"It was the best of times, the worst of times...it was the season of light...it was the season of darkness..." quoted from Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities. The holidays often remind us of our best memories and our worst family reunion nightmares. The holiday season alone puts a lot of stress due to high expectations of meeting long-held family traditions and conjures up…

• A new American initiative to improve the notoriously poor LGBT rights in sub-Saharan Africa is reportedly inspiring a large backlash. Sub-Saharan Africa is marked by widespread homophobia as well as chronic dependence on foreign aid, in particular from the US, and the idea that the two issues might now be linked seems…

Dear readers,

I will be filling in some more links and sources tomorrow afternoon-- but I wanted to get this out there while the discussion is still raging.

I will mark any changes under the article.

Also, a reminder that the This Week in Conflict reports will come all together on the weekend and resume their regular schedule next week.

Peace!

-- Rebecca

When conflict or…