in which women come together globally to celebrate the political, social and economic inroads that women have made in the last century. It is an official holiday in China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The UN gave it official recognition in 1975.
At the turn of the 20th century women began to see the fruits of their battle to gain the right to vote; and following a conference for working women in 1910 in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, (leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) spearheaded …

On January 28th several world leaders gathered in London to plan their next steps in the failed campaign in Afghanistan.While the drums of war have started beating over Yemen (the subject of our feature article this issue), the latest Afghani surge is still to be implemented and the chaos of Iraq is hardly settled. Muslims take no solace in the failure of these appalling military adventures, particularly as a key objective of them is to dampen and destroy the path forward to the re-establishment of the Caliphate throughout the Muslim …

David Cameron is highlighting Britain’s “broken society” as an election issue.The Tory leader cited recent research that “among the richest countries, it’s the more unequal ones that do worse according to almost every quality of life indicator”.
Among 21 developed countries, the Guardian found Britain does worst on child wellbeing and badly on teenage births, imprisonment, drug abuse, trust, obesity, social mobility and mental illness. A government commissioned study – An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK – described a nation in which the richest 10% are more than 100 …

A French parliamentary commission has called for a ban of the wearing of the face veil (niqab and burqa) on the grounds that they threaten France’s republican values of secularism and equality. Not only to be banned in public places but veil wearers or others that displays outward signs of “radical religious practice” should be refused citizenship and access to public services. British opportunist parties such as the UK Independence party are making similar demands in the UK. Isn’t is perverse that in societies that pride themselves on unbridled freedoms …

Its estimated that the US killed at least 700 civilians in Pakistani Drone strikes in 2009.
While the number of “targets” hit is estimated at 5, both numbers are unverified. Barack Obama promised there would be a dramatic escalation of the aerial bombardment of Pakistan’s tribal areas and didn’t disappoint the neo-cons that endorse such butchery. On June 22, the US struck at a house in Waziristan that officials called a “suspected militant hideout” burying several locals inside. When others rushed to the scene to rescue them, they launched another missile, …