Guest Thinkers

Five young Americans detained in Pakistan had gone to the region with the intention of joining a jihad, or holy war, according to a statement from police officials.

In American folklore, testosterone is supposed to cause rage, lust, competitiveness, nuclear arms races, beer hats and other indicators of whacked-out excess masculinity. Andrew Sullivan, for example, wrote years ago […]

After synchronised car bomb attacks devastated the Iraqi capital Baghdad yesterday the Iraqi government has been quick to speculate about who was behind the attacks.

Two happy developments surrounded day one (yesterday) of COP15, the international climate summit taking place this week and next in Copenhagen. First, it was announced last Friday that President Obama […]

Three bomb-rigged cars exploded in the Iraq capital Baghdad this morning killing over 60 and wounding more than 100 in what is suspected to have been a co-ordinated attack.

Researchers believe a previously undocumented volcanic eruption 200 years ago in 1809 may explain the coldest decade on record which occurred between 1810 and 1819.

Synchronised bomb attacks massacred 46-people yesterday in Pakistan in a suspected backlash by insurgents after an attempted military crackdown on the Taliban.

The philandering activities of golfer Tiger Woods reveal a deep-rooted insecurity because the women all look like Barbie dolls, writes Eugene Robinson.

“The Most Failed State,” a piece in The New Yorker’s December 14 issue, scrutinizes Somalia and offers glimpses of the mix of nose-holding and open-mindedness U.S. leaders will need in […]

Fifty people have been detained after martial law was imposed in a southern Philippines province where 57 people were killed in a massacre two weeks ago.

A new report predicts that parts of coastal Australia will fall into the sea – abandoned by governments which are refusing to finance combative measures.

Despite it being illegal to burn forests to clear land in Indonesia the practise is still widely maintained in Sumatra where what was once virgin forest is being decimated.

As a result of the financial crisis and predatory banking fees, more and more people rely on check-cashing services and keep their cash under the mattress.

Prolonged debate over Iraqi election law will likely delay the Parliamentary election constitutionally required in January until the end of February.

The Los Angeles diocese of the Episcopalian Church has elected an active lesbian as assistant bishop further dividing the American Anglican congregation.

CIA Secretary Robert Gates admitted that the government has not received credible information concerning Bin Laden’s whereabouts in several years.

A student at the U of Delaware stumbled on a personal letter written by Thomas Jefferson praising a lesser-known delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

“If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save.” It’s the thesis of novelist and writer Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Eating Animals (Little, Brown), and a maxim his grandmother once told […]

Decoding the New Taliban, a book I blogged about once already, will probably find its way into more posts here because of its timeliness, depth, and variety of voices. The […]

Bolivia’s incumbent president, Evo Morales, is expected to win reelection after nationalizing oil and gas industries and fighting indigenous poverty.

Obama has announced he will attend the final weekend of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference giving him more authority to shape the final outcome.

As I’ve continued to use this blog to track the aftermath of a September massacre in west Africa, probably the most implausible claim from Guinea’s coup leader has been his […]

Johann Hari of The Independent is praying for the global warming deniers to be proven right, but asks why others are prepared to take a 50:50 gamble on the habitability of the planet.

On November 19, a large number of e-mails that had been stolen from a hacked server at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia were leaked anonymously […]

The city that never sleeps is also the city that forever changes, making its future notoriously impossible to predict. Recently a number of our experts tried anyway, gazing into their […]

Last night officials began “chemotherapy treatment for the Great Lakes” when it began poisoning sections to do away with the invasive Asian carp.

Archaeologists in Cyprus have discovered a 10,500-years-old water well that contains the skeleton of a young woman.

More than 2,700 unmarked graves containing 3,000 bodies have been found in the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley, according to a human rights group.

A whistleblower who exposed the torture of protestors in Iranian jails has died after being poisoned by a delivery salad laced with blood pressure medication, fuelling fears that he was murdered.

“Very refreshing! DOW Chemical Pesticide Water! Free samples! Very refreshing!” Volunteers with non-profit Students for Bhopal gathered yesterday at the entrance to New York’s Union Square Whole Foods Market to […]