When asked for a definition of "peace" during a CBC interview, Canadian scientist, educator and renowned activist Ursula Franklin stated: "Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the presence of justice and the absence of fear." This simple definition helps explain why there is still no peace... More

　　Pakistan suffered the highest number of internally displaced people in 2009 due to Pakistan's army attacks on civilian regions where Pakistani Taliban is powerful, a United Nations study showed on Monday. 　　The number of internally displaced people worldwide reached 27.1 million individuals in 2009, the highest number since records began... More

　　The Iraqi government says that there are 3.5 million orphans in Iraq; the UN estimate is around one million. 　　Noor Abdul-Rassoul Ali, of the Iraqi Orphan Foundation, estimates that there are about five million orphans. 　　Whatever the true number, the children of war face an uncertain future, Zeina Khodr, Al... More

　　An international children's rights charity has said it has evidence that Palestinian children held in Israeli custody have been subjected to sexual abuse in an effort to extract confessions from them. 　　The Geneva-based Defense for Children International (DCI) has collected 100 sworn affidavits from Palestinian children who said they were... More

　　Authorities in Bangladesh have lifted the ban on Facebook, the social networking website. 　　The website had been blocked a week earlier over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed and "obnoxious" images of Bangladeshi leaders. 　　The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordered the country's international Internet gateway providers to unblock the site... More

　　The US and its main ally in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, are pursuing contradictory policies when it comes to dealing with Somalia's Islamist movements. 　　While Addis Ababa is pursuing its traditional unaccommodationist and at times hostile policy towards these groups, Washington is encouraging all those Islamist movements that are... More

　　Although the international media has under-reported it, the world has recently witnessed a major event in the Horn of Africa - a free, fair and generally peaceful election in Somaliland. 　　On July 2, Isse Yusuf Mohamud, the chairman of Somaliland's election commission, announced that Ahmed Mohamud Silanyo, the leader of... More

　　While most Israeli leaders are resistant to fully lifting the blockade of Gaza, Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing foreign minister, is advocating that Israel abandon the Strip to international monitoring and economic rehabilitation. 　　The proposal, recently leaked to the Israeli press, does not amount to freeing Gaza but rather to placing... More

　　Talk of a 'hot summer' has increased among the Lebanese since the beginning of the year. But in Lebanon's case, a 'hot summer' does not refer to the weather. Nor does it refer to the many festivals, concerts, beach parties and hundreds of other 'hot events' taking place. 　　By 'hot... More

　　The number of civilians killed or wounded in Afghanistan has reportedly soared by 31 per cent in the first six months of this year. 　　More than 1,200 Afghans were killed and almost 2,000 injured in the first six months of the year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said... More

　　Israeli soldiers are routinely taking degrading photographs of dead and captured Palestinians and posting them on the internet, human rights groups have said. 　　The claims come a day after the Israeli military attempted to quell controversy over photographs showing a female soldier posing provocatively with blindfolded Palestinian detainees. 　　The Israeli... More

　　Hungry and thirsty, the survivors of the Pakistan floods wait in sodden tents for aid to get through, struggling to come to terms with the events of recent days. 　　In Nowshera, a culturally traditional part of Pakistan, women who do not normally mix with males outside their family must now... More

　　At least two of the five US soldiers charged in the deaths of three Afghan civilians had kept body parts taken from Afghan corpses and threatened subordinates, according to new documents released by the US army. 　　Five soldiers - Calvin Gibbs, Adam Winfield, Jeremy Morlock and Michael Wagon, Andrew Holmes... More