no way to watch them otherwise.

I feel sad to have missed the excitement and joy of competition, even as I get daily updates by email about the medals Canadian athletes have won, many of those medal winners are women. I feel so proud of them.

The stories of

The Burj Khalifa (formerly known as The Burj Dubai), the world's tallest building, officially opened today, January 4, 2010.

For the past 12 months, I've lived in its shadow, about a kilometer away from where it towers. Each time I left my not-so-temporary home-away-from-home in Jumeirah 2, one of Dubai's more established areas, I cast my eyes on "The Burj," in all its dubious

One year ago this week violence erupted once again in Palestine. It continued unabated for weeks. Hundreds of people were killed. Thousands of homes were destroyed. Millions of lives were impacted.

Today, one year later, the living conditions in Palestine continue to be disastrous. It’s an ongoing tragedy.

And yet, there’s also hope.

Many women, in particular, refuse to accept the status

Susan notes: US journalist, author, blogger and self-confessed “dove” Sara Davidson is in Afghanistan researching the views of Afghan women on the US military presence in their country, and more. Her blog posts are fascinating. In this, the fifth to date, she documents some of the paradoxical views she and her colleagues have discovered. Links to Davidson's blog and website are at the end of this

My friends Elaine and Gray kindly agreed to host me at their place for two weeks while my villa mate Tricia welcomes family and friends at “ours” (it’s her villa really, I just have a room there, but that’s another story).

Elaine, Gray, and Elaine’s son Phil are in Oman for the Eid holiday, so I’m in charge of their two dogs Poppy and Gypsy. They’re good dogs. Most of the time.

Today, as

Kikune knelt in front of Fukiko and me, the epitome of grace and beauty in a spectacular melon-coloured kimono.

She was in turn thoughtful, playful and coy, as she answered my questions and shared the trials, tribulations, and joys of fulfilling her dream: to become one of Kyoto’s legendary geisha.

It was a conversation I shall never forget.

One year later, I’ve finally produced the

The auditorium fell dead silent when Dr. Sunitha Krishnan stepped onto the stage at TED India on November 6. And Tedsters around the world, watching via a live stream webcast, were transfixed – or at least we were in Dubai!

The diminutive, soft-spoken, anti-trafficking crusader, who was gang-raped as a teenager, began her talk with the heart-wrenching stories of three children – Pranitha,

Susan notes: Executive coach, entrepreneur and soon-to-be published author Lynn Harris knows what lies behind the dearth of women in corner offices and boardrooms: a whole bunch of unwritten rules!

I can’t wait to read her upcoming book Unwritten Rules: What Women Need To Know About Leading In Today's Organizations (scheduled for release by the end of this year), in which she explains all the

Funny, Dubai LOOKS and FEELS pretty much the same as it did when I left just about three months ago for a summer romp around the world. Kinda' frozen in time as it were.

Traffic’s still here, irritatingly. Likewise, I couldn’t find a convenient place to park at Mall of the Emirates the other day, and people were shopping in reasonable numbers. Sakura, my favourite sushi bar, was doing a brisk

In February 2008, former nun and religious scholar Karen Armstrong shared a wish with the worldwide TED community.

(Scroll down to see and hear the amazingly eloquent, thoughtful and thought-provoking talk in which she made the wish.)

She asked “TEDsters” to help her assemble the Charter for Compassion, a document around which religious leaders can work together for peace.

 Armstrong's