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Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate who won the 1990 general election in Burma and who has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years, has her appeal against her house arrest heard by the Supreme Court in Myanmar. “From a purely legal point of view we should win,” said a member of her legal team.

Around 5am on January 18th 500 police were mobilized with three cranes to suppress protests against work on the new naval base which will be the home base for Aegis destroyers of the U.S. and South Korea naval forces. Protesters have been calling for the base to be shelved, claiming that nearby coral reefs will be destroyed in the process.

Today the Doomsday clock was moved back by 1 minute to 11:54pm today in a press conference of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. In a move to align the environmental and anti-nuclear movements, speakers pointed out the need to tackle climate change as well as implement strategies for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Two days after some 15,000 people from around the world celebrated the conclusion of the first World March for Peace and Non Violence in the heart of the Andean mountain range, many of its organisers and participants came together to shape the future of the humanist organisation ‘World without War and without Violence.’

Chilean Tomas Hirsch, reference for new humanism in Latin America, spoke in the closing event of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence celebrated on January 2, 2010. Hirsch took the opportunity giving testimony of his experience marching in Latin America and spoke about the growing consciousness there with inspiring images of the future activities of the Humanist Movement.

North Korea has called for talks on a treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War with the US before a resumption of six party talks on its nuclear programme. An armistice ended three years of fighting, but a peace agreement was never concluded and the two sides are still technically at war. Pyongyang says it wants an end to US sanctions before denuclearisation talks resume.

The UN opened the International Year of Biodiversity in Berlin today. The organisers say that human activity is leading to the increasing loss of an ever greater number of plants and animals. Eight years ago, agreements were made at a UN conference in Johannesburg on reducing the loss of biodiversity. It is clear that this year’s targets will not be met.

A Rwandan inquiry has concluded that radical Hutus were responsible for the death of President Juvénal Habyarimana in an airplane crash in 1994. The assassination triggered a genocide that killed around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. After hearing over 500 witnesses, the commission that conducted the probe says the President was shot down by soldiers within his own army.

Almost 26 years after its founding, the International Humanist Party, which proclaims “active nonviolence” as its method of action, began a new phase with a global meeting. At the Park of Study and Reflection at Punta de Vacas members of Humanist Parties from all over the world converged. Exchanges were conducted and a short term plan was defined.

The Portuguese parliament has passed a law that legalises same-sex marriage, becoming the sixth country in Europe to do so.

The bill proposed by the Socialist government was backed by other left wing parties and rejected by the centre-right opposition. The law gives gay marriages the same rights as heterosexual marriages, including those on taxes, inheritance and housing.