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UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5 (IPS) – A 575-page blistering report by Justice Richard Goldstone detailing war crimes in Gaza last December is refusing to die despite an aggressive Israeli smear campaign to kill it. The report, which was favourably voted by the 47-member Human Rights Council in Geneva last month, received overwhelming support Thursday in the 192-member General Assembly. The …

How to foster lasting peace in this country after three turbulent decades is the topmost discussion point today wherever Sri Lankans meet. There is a strong feeling the silver lining of hope that glimmered on the 18th May 2009, when the source of terrorism received the last bullet, is fading away under the increasing turbulence caused by politicians in anticipation …

The Law and Society Trust (LST) together with the Community Trust Fund (CTF), the People’s Secretariat (PS) and the Rural Development Foundation (RDF) has set up a Citizens’ Commission to investigate the expulsion of Muslims from the Northern Province by the LTTE in October 1990. The LTTE expulsion of Muslims from five Northern districts in October 1990 has not been …

The 20th anniversary of the demolition of the 96 mile long  Berlin Wall which marked the collapse of the Soviet Union, Germany’s unification and the end of Cold War was observed throughout the Europe especially in Germany with great festivity. There were fire works and music festivals to mark the occasion. Celebrations attended by thousands of people in pouring rain …

Middle-east-online.com As civilised people across the world breathed a sigh of relief to see the back of former US president George W. Bush, top American intellectual Noam Chomsky warned against assuming or expecting significant changes in the basis of Washington’s foreign policy under President Barack Obama. During two lectures organised by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in …

The world needs to get a sophisticated understanding of the problem of Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions. It has figured so steadfastly in the media for weeks, months, and years, that it has become understandable that the Israeli President Shimon Peres should say “Iran today is really a world problem, maybe the number one problem of the world.” (London Telegraph interview …