The recent exposés from Iraq and Afghanistan--with their shocking images, appalling laughter, and video-game ethos--would have shocked the conscience of the world in an earlier era. After all, when what happened at My Lai was exposed during the Vietnam War, it shocked millions of people who hadn't been thinking very... More

　　Israel offered to sell apartheid-era South Africa nuclear warheads in 1975, British newspaper The Guardian has reported. 　　According to documents obtained by the newspaper, a secret meeting between then-Israeli defense minister Shimon Peres and his South African counterpart PW Botha ended with an offer by Jerusalem for the sale of... More

　　When the UN Human Rights Council convened a special session on Sri Lanka last May, many were hoping for meaningful discussion about possible war crimes committed during the final phase of the country's civil war. 　　Thousands of civilians, who had been trapped between the Sri Lankan military and increasingly desperate... More

　　The Israeli government has, for weeks, insisted that the 10,000 tons of supplies on board the Gaza aid flotilla are not necessary. Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, reiterated that claim on Friday, telling reporters "there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza". 　　"Israel is conducting itself in the most humanitarian manner,... More

　　The Israeli attack on the international aid flotilla - killing nine and injuring dozens more - is not the first example of non-violent resistance by Palestinians and their supporters being met by force. 　　Israel has, in fact, at different times reacted with repression or even extreme violence to cultural and... More

　　Saturday’s anniversary of last year’s disputed election in Iran follows eight days after another milestone: the one-year anniversary of US president Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim world in Cairo. 　　The election and the speech - coupled with other events, like Obama’s Nowruz message - created a brief moment of... More

　　An aide to the Afghan president at the center of a corruption probe is being paid the Central Intelligence Agency, The New York Times has reported, citing Afghan and American officials. 　　Mohammed Zia Salehi, chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the CIA's payroll... More

　　UN troops failed 242 women and children who suffered a mass rape attack in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a top UN peacekeeping official has said. 　　Congo hosts the largest and most costly UN peacekeeping mission in the world, but the mass rape attacks happened just 30km from... More

　　Pakistan's agriculture industry -- a pillar of the economy -- could take up to two years to start recovering from floods, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday. 　　ADB and the World Bank are assessing the damage caused by one of Pakistan's worst natural disasters. 　　Philip Erquiaga, director general... More

　　Conflicts are leading to new era of near permanent refugee populations, the head of the United Nation's refugee agency has said. 　　Antonio Guterres also said rich countries are only willing to take a fraction of those forced to flee by drawn-out warfare, especially in Afghanistan and Somalia. 　　"As a result... More

　　For John Helfert, the problems started with the mortar shells screaming into the Abu Ghraib prison compound, the explosions sending furious shock waves. 　　"You don't feel like there is any place to go," said Helfert, then a Marine lance corporal in an infantry unit at the infamous prison. "You are... More

　　Government soldiers in the DR Congo have attacked and raped women in villages where rebels already committed mass rape this summer, a high-level UN official has said. 　　UN peacekeepers in the Walikale territory have reported that army troops are committing "rapes, killings and lootings," Margot Wallstrom, the special representative for... More

　　China's one-child policy leads to an estimated 13 million reported abortions every year, with many of those ordered by the authorities enforcing the system. 　　Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan gained access to a hospital in the southeastern city of Xiamen, where she found one mother in a terrible condition. 　　Xiao Ai... More