The only ones who will suffer from an Olympic boycott are the athletes.

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The Question: The producers of the movie "The Kite Runner" had to evacuate three boy actors from Afghanistan because they were involved in a scene portraying homosexual rape. Who's at fault here: the movie producers who exposed the boys to danger, or the Afghan culture that threatens them?

Before responding to this question, I feel it necessary to take a moment to credit Afghani-American author Khaled Hosseini for writing such an incredible story. The Kite Runner is a remarkably well-written window into two very different Afghanistans – one of revolution and hope, the other of oppression and despair. Sadly, the latter description is that of today's Afghanistan.

Certainly the filmmakers should have taken into account that by showing a homosexual rape scene (the actual rape is not shown), they were jeopardizing the young actors' lives. However, in the end, perhaps evacuation from Afghanistan, given its continued political instability and turmoil, is a blessing in disguise.

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The first year I lived in Egypt, Ramadan fell in November. Journalists are often invited to company iftars (the meal to break fast) as a way of networking and exchanging in the holiday spirit. You can imagine my surprise when, at one of these iftars, Santa Claus marched in to spread …Ramadan cheer(!?)

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The Question: What was the biggest news story in your country last year [in 2007], and why?

As we begin 2008 and look back on the biggest stories that made headlines over the past year, I cannot help but ask a question that I, as a journalist, have recently come to dread: what qualifies as news, nowadays?

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The Current Discussion: Australians are voting online for a "Word of the Year" from a list of new words to be included in the dictionary: among the frontrunners, "Chindia", "globesity," and "password fatigue." Create your favorite new word of the year that tells us something about trends in your country.

I’d like to submit the following words for consideration.

Yanktipathy - [yank-tip-uh-thee] - noun. [Yankee + antipathy]
1. A natural, basic, or habitual repugnance of natives or inhabitants of the United States.
2. An instinctive contrariety or opposition in feeling to U.S. foreign policy, intervention, occupation, or the people responsible for it all. [see also CHENEY]
3. An object of natural aversion or habitual dislike to American social values, pop icons, fast food or sports.
4. Distaste for all things American, full stop.

Wiretrapped – [wahyuh r-trap-ing] – adjective [wiretap + trap]
1. A consequence of the U.S.-led War on Terror, describing the feeling by some to the surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of persons within the United States incident to the collection of foreign intelligence.

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