by Muhammad Hussein

Barely eight decades ago, while it was fighting the Nazis' fascism, the British government under Winston Churchill was simultaneously orchestrating and engineering one of the worst famines in human history. As a result of Britain's imperial policies, and with the excuse of wartime in 1943, around 3 million natives in the Bengal region of eastern India died from starvation and social unrest.

By Robert Thomson, Monash University

Melbourne, Dec 6 (360info) The Summit for Democracy' is heralded by organisers as the start of democratic renewal. But without a clear agenda, it risks being a forum for grandstanding.

by Mohammed Salameh

Israeli media is currently promoting an alternative plan for the country's leaders in the event the Vienna negotiations fail, and it is trying hard to drag Washington and European states into it. It believes that now is the right time to move Tehran away from its political positions and push it to accept concessions on its missile programme and its regional role. The question here is, what is this alternative plan?

by Asa Winstanley

This week it emerged that Silicon Valley giant Apple is suing Israeli spyware maker NSO Group.

The creators of the iPad, the iMac, the iPhone and so many other iconic computer products announced that they had filed the suit so as to hold NSO "accountable for the surveillance and targeting of Apple users."

I have covered the issue of NSO and its spyware Pegasus before in this column.

By Jill Lawless

The bars are shut in Vienna, and the Christmas market is empty in Munich, as several European nations tighten up or even lock down to combat a spike in coronavirus infections.

Meanwhile in London, couples sip mulled wine at a seasonal market near the River Thames, full-capacity audiences fill the seats at the nearby National Theatre, and friends huddle over pints in pubs throughout the city.

Not for the first time in the pandemic, Britain is out of step with many of its neighbours. But this time, it's happy to be different.

by Motasem A Dalloul

British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on Friday that the government is planning to designate the whole Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, as a "terrorist" organisation and outlaw support for the group. According to Al Jazeera, any form of support for it in the country will be punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

by Yvonne Ridley

Student protests on campus are nothing new and trying to deny controversial speakers a platform is not a recent invention. Protestors have, over the years, argued that some speakers pose a threat simply by being allowed to spout their unpalatable opinions.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

The revelation a few years ago that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been conducting mass surveillance on millions of Americans reignited the conversation on governments' misconduct and their violation of human rights and privacy laws.

Until recently, however, Israel has been spared due criticism, not only for its unlawful spying methods on the Palestinians, but also for being the originator of many of the technologies which are now being criticised heavily by human rights groups worldwide.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

Of all the speeches and political grandstanding at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), the words of Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, were the most profound and least hypocritical.

by Dr Adnan Abu Amer

It is becoming clear that the cyberwar between Israel and Iran is heating up, although neither side has accepted responsibility for recent attacks. Things became even clearer when hundreds of thousands of Iranians found themselves unable to fill the fuel tanks in their vehicles due to a computer glitch in a major supply network. It was discovered later that it was the victim of a cyberattack.

by Sayid Marcos Tenório

The date of 2 November marks an event directly linked to the root of the conflict in Palestine and the suffering, deterritorialisation and apartheid experienced by its people. On this date in 1917, British Foreign Secretary James Balfour wrote a letter, known as the Balfour Declaration, to the leader of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, and triggered the events that led to the Nakba with the foundation of the "State of Israel" in 1948.

by Ahmed Mowaffaq Zidan

Following the departure of American occupation forces from Afghanistan it seems that the international community, especially the US, is moving from trying to punish the Taliban to punishing the Afghan people. It was the Taliban fighters, of course, who basically defeated US troops in the longest war in American history.