A crowd was assembled around St. Paul’s Chapel on Broadway. One block west, behind the chapel, the tenth anniversary ceremony to honor the victims of 9-11 was taking place; its sound system spreading indistinct reverberations through the blocks. Only the 9-11 families and government dignitaries, including Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, were admitted to ground zero. The rest of the public milled around the perimeter of St. Paul’s to be nearby the epicenter of remembrance.

The engine of globalization is a remarkable phenomenon. Enormous talent is being unleashed across the developing nations. But in its wake, a spectacular number of people are being left behind. They have little or no access to healthcare, education or public debate on issues affecting their lives. Ever wonder how the future will look…

The towers of fear, erected upon six decades of dictatorship, were cracked and giving way on Cairo Egypt’s Tahrir Square.

The year’s end brings reflection on the power of great creative work. This December, I spoke with Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehan Harney about her film “Dream of America,” which documents Iraqi men who fled to America after risking their lives in defiance of Saddam Hussein.

Loss and creative power seem to be inextricably connected. This month of October marks the 9th year of concerts performed globally in memory of Daniel Pearl, a journalist (and musician) who was brutally murdered by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan, in early 2002.

The high octane debate over Park 51, the proposed Islamic community center of lower Manhattan, rages on. The Americans I know have only compassion in their hearts for the devastating losses of September 11. In fact, one Muslim-American friend of mine, born in Cairo, was especially grief-stricken on that day, due to her love of America and the provence of those terrorist acts.

The public is wary of the financial industry’s political power in Washington. But is it wary enough? The Baseline Scenario, an engaging blog that breaks down the complexities of the financial disaster for math-challenged readers like me. Begun in 2008, the blog is already cited by a plethora of major magazines and newspapers. The co-author’s new book, “13 Bankers, The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown,” is one we should all be reading.

Shiza Shahid, a 20-year-old Stanford student, took Taliban denial of education for girls into her own hands last year after the insurgents ordered all girls schools to closed in the Swat Valley. Shahid’s anger, who grew up only 100 miles outside Swat, drove to mobilize assistance to 26 girls, who joined her last summer in Islamabad

Barack Obama is edging closer to a decision on whether to reinforce the 68,000 U.S. troops who will be fighting in Afghanistan by year’s end. Since routing out Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts in Afghanistan after 9-11, the Taliban has made a steady comeback, fueled by failures of the Bush administration, profits from the opium trade,

Not a day passes without world news that demonstrates the need for powerful words, like those of Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi of India: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” The Charter for Compassion (and Ted Talks) recently assembled a diverse group of contemporary leaders to convey a core message of peace between all major faiths.