By John Feffer In 1979, Pope John Paul II visited Poland. It was an official visit, the invitation extended by the Communist government. The pope—once known as Karol Wojtyla, an actor-turned-priest from a small village outside Krakow—managed to pull off…
By Rizwan Asghar The death of Hakeemullah Mehsud in a drone strike has resulted in a state of confusion across the country. By and large, the political class is unhappy about the incident terming it the ‘death of peace process’.
By Beenish Altaf Pakistan successfully tested this week its surface-to-surface Hatf-IX NASR missile with a range of 60 kilometers. The test included successive launches of 4 x missiles in salvo mode from a state-of-the-art multi-tube launcher. The missile is seemingly…
By ISN Security Watch When it comes to maintaining the security of the Asia-Pacific region, Axel Berkofsky believes the EU is caught between a rock and a hard place. China views Brussels’ Asia policies with continued suspicion while the United…
By PanArmenian World powers will seek to hammer out a breakthrough deal with Iran to start resolving a decade-old dispute over its nuclear program in two-day talks that begin on Thursday, November 7 although both sides say an agreement is…
By Alan Caruba On the surface, it might seem to make sense for the President to want to “do something” about climate events such as hurricanes, but there have always been hurricanes and blaming them and everything from droughts to…
By Keith K C Hui “No friends, no enemies, just interest.” Ideologically speaking, there is almost no common ground between the socialist and open-yet-authoritarian China and most other capitalist and democratic states such as Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa,…
By David Mepham, UK director of Human Rights Watch In many places around the world, Human Rights Watch exposes abuses of state power and the absence of effective accountability over the agencies of the state – both factors highly relevant…
Protests and logistical challenges are heightening tensions before a scheduled 19 November national poll in Nepal that is seen as critical to the country’s stability and development, say analysts.
By Radio Zamaneh Following a rainy day in various parts of Khuzestan Province on Saturday November 2, many people went to hospitals with serious bouts of choking and shortness of breath.
By Naw Noreen The Burmese government on Monday gathered a group of international humanitarian agencies working in the restive Arakan state to remind them that they must distribute aid “fairly” to local communities.
By Zachary Fillingham US drone strikes have long been a sticking point in US-Pakistan relations. To the Obama administration, they are a key tool in the fight against terrorism, evident in the various high-ranking commanders they’ve eliminated from the regional…
Doctors and nurses working under US military orders have been complicit in the abuse of terrorism suspects, a new independent US report says.
By N Sathiya Moorthy Even as the rest of the world and Maldivians too had almost given up the country as on the brink of a political and leadership chaos, it has bounced back with the kind of verve and…
Gunmen in north-eastern Nigeria have killed more than 30 people in a attack on a wedding convoy.
By being more precise in what is uncertain, the weather forecasts will become more reliable. A new method for forecasting the weather is now being developed at Uni Research.
The Norwegian Vikings were more oriented towards the East than we have previously assumed, says Marianne Vedeler, Associate Professor at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo in Norway. After four years of in-depth investigation of the silk trade…
Specialist surgeons have conducted free operations for 20 extremely poor female patients suffering from vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) diseases at Rangpur Community Medical College Hospital (RCMCH) in the city.
A businessman who claims he tipped-off the FBI about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden’s secret compound is seeking a reward of $25m (£15.6m). Gem dealer Tom Lee, 63, claims that in 2003 a Pakistani intelligence agent, from a family…
By Dave Lindorff A revealing page-one article in today’s New York Times (“Tap on Merkel Provides Peek a Vast Spy Net”) reports on how the NSA’s global spying program, dating back at least to early in the Bush/Cheney administration, was…
By Democratic Voice of Burma The Burmese army continues to step up abuses in northern Kachin state, including raping, killing and torturing villagers, despite signing a tentative ceasefire with ethnic rebels, activists say.
By Samir Saran and Abhijit Iyer-Mitra The recently concluded India-China summit meeting may have, at the very least, established a new tone and tenor in the relationship between the two Himalayan neighbours.
By Aijaz Zaka Syed The general elections in 2014 could well be the dumbest and most defining in India’s history. While the level of political discourse and campaigning has already hit rock bottom, stakes for the country and its future…
By Mohamed Bin Ali The Sultan of Brunei recently announced the introduction of the Shariah penal code or hudud as part of implementing Shariah law in the country. What do the terms Shariah law and Hudud entail and what are…
By Daniel Wagner and Giorgio Cafiero Saudi Arabia’s declared intention to pivot away from the U.S. in foreign policy implies a shift toward Beijing, which predates both the Obama presidency and the Arab Awakening. While a full-fledged “divorce” from the…
By Adil E. Shamoo The Egyptian people face a very difficult choice. They must choose a path that does not lead toward greater violence, further economic decline, dictatorship, or even civil war. Egypt must somehow avoid the fate of Syria…
By Ria Novosti A prototype “space plane” that is being developed to transport American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) sustained damage during its first free-flying test after its landing gear failed to deploy properly, according to US media…
By World Nuclear News Two more nuclear power plants in China are progressing towards commissioning. Hongyanhe’s second unit has achieved first criticality, while fuel loading has begun at Yangjiang unit 1.
Electronic surveillance which the European media and politicians blamed on the NSA was also carried out by their own intelligence services, as part of a wide-ranging allied security effort, according to US officials.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has issued a veiled threat against media organizations, calling on The Guardian and other outlets to stop publishing the disclosures leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.