Things have been hectic here with a server relocation, moving to a new apartment, and finishing finals at university— all this in addition to the usual holiday busyness. Lots of Branson news to catch up on here, but this story over the weekend definitely takes the cake. The Scotsman reports that Sir Richard orchestrated an attempt, with help from Nelson Mandela and with Kofi Annan’s blessing, to avert the Iraqi Invasion by convincing Saddam Hussein to voluntarily go into exile. I’ve been pretty outspoken, having studied international relations at UCLA, about what an insane idea the entire invasion was, and seeing a business leader step up to attempt something like this — even leaving aside that it was my favorite billionaire at that — is quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen all year. If this had worked, this is the stuff that Nobel Peace Prizes are made of. [Read more]

The AIDS pandemic is obviously a major crisis to address, and it comes as no surprise that Richard Branson, whose efforts to help young people began 30+ years ago, is involved in this fight as well. iafrica.com has the news of a new campaign launched in South Africa. [Read more]