I just returned from a short vacation that took me to Beirut and Rome, two of the most magnificent cities in the world.

When Husni Mubarak was appointed Vice-President of Egypt in 1975, nobody expected him to last this long

Recent changes to the criminal law on honor killings and rape got me thinking about shame culture...and Jodi Gordon

Mark Twain once said: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Was he right?

An old Chinese curse says: "May you live in interesting times." The curse works in reverse. Perhaps we should be grateful this year ends on a mediocre note.

How would the world react to false witnesses after World War II, at Lockerbie, or after 9-11? Why have false witnesses in the Hariri Affair been protected—to say the least—by the international community?

I was recently debating the “glass half-full” argument with a wise old man, asking him to see the positive aspects of the world we live in. He picked up the glass of water, half-full, and said, “When I try to drink from it, what hits my face first is the emptiness in the upper empty half of the glass. I have to struggle to reach the part that has water in it—by the time I reach there, I might die of thirst!”

• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?
• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February

• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February
• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?

• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February
• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?

• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February
• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?