U.N. approves new debate on arms treaty opposed by U.S. gun lobby

The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Monday to restart negotiations on a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global trade in conventional arms, a pact the powerful U.S. National Rifle Association has been lobbying hard against.U.N. delegates and gun control activists have complained that talks collapsed in July largely because U.S. President Barack Obama feared attacks...

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Japan's Abe to pick MP Kishida as foreign minister: Kyodo

 Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will appoint lower house lawmaker Fumio Kishida to the key post of foreign minister, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday, as the government seeks to balance a bolder diplomatic stance with the need to repair frayed ties with China and South Korea.The hawkish Abe must balance the need to stabilize relations with key trade partner Beijing and U.S....

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Lawmakers play waiting game with 'fiscal cliff' deadline in sight

 With only a week left before a deadline for the United States to go over a "fiscal cliff," lawmakers played a waiting game on Monday in the hope that someone will produce a plan to avoid harsh budget cuts and higher taxes for most Americans from New Year's Day.Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the...

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U.N. General Assembly voices concern for Myanmar's Muslims

 The U.N. General Assembly expressed serious concern on Monday over violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar and called upon its government to address reports of human rights abuses by some authorities.The 193-nation General Assembly approved by consensus a non-binding resolution, which Myanmar said last month contained a "litany of sweeping allegations, accuracies of which...

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Venezuela's Chavez improving after surgery: officials

 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is improving after a cancer operation in Cuba and has started exercising, officials said on Monday, amid doubts over whether the former soldier is in good enough health to continue governing.Vice President Nicolas Maduro said he had spoken by phone with Chavez, who was walking and doing exercises as part of his treatment."We've gotten the best present we could...

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The longest war: The shooting at a Connecticut school shows, once again, that there’s no end in sight to our lethal way of life

Sometime between the shootings in Columbine in 1999 and at a Tucson supermarket with Gabby Giffords in early 2011, Americans stopped uttering the pieties about “Never again.” Now we are heartsick, but somehow never completely surprised, when we hear the latest gruesome news bulletins from a movie theater in Aurora or a quiet elementary school in Newtown.We are a nation of 311 million people and roughly...

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The daily gossip: Kristen Stewart apologizes to everyone, and more

5 pieces of celebrity gossip — from Kate Middleton's stereotypically English pregnancy cravings to Kim Kardashian's slightly altered hairdo1. Kristen Stewart apologizes to everyone for whatever they're mad at her aboutIf Kristen Stewart actually wronged you over the past year — we're talking to you, Robert Pattinson — you already got your apology back in June. But if you're one of the billions of...

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WHEN SCIENCE DOESN'T COUNT

When the press reported that Adam Lanza had Asperger's syndrome (part of the autism spectrum disorders) and other unspecified personality problems, the autism community swung into action in a way that is totally understandable. The Associated Press' headline: "Experts: No Link Between Asperger's, Violence."The vast majority of autistic people are not violent. Autistics like Temple Grandin, the professor...

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WE KNOW HOW TO STOP SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

In the wake of a monstrous crime like a madman's mass murder of defenseless women and children at the Newtown, Conn., elementary school, the nation's attention is riveted on what could have been done to prevent such a massacre.Luckily, some years ago, two famed economists, William Landes at the University of Chicago and John Lott at Yale, conducted a massive study of multiple victim public shootings...

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Zero dark lashes

Zero Dark Thirty is a movie that makes you feel insignificant, not even a bit player in the meaningful world. This is especially true for those of us who have lived and breathed the subjects of intelligence, special operations, the Bin Laden raid and counter-terrorism after 9/11.  Oh, to be the ultimate fly on the wall. What's so great, to me, about the entirety of the chase for Osama Bin Laden...

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Diagnosing the Home Alone burglars' injuries: A professional weighs in

Ever wondered what a blow torch to the head would actually do? Read onSince its debut in 1990, Home Alone has become as much a part of the Christmas cinematic ritual as It's a Wonderful Life. But unlike that uplifting tale about the good of mankind, Home Alone tells a rather unsettling Christmas story of a precocious 8-year-old who, accidentally abandoned by his family, is forced to defend his home...

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