Earlier this month, the Wiesel Foundation for Humanity published, as an advertisement, an open letter to the President of the United States and the leaders of France, Russia, Britain and Germany, a letter carried by the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. The issue eliciting the need for such a public letter, essentially a letter written to the world, stood boldly as a heading: “How Long Can We Stand Idly By And Watch The Scandal In Iran Unfold?”

We have learned in the last few days that the Dubai assassins were Mossad agents who stole identities of six UK citizens and faked at least five other European passports. Dubai Police yesterday presented footage of some of the 11 ‘Europeans’ suspected of killing Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

By David Swanson

Dick Cheney's statutory crimes are notable for their severity, their number, and his public confessions to them.  Torture is the least of it.

By Nicola Nasser

US Ambassador Christopher Hill’s warning on February 18 that it could take months to form a new government in Baghdad after the Iraqi elections, scheduled for March 7, and that in turn could mean considerable political turmoil in Iraq, and the warnings of observers and experts as well as officials against the looming specter of a renewed sectarian war in the country, indicate that security, stability, let alone democracy, and a successful “victorious” withdrawal of American troops from Iraq have all yet a long way to go. A secure, stable and democratic Iraq will have first to wait for an end to the raging power struggle over Iraq between the United States and Iran inside and outside the occupied Arab country.

The chief of Russia's General Staff, Nikolai Makarov, has warned the US against striking Iran over the country's nuclear program. It appears that the World’s attention is again focused on if or when the United States (policeman of the World) is going to engage in military operations against the Islamist Republic. Hillary Clinton recently rattled sabers again when she demanded that Iran stop enriching uranium. Let’s take a closer look at that demand and why she had no justification to demand anything of the Iranian government.

The Dalai Lama has arrived in Washington in advance of a meeting at the White House with the US president that threatens to further strain already tense US-China ties.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has pledged an aid and debt relief package amounting to about $450m to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Three women have been caned under Islamic law for committing adultery, a Malaysian minister has said.

Viktor Bout, the alleged Russian arms dealer, could face fresh extradition proceedings after US prosecutors filed new charges against him, Thai officials have said.

The governor of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan has challenged the province's Taliban fighters to lay down their arms and support the government or face a major offensive similar to the one under way in Helmand.

At least 29 people are reported to have been killed and many others injured in an explosion in Pakistan's Khyber tribal region.

Nato has called on Russia to revoke a newly-signed deal to establish a military base in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.

A suicide car bomber in Iraq has struck a vehicle checkpoint in the city of Ramadi, killing at least 10 people, including police and civilians.

Israel is coming under increasing pressure over the assassination of a senior Hamas commander at a luxury Dubai hotel last month.

Thousands of Hamas supporters have attended a rally in Gaza to honour assassinated commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

The US president has defended his administration's multi-billion dollar stimulus package, saying that it has rescued Americans from another severe economic depression.