The United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxic waste, Marc Pallemaerts, today in Geneva urged states to increase efforts to eliminate the use of lead especially in paint and toys. Even though lead poisoning is entirely preventable, lead exposure causes 143,000 deaths and 600,000 new cases of childre

Reports of severe hardship in Middle East, Marxist and 'post-Communist' states.

Just weeks after it issued a damning report which connected the Syrian government to chemical weapons attacks on rebel-held areas outside Damascus, Human Rights Watch issued a new report today on human rights abuses and possible war crimes, this time implicating groups which are part of the arm

Global wealth has reached a new all-time high of $241 trillion, up 4.9 percent since last year and 68 percent since 2003, with the United States accounting for 72 percent of the latest increase. That’s the account of earthly wealth taken in the 2013 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report. Average

"The church is a mother, and she must travel this path of mercy," the pope said.

Civilian Catholic chaplains, unable to perform religious duties at U.S. military bases during the first weekend of the federal government shutdown, were getting back on the job as the shutdown continued into its second week."We're now being told priests can return to work," said John S