Everyone: call on Uganda's president to veto the bill to punish gays even worse.

More about this law.

Christian extremists say that secularists are fighting a "war on Christmas", but the real War on Christmas is the one waged by business.

Speaking as a secularist, I am not fighting a war on Christmas. I have no conflict with what Christians do for Christmas, as long as they don't try to get the government to promote their religion above my nonreligion.

What I strongly resent is the commercial version of Christmas, which blares out at me in every store.

The Australian government has disregarded its previous commitment to send a coast guard vessel to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet.

Israeli soldiers shackled Palestinian children aged 6 to 9 who were playing with burning tires and asbestos.

Burning tires makes fumes, and I suspect breathing them is not good for children. Asbestos is quite toxic. However, that was no reason to shackle the children.

In Gaza, donkey carts are used to pick up rubbish, because there is no fuel for garbage trucks, or even for pumping water.