The National Press Club

Young people interested in doing humanitarian-aid work in Africa should go, said Jessica Buchanan, a humanitarian-aid worker in Somalia who was kidnapped in 2011 and survived 93 days of captivity before being rescued by the U.S. military.

“Make sure you are well informed. Make sure you take security seriously. Make sure you assess the risks,” Buchanan said at a National Press Club Book Rap May 22.

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New studies on the unique learning experiences of young dual language learners (DLLs) indicate they require different tools and approaches to assure academic success compared to English-only speaking children, according to an extensive study released at a National Press Club Newsmaker on May 14.

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One of 12 men to walk on the Moon and return safely to Earth told a sold-out National Press Club Book Rap May 10 that the astronauts that eventually go to Mars should not plan on returning to Earth.

“The cost of bringing people back in terms of having the fuel there to be able to bring them back is not in keeping with the idea of establishing a permanent growing settlement,” said Buzz Aldrin, author of "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration." “If you are not ready to do that, to commit to do that; don’t go then until you are.”

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Tennis legend Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam championships and No. 1 ranked women’s player for seven years, called tennis “the greatest sport out there” at a National Press Club luncheon Tuesday, May 7.

“It can be a passport to a better, happier and healthier life,” she said. “It can be played by people of every age and ability. It is a tool for connecting people of different backgrounds, for fostering friendships, and building more vibrant and better communities.”

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“In a normal budgetary environment, an efficiencies- and strategy-driven approach to defense ... would be sufficient, but this budgetary environment is anything but normal,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter at a National Press Club Newsmaker event on Tuesday. “What is tragic in all this, this damage to readiness and national security, is that it is not a result of economic emergency or recession in this country ... it’s purely a collateral damage of political gridlock,” he emphasized as he spoke about problems from the sequestration.

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Richard Belzer may be best known for his role as Detective John Munch on "Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit," but he has also co-authored two books with David Wayne. One is The New York Times bestseller "Dead Wrong" and the other is "Hit List" which he discussed May 6 at the National Press Club.

Belzer opened the evening by introducing his good friend, Dick Gregory, with kind words and high praise about the comic turned activist who inspired him early in his career. He said that Gregory's jokes "told the truth, made you laugh, and made you think."

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Last Wednesday night, the Fourth Estate Restaurant hosted Jazz Night, featuring members of the Blues Alley Youth Orchestra. Covering the night was reporter, Casey Linsey, of K Street Magazine. Here is the full article which features a video of the teenage musicians rocking out in front of a sold out crowd for dinner.

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Foreign correspondents shape Americans’ images of countries and thereby set the range of possible national policies, Giovanna Dell’Orto, professor at the University of Minnesota and former Associated Press reporter, told a National Press Club audience April 30.

She summarized the conclusions of her fourth book on journalism history, “American Journalism and International Relations: Foreign Correspondence from the Early Republic to the Digital Era.” The book analyzes 20 events from the revolutions of 1848 to the Mumbai, India, attacks of 2008.

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Malaysia's 13th general national election on May 5 will be "the most important---and most hard-fought" in the country's history, a former American ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation, said at an April 24 National Press Club Newsmaker.

John R. Malott, president and chief executive officer of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., said the United Malays National Organisation and its coalition partners, who have ruled the country since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, face a united and strong opposition "which believes it has a real chance of coming to power".

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More emphasis on equitable funding of schools rather than higher test scores will help to improve education in the U.S., authors of a new book said at a National Press Club Newsmaker briefing on Thursday, April 25.

The four-member panel unveiled "Closing the Opportunity Gap," their new book, which comes 30 years after the release of "A Nation At Risk," a ground-breaking national commission report on the declining state of education. The "At Risk" report helped spark education reforms, including efforts to focus on shortcomings by measuring achievement through widespread student testing.

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