We’re happy to announce that Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be a special guest at our Tribute Dinner on February 2 honoring Madeleine Albright and Tom Ridge. The evening will be a time to celebrate the service of these two remarkable individuals and to hear from one of our nation’s most prominent philanthropists who is making a profound impact on the lives of millions around the world.  The dinner is filling up fast, so make sure you RSVP today if you haven’t already.

Must Reads

Who’s In the News

Ros-Lehtinen promises to stop Obama’s civilian nuclear deals (Josh Rogin – The Cable Blog)

The Obama administration is negotiating civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with a host of countries around the world. But Congress will intervene to try to stop some of those deals, if House Foreign Relations Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen but has anything to say about it.

Mitchell meets with Israeli, Palestinian negotiators (Laura Rozen – Politico)

U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell met Thursday with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, the State Department said Thursday.

Smart Power

World hunger best cured by small-scale agriculture: report (Nidhi Prakash -The Guardian)

The key to alleviating world hunger, poverty and combating climate change may lie in fresh, small-scale approaches to agriculture, according to a report from the Worldwatch Institute. The US-based institute’s annual State of the World report, published yesterday, calls for a move away from industrial agriculture and discusses small-scale initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa that work towards poverty and hunger relief in an environmentally sustainable way.

Politics/Foreign Policy

Avoiding a U.S.-China cold war (Henry Kissinger – Washington Post)

The upcoming summit between the American and Chinese presidents is to take place while progress is being made in resolving many of the issues before them, and a positive communiqué is probable. Yet both leaders also face an opinion among elites in their countries emphasizing conflict rather than cooperation.

South Sudan to need more food aid after vote: UN (Reuters)

In the best-case scenario of a peaceful referendum process, the number of people receiving emergency food aid would rise to 1.4 million during the lean season from March until August 2011, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said in a report on Wednesday.