The real reasons for Hillary Clinton’s trip to Africa.

Barack Obama hasn’t stood up to Africa’s despots.

Barack Obama’s plans for Africa are not nearly as ambitious as George W. Bush’s were.

Iraq’s Kurds have been enthusiastic U.S. allies since before the 2003 invasion. But as the Kurds have expanded their control over their oil-rich territory—and as they reassert claims to the contested city of Kirkuk ahead of a constitutionally mandated referendum—tensions are mounting with the central government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and with Arabs and other ethnic groups. Last week, Massoud Barzani was reelected president of the Kurdistan Regional Government despite a strong opposition showing. Days later, he sat down with NEWSWEEK’s Larry Kaplow in his mountain complex high above the Kurdish city of Irbil. Excerpts:

China’s women, facing pervasive discrimination, decide to fight for their rights.

Its fall was inevitable, but the economic crisis will shrink the last pretenses of empire faster than anyone expected.

The reports of Britain’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

How crisis will make the EU stronger.

North America must take a stand.

The U.N. drug czar says that efforts to eradicate opium have failed.