The world has deteriorated to the point that the images from Blade Runner amaze us less and frighten us more because we know how close we are to living on a planet similar to the one shown in the film, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a dozen languages.

China and the United States concluded two days of talks Tuesday with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the Obama administration is touting as evidence of both countries' commitment to battling climate change and proof of a strengthening bilateral relationship.

When the New Delhi High Court amended Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial-era law which was used to criminalise consensual homosexual relationships, on Jul. 2, it was a 'life-changing moment for me,' says Lesley Esteves, a journalist and queer activist based in New Delhi.

The most complex genetically engineered corn (maize) yet has been approved for use next year in Canada and the United States without its potential health and environmental risks being investigated, anti-biotech activists charged Wednesday.

In recent days, China’s mainland intellectuals have publicly displayed a wave of patriotic support for the Xinjiang cause. They have expressed anger against 'hostile foreign forces', whom they blame for inciting the recent violence in the ethnic Muslim area.

The strategy of the major U.S. and British military offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province aimed at wresting it from the Taliban is based on bringing back Afghan army and police to maintain permanent control of the population, so the foreign forces can move on to another insurgent stronghold.

The director of the Arab satellite television network al-Jazeera, Wadah Khanfar, is in Washington this week for the first time, part of a brief tour of the U.S. that will also take him to New York.

'Colombia’s indigenous people find themselves in a serious, critical and profoundly worrying human rights situation,' says the preliminary report by United Nations special rapporteur James Anaya, who just completed a visit to this country.

At a time in which countries in the Americas are facing not only the effects of the worldwide economic crisis but also significant health challenges, it is crucial to increase or to at least maintain public health spending while using this opportunity to undertake a strong primary health care-based reform of their health systems, writes Mirta Roses-Periago is Director of the Pan American Health Organisation.