International

A record 111 countries voted Thursday for a moratorium on capital punishment at a keynote UN General Assembly human rights meeting. Although not legally binding, campaigners say the vote held every two years sends a strong signal to the slowly…

With just hours to go before the 21st of December arrives in the author’s home country of Australia, one of the first places on the planet to see if the Mayan doomsday prophecy will be proven true or false, John…

The Arabs – a history By Eugene Rogan – Published by Basic Books, 2009 Review by Tony Henderson, chairman, Humanist Association of Hong Kong Where do you start? Like just where DO you start? Mr Rogan, an Oxford don who…

Britain will slash its military force in Afghanistan next year, withdrawing nearly 4,000 troops as local security forces become increasingly capable, Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday. Cameron told parliament that the current force of 9,000 British troops would be…

By Ira Helfand Soon after President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, hundreds of leaders of the global medical community wrote an open letter to him, and to newly elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, urging them to make the abolition…

It was never about the Jewish religion and Islam, at least in times before the present. Even now the more discerning would rather say it is Israel-Islam at loggerheads, distinguishing between the Jewish religion and Israel. It is political-territorial. Despite…

In the NPT 2010 conference resolutions was a call for a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Conference in 2012.  The government of Finland volunteered to host it but sadly it never took place.  Before it was cancelled though civil…

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is reportedly planning an escape from Damascus, preparing for a last stand in his home town, The Sunday Times reported this week. The embattled leader, facing a lingering 22-month-old uprising against his rule, is preparing for…

According to the ancient Mayan civilisation, December 21, 2012, represents the end of a cycle in the Mayan long count calendar that begins in the year 3114 BC. It is the completion of 5,200 years counted in 13 baak t’uunes,…

The United Nations climate talks in Doha went a full extra 24 hours and ended without increased cuts in fossil fuel emissions and without financial commitments between 2013 and 2015. “This an incredibly weak deal,” said Samantha Smith representing the…