Senator Edward Kennedy passed away yesterday evening at the age of 77, after a battle with brain cancer. [NY Times]

If you missed The New York Times Magazine‘s excellent “Saving the World’s Women” edition focusing on the issues facing women in the developing world, don’t fret! You can still read it online. I enjoyed the piece on how women’s rights are the cause of our time, the interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the piece about Afghan schoolgirls.

The piece in “Saving The World’s Women” that really stuck out, however, is the interview with the female president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The 67-year-old is Africa’s first woman elected to office and a lifelong activist who has been imprisoned and charged with treason for fighting against Liberia’s past oppressive government. When Liberians elected President Sirleaf to their highest office, the event was, as the Times put it, “a kind of feminist fantasy come true.”

But President Sirleaf’s interview dealt with another issue which I happen to think is a total fantasy—the notion that if women ran the world, we wouldn’t have any wars anymore.

Sarah Palin has some crafty supporters. Now that she’s out of the governor’s mansion, Palin is required to disclose a list of any gifts she received since December 1, 2008, worth more than $250. Some of the highlights:

• A gun case with her name embroidered on it from a woman in Tennessee.
• A painted plate of Sarah’s noggin from a stoneware studio in Kansas.
• Two handmade army flags from a woman in New Jersey.
• A glass elephant pendant from a woman in California.
• A blanket with the words “The Special Child” cross-stitched into it from a woman in Texas.
• A handmade Bible with a goatskin case.

Uh, is it just me, or does none of this stuff sound like it could possibly be valued at more than $20? [CNN Political Ticker]

It’s about time someone started focusing on women’s rights, at home and abroad, and it looks like Hillary Clinton is just the woman for the job. On her 11-day trip to Africa, Hill first gave the smackdown to a guy who oddly asked her what Bill thought of something. Then, according to the Washington Post, she went to oodles of women’s dinners and mentioned women a ton of times in each of her speeches. Clinton is different than other Secretaries of State because she wants to “elevate people who, in their societies, may not even be known by their own leaders.” And she proved that she’s not just talking the talk—in fact, she spent twice as long in a housing project in South Africa as she did with the country’s president.

Here’s something I can give Sarah Palin credit for: She is not a poseur. When she stepped down as governor of Alaska, she kindly relinquished her Twitter handle, @AKGovSarahPalin. Her final tweet read, “Last state twitter. Thank you Alaska! I love you. God bless Alaska. God bless the U.S.A.” Then, silence.

Since, Sarah has taken to long-form writing on her Facebook page, going on and on in footnoted posts about how Obama’s proposed health-care plan would have babies like Trig face “death panels.” (Huh?) But let’s face it. Even Sarah’s fans don’t want more than 140 characters of her musings. So, thank goodness Sarah has set up a new Twitter feed: @SarahPalinUSA. She has yet to tweet a single character, but here are our predictions as to what she’ll tweet.

When it comes to Hillary’s style choices, it seems she’s in a lose-lose situation. She pioneered the pantsuit revival, but some take issue with her signature outfit. When it comes to the “pants saga,” Newsday says the Secretary of State has been looking especially dowdy as of late: “[Her suits are] looking downright shabby, not a bit flattering these days and well, kind of (yikes) jelly beanish.” Clinton Kelly of “What Not To Wear” slings some mud, too: “There’s no doubt in my mind that a colored pantsuit would end up on the top of the trash can on the show. Colored pantsuits are a little silly, outdated and aging. They don’t look like she’s a leader of the modern world.” What’s a Clinton to do?

Americans rejoiced when U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were pardoned last week by the North Korean government after being detained in a prison there for nearly five months. The women look forward to sharing their experience with the public, but are first taking some time to settle back into their normal lives and enjoy being with their families once again. In the meantime, they’ve posted this video at Current, the news organization the two work for, thanking everyone for their support — the letters, postcards, candlelight vigils, websites, messages to congressmen, etc. “[They] gave us strength to endure the difficult time we spent in North Korea.” When they’re ready to share it, I’m sure their story will be fascinating.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest in Myanmar for 14 years, and her sentence has been extended by a year and a half after a military court convicted her of violating the terms of her detention. The “violation” occurred when an uninvited American, John Yettaw, swam across the lake to Suu Kyi’s house for a visit. He got three years in prison and another three of hard labor.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has approved and registered the Australian Sex Party. The party has some 3,000 members and was founded by Colin Edwards, a sex shop owner and vice president of Australia’s national adult entertainment association. Eventually, Edwards plans to run for political office on the Sex Party ticket. Talk about sleeping your way to the top. [ABC]

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, passed away last night at the age of 88. Shriver is the sister of JFK, RFK, and Ted Kennedy, as well as the mom of Maria Shriver and mother-in-law of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although she never held office, Shriver was one of the most prominent and vocal advocates for the developmentally challenged. [NY Times]

At a town hall in the Congo, a student stepped up to the microphone to ask Hillary Clinton about a loan China recently offered the Democratic Republic of Congo. “What does Mr. Clinton think, through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton?”

