Al Jazeera

Israel is to begin fitting some of its passenger aircraft with flares to counter potential missile attacks, defence officials said. The missile protection system was first proposed in 2002, but was delayed by disagreements over funding between government ministries, reports ... [visit website]

The sprawling prison complex at Guantánamo Bay looks from a distance like many of the hastily built resorts round the Caribbean, the camps occupying a narrow strip of sand by the palm-lined sea-shore, with fencing to keep the locals out. ... [visit website]

Wanted for unique opportunity: brilliant, physically fit people. Must be cool under pressure, willing to work away from home and have a good head for heights. Free uniform included. The wording might be a little different, but when the advert ... [visit website]

Senator Barack Obama won a coveted endorsement from fellow Democrat Bill Richardson on Friday as the State Department apologized for snooping into his passport files and those of his two main White House rivals. The decision by the Hispanic governor ... [visit website]

Mehdi Army fighters attacked police patrols in southern Baghdad, police said on Friday, further fraying a seven-month-old ceasefire called by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to rein in his militia. The clashes in Baghdad's Shurta district, which started late on Thursday ... [visit website]

He was skewered in New York, roasted in Ireland, and now a top French food critic has warned against his "unexciting" cooking driven by the money-making ambitions of a global brand. But Gordon Ramsay's quest for world domination continues next ... [visit website]

China said 19 people were killed in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the north-west region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control. Eighteen were burnt or hacked ... [visit website]

Visionary science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke was buried on Saturday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, where the nation paused for an international "titan" it had adopted as its own. British-born Clarke, best known for his work on ... [visit website]

Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party's (KMT) presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou, has won more than half the vote in Saturday's election, the party said, auguring improved ties with diplomatic rival China. Ma had won more than seven million votes, the party said, ... [visit website]

The people of Mizoram, a tiny, remote state of north-east India, have known for the past 48 years that they would face famine in 2008. Confirmation came last November when the local species of bamboo that dominates the state's landscape ... [visit website]

Spacewalking astronauts stashed an inspection boom to the outside of the International Space Station on Saturday to assure the next shuttle crew can scrutinise their ship for damage. Latching the boom to the outside of the station was the primary ... [visit website]

The people of Afghanistan came together in a moment of cultural unity on Friday. The vast majority of them watched -- some nervously in secret, others openly, gathered outside cafés -- as the grand finale of the television talent contest ... [visit website]

Some pundits are calling them the HillPublicans. They are hardcore Republicans who are going against their previous political beliefs and voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. The emergence of the HillPublicans now has many political observers poring over poll ... [visit website]

When the Dalai Lama sat down on Saturday with Richard Gere and Robert Thurman, father of actor Uma and a United States professor of Buddhism, it was supposed to be for a few hours contemplating sacred art and silent meditation. ... [visit website]

The Antarctic, one of the planet's last unspoilt ecosystems, is under threat from mankind's insatiable appetite for harvesting the seas. The population of krill, a tiny crustacean, is in danger from the growing demand for health supplements and food for ... [visit website]

The United Nations is to hold its first debate on road safety amid warnings that the problem is a "public health crisis" on the scale of Aids, malaria and tuberculosis. Next week's meeting will follow research by the World Health ... [visit website]

Flood-weary residents of Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio were on Saturday fighting to save their homes after heavy rain pushed rivers over their banks. Residents of Valley Park, a town on the Meramec River, were hoping that the community's new earthen ... [visit website]

Efficient cross-border infrastructure is needed to facilitate trade and development in Africa, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Friday. She also said the private sector had a key role to play in the development of Africa by advancing the ... [visit website]

Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else, researchers reported this week. Spending as little as a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and ... [visit website]

By crushing a widely used semiconductor into nanoparticles, researchers said this week they have created a compound that could lead to cleaner, more efficient refrigerators, solar power plants and other devices. The crushed material makes it possible to conduct electricity ... [visit website]