How will Syria's chemical weapons be destroyed?
Under the deal brokered by the US and Russia in response to the Ghouta attack, Syria has pledged to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile by 2014. But how will this work, and how much will it cost?A...
View ArticleThe march that made Gandhi the Mahatma
One hundred years ago, Gandhi launched the decisive 1913 campaign that was to transform him into a figure of international stature. Later this year, we commemorate it.One hundred years ago, Gandhi...
View ArticleWhat's so bad about fried chicken shops in Seoul and London?
Policy-makers in London and South Korea want to crack down on fried chicken shops, but for two very different reasonsEarlier this week, South Korean officials ordered that restaurant franchises are no...
View ArticleThe unshakeable Angela Merkel, the pilot who weathered the storm
As she faces re-election, the signs are that Angela Merkel’s commitment to the euro stretches only so far as the maths continue to work for Germany. Andrew Gimson on the roots of a genial but...
View ArticleEven in an age of “realists” and vigilantes, there is still cause for optimism
It's not too late for the world to learn the lesson of the US's foreign policy mistakes.The most important anniversary of the year has been the 40th anniversary of 11 September 1973 – the crushing of...
View ArticleA quirk of Australian Prime Ministers
All but one of Australia’s first 20 prime ministers have federal electoral divisions named after them. The first, Edmund Barton, a prime mover in federation, resigned after three years to become a...
View ArticleThe eagle interned as a Mossad agent, and other animal spies
Inside the bizarre world of animal espionage.Earlier this month a stork was arrested in Egypt on suspicion of spying. The apparent spy devices were in fact monitoring equipment geologists had attached...
View ArticleWhat mooncakes in China can tell you about corruption and the environment
The Chinese tradition of giving away mooncakes in mid-autumn is surprisingly revealing.Yesterday was China’s Mid-Autumn festival, a national holiday in the country that is marked with the giving away...
View ArticleA doctor's letter from the besieged Syrian city of Homs
A Syrian surgeon describes his struggles to treat the wounded in Homs and calls on the international community to intervene.I am a doctor working under siege in Homs, performing surgical operations in...
View ArticleWhat you need to know about al-Shabab
How the militant Somalia group behind the deadly attack on a Kenyan shopping centre formed, and why it is attacking foreign targets now.It didn’t take long for the Somali militant group, al-Shabab, to...
View ArticleDoug Band: Is this the man who could bring down Hillary Clinton?
Doug Band came to the Clinton White House in 1995 - and was instrumental in creating the post-presidential philanthropic Clinton empire. Now he is striking out on his own, and causing all kinds of...
View Article"Skirts are a leading cause of rape. Because men have eyes"
Comedy group All India Backods parody the belief that women must be to blame for rising amounts of rape in India.The Indian comedy group All India Backods, featuring Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin, has...
View ArticleMore than 1 in 10 children are trapped in child labour
The number of child labourers has decreased by a third since 2000, but there are still 168 million child workers.The number of child labourers has declined by a third since 2000, a report by the...
View ArticlePanda diplomats: can you put a price on cuteness?
How China uses pandas to help secure long-term trade deals.The pictures of the 14 baby panda cubs born at a breeding centre in Chengdu in China were published around the world. You’d have to have a...
View ArticleBehind the scenes at US-Iran talks
What factors will really affect the outcome of negotiations between the US and Iran?The widely anticipated handshake between Barack Obama and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations...
View ArticleAmerica's dangerous debt dance
By threatening debt default and government shutdown, Congressional Republicans are risking disaster.The world turns, seasons come and go, the sun rises and falls, and the American government collapses...
View ArticleCrackdown on Golden Dawn: Michaloliakos charged with belonging to a criminal...
Party leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, was arrested yesterday together with four more Golden Dawn MPs and 15 party members in an unprecedented crackdown on Greece's far-right partyThe leader of Greece’s...
View ArticleSaudi cleric says women drivers risk damaging their ovaries
A successful campaign by Saudi women to defy a driving ban provokes one odd pseudo-scientific response. The success of a campaign calling for women to defy the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia has...
View ArticleThe Delhi gang rape death sentences won't make India safer for women
The government has done little more than to satisfy the emotional sense of injustice, and hush up the masses temporarily while shying away from the bigger issue: how to prevent the crimes?The fatal...
View ArticleIn Syria, doctors are dying before they can save lives
Health care is being hampered by those involved in the conflict because of the Assad regime’s willingness to target doctors and hospitals. People in Syria have become proficient in gazing at the sky....
View Article