Hillary stared at him. “You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband isn’t Secretary of State. I am,” she said. “If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband.”

“Afhgan Star,” Afghanistan’s answer to “American Idol,” is challenging religious traditions and promoting social change in this conservative country. The show, which allows people to vote on their fave singer via text, even lets women perform—check out this year’s only female finalist, Elaha Sorur, above. Last year, two gals made it to the end and one generated mega controversy when she danced, allowing her head scarf to slip down. After her performance, the singer got death threats and had to go into temporary hiding.

Rania Ibrahim, a 15-year-old girl, was found carrying a vest filled with 33 pounds of explosives in Baqouba, Iraq, last year. Those are the facts of the story we know. But there are two very differing accounts of how she got there. The U.S. patrol in Iraq says that Rania turned herself in after female relatives in her husband’s family strapped her down and put the vest on her against her will. But Iraqi police claim that they stopped Rania on the street because she was acting suspicious, and that’s when they discovered her explosive apparel.

• Sonia Sotomayor has been confirmed by the Senate in a 68-31 vote. After she receives the oath of office, Sotomayor will be the first Latina judge and third female judge to join the bench. [New York Times]
• Chris Brown‘s sentencing for his assault of Rihanna has been delayed until August 27th. The judge on the case said she’d like for Brown to do hard labor as part of his community service. [TMZ] — That punishment’s a little better, but we still think Chris Brown should do some time to make the “don’t beat your girlfriend” message loud and clear.
• Unfortch, yet another celeb got busted for allegedly beating a woman. Tom Sizemore, who starred in “Black Hawk Down,” was arrested last night for misdemeanor domestic violence against a female companion. In 2003, Sizemore was convicted of hitting his ex, Heidi Fleiss. [FoxNews] — Hitting women: hot in Hollywood right now?

Lisa Ling’s speaking agency sure didn’t waste a second. Yesterday evening, not 24 hours after Lisa’s tearful reunion with her sister, Laura, one of the two journalists imprisoned in North Korea who Bill Clinton somehow managed to bring home, the email above popped into my inbox. I do a lot of programming at my college, and usually when I get a message about a speaker my gut response is, “Wow, that would be amazing.” But yesterday my reaction was more like, “Soon, much?”

It’s as if Bill Clinton boarded a plane, showed up in North Korea, said “Abracadabra!” and had Laura Ling and Euna Lee home minutes later. The two Current TV reporters are officially back in America and have been reunited with their families. We are ecstatic to hear this amazing news, but are dying to know—what exactly did Clinton do to get them released so quickly? Our best theories after the jump.

Insight China magazine conducted an online survey of 3,376 Chinese peeps about who they trusted. And their findings are pretty counter-intuitive—folks said that trusted prostitutes more than both government officials and scientists. In fact, prostitutes came in third place as a group, just above farmers and religious workers. The China Daily covered the study this week, saying, “Given the constant feed of scandals involving the country’s elite, this is not bad at all. At least [the scientists and politicians] have not slid into the least credible category which consists of real estate developers, secretaries, agents, entertainers and directors.” [AFP]

I don’t even know where to start with this one. It’s not that surprising that prostitutes beat out government officials who go nuts there with the censor-happy schtick. But prostitutes also beat out students and teachers. And what’s so bad about secretaries? Who would you guys rank as the most trustworthy? Frisky bloggers? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Today is Barack Obama‘s 48th birthday. It’s Tuesday, so he’s working, but we don’t feel too bad because he celebrated over the weekend by taking a trip to Camp David and brushing up on his bowling skills. He bowled a 144—pretty darn good for a dude who claimed a few months ago that his skills in the alley were on par with the Special Olympian. [Washington Post]

So, would you wanna bowl with Barack or kick it with a past prez on his big day? See how Barack’s birthday plans stack up.

We’ll keep you posted as more news comes in, but it appears that Bill Clinton has done a kick ass job. [Twitter]

UPDATE: CNN has confirmed that North Korean President Kim Jong Il has pardoned American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Hooray!

Bill Clinton to the rescue! Slick Willy is currently in North Korea, trying to negotiate the release of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who’ve been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for “illegal activity” after entering North Korea to report on Korean refugees. North Korea’s nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, greeted Clinton at the airport, which has led many people to think that North Korea might try to use the women as a bargaining chip with the U.S. over their use of nuclear weapons. Bill insists that he’s avoiding that sticky issue, but even if he does get sucked into that debate, I gotta hand it to Bill, his timing is totally brilliant. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Il, is pretty sick—he may have pancreatic cancer, though people aren’t sure how bad it is because the government is so secretive. However, Kim Jong II is gonna be dying (pun!) for a photo shoot with the ex-prez. If he doesn’t make the photo-op, people are going to know he’s in really bad shape. [LA Times]

All of this sounds great—Clinton hopefully will be able to make some inroads in freeing Laura and Euna and do some reconnaissance work regarding North Korea’s government. But we do have one question—where’s Secretary of State Hillary?