After school, in classrooms in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, the four-year-old Ashtar drama program opens Palestinian students' eyes—and their hearts—to the actor's craft, setting them challenges that expand their ideas of movement, of cooperation and even of society.

Modest in size and population, ethnically diverse and difficult of access, the predominantly Muslim Kyrgyz Republic, independent since 1991, nonetheless has good grounds for hope of a democratic and prosperous future. Trading skills that go back to the days of the Silk Roads, extensive mineral resources and great natural beauty are among the reasons, but most important is a hardworking population unified both by Islam and by a thousand-year democratic tradition that reaches back to the days of the nation-builder and folk hero Manas.

Their subtle tones and supple textures make Joseph Abboud's elegant and understated clothes favorites with well-dressed men and women around the world, from his native Boston to Melbourne, Australia—where he recently helped reunite his Lebanese emigrant family.

Using tomb paintings and archeological artifacts as their guides, a former diplomat, dozens of Egyptian craftsmen and several hundred actors have created, on a secluded island near down-town Cairo, a living museum of daily life in ancient Egypt.