(RFE/RL) — The Russian parliament has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children. Only seven lawmakers in the 448-member State Duma voted against the bill. Ilya Ponomaryov, a State Duma deputy of the opposition A Just Russia party, was one of them. “As I’ve said many times: I think [...]
Russian Duma Approves U.S. Adoption Ban
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Sri Lanka: Conflict Of Interest When MPs Are Practicing Lawyers Whilst Holding Portfolios – OpEd
By Shenali Waduge All the calls for fairness, justice, integrity are all well and fine but how many in the legal fraternity have publicly questioned the justification of a Member of Parliament, a member of a political party and a practicing lawyer to contest and become the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka? [...]
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International Force In Mali: Morocco Ready To Play Key Role – OpEd
Morocco welcomed the historic decision of the UN Security Council that has unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the deployment of an international force in Mali to restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. “This is a landmark not only for Mali and the region but also for the whole of Africa,” said Morocco’s [...]
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Peacetime Priorities: A New Era For Sri Lanka’s Army – Interview
By Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe Emerging victorious after defeating the LTTE more than three years ago, the Sri Lanka Army has since looked towards redefining its post-conflict role. As Sri Lanka’s first post-conflict commander, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya is presiding over the army’s peacetime reorganization, and in an exclusive interview spoke about the impact of peacetime duties [...]
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India Vows Action Following Brutal Gang Rape
Indian officials are vowing to take measures to better protect women following the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in the capital. Police have so far arrested five people in connection with Sunday’s attack and said Friday that they are searching for a sixth assailant. The suspects are accused of rape [...]
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Protests Planned In Egypt’s Second City Ahead Of Second Polling Day
A number of Islamist groups are calling for a rally “to defend scholars and mosques” in front of the Qaed Ibrahim mosque in Alexandria on Friday. The protest comes after iconic Alexandria sheikh Ahmed El-Mahalawy was trapped inside the mosque for 14 hours on Friday, 14 December by worshippers angry at his sermon, which called [...]
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President Obama Nominates Senator John Kerry As Secretary Of State
President Barack Obama nominated Friday Senator John Kerry as the next Secretary of State. Kerry’s nomination was widely expected after U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice withdrew her name for consideration last week to replace Hillary Clinton as U.S. Secretary of State. Republicans had been critical of Rice’s nomination following initial statements she made after the attack [...]
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Official: 5 Injured By Israeli Fire In Gaza
Israeli forces shot and injured five Palestinians on Friday in the northern Gaza Strip, a health ministry spokesman said. Ashraf al-Qidra said five Palestinians were hospitalized with moderate wounds after being shot near the border with Israel. Medics told Ma’an a number of injured Palestinians were brought to the Kamal Udwan and al-Awdah hospitals. An [...]
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Obama Directs Lawmakers To Work Out Stopgap Fiscal Deal
By Dan Robinson President Barack Obama has told U.S. congressional leaders to work out a stopgap deal that would prevent the U.S. economy from falling off the fiscal cliff of expiring tax cuts and mandatory government spending cuts. Obama’s appearance before reporters late Friday came amid sharply increased pessimism that a deal can be achieved, [...]
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Are Regional Differences Over Afghanistan Irreconcilable? – Analysis
By D Suba Chandran An earlier commentary on this issue asked the following: can there be a region-led and region-owned solution for stability in Afghanistan? Can the stakeholders be brought together? For any regional initiative to achieve success in stabilizing and securing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India and countries of Central Asia remain crucial stakeholders. In [...]
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Turkey: End Overly Broad Website Blocking, Says HRW
The Turkish government should promptly stop unlawfully blocking websites. On December 18, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, in the case of Ahmet Yıldırım v. Turkey, that blocking Google Sites in Turkey violated the right to freedom of expression. A Turkish court had ordered the complete blocking of Google Sites because of one [...]
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Indonesia’s Muslim Schools Draw Christians – OpEd
By Izza Rohman Where can one find schools run by a Muslim organisation, the majority of whose students are non-Muslims? Christian-Muslim relations in Indonesia are too often associated with conflict, disharmony and hostility, thus, it might be surprising for many to learn that such schools exist in different parts of Indonesia. In some Christian Indonesian [...]
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Who Goes To Prison Due To Gun Control?- OpEd
Somehow, left-liberals have associated the cause of gun rights with white racism, when if anything it is gun control that has a racist legacy. In the United States, early gun laws targeted recently freed blacks, and open carry first became banned in California under Governor Ronald Reagan to disarm groups like the Black Panthers. Today, [...]
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President Obama And First Lady Extend Holiday Greeting And Thank Troops For Their Service – Transcript
On this week’s address, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and thanked our brave troops and their families for their service. The President and First Lady asked the American people to visit JoiningForces.gov to find ways to honor and support our veterans and military families, and [...]
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Egypt: Early Results Suggest Constitution Approved In Referendum
Preliminary results show a majority of the thirty per cent of Egyptians who voted did so in favor of the country’s Islamist-authored constitution. Meanwhile Vice President Mahmoud Mekki has resigned, as the new constitution does away with his post. Officials are still counting the ballots cast during the referendum’s final round. Preliminary results released by [...]
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Rigorous EU Sanctions Against Iran Come Into Force
Rigorous new sanctions against Iran’s banking, shipping and industrial sectors took effect on Saturday, as part of the European Union’s effort to force Tehran to scale back its nuclear program. The sanctions, agreed in October, entered EU law with their publication in the European Union’s Official Journal on Saturday. The toughest EU measures yet, they [...]
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Egypt’s Vice President, Central Bank Chief Resign
Egypt’s Vice President Mahmoud Mekky has announced his resignation, after playing a key role in national unity talks called for by President Mohamed Morsi. In a statement Saturday, Mekky said he is stepping down because political work does not suit his professional background as a judge. Mekky said he first submitted his resignation letter on [...]
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Eurasian Union Presses Forward Despite Western Concern – Analysis
Western intellectuals tend to think in terms of economics, not culture – perhaps because the former is universal, and most Western intellectuals tend to be post-cultural in relation to their own nations. Economics and culture can be related, of course, but for much of the world, it is the latter – whether religious, national, linguistic, [...]
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Modern Warfare And Its Evolving Weapons: Assumptions And Inherent Contradictions – Analysis
The Way Things Were In the 20th century the world’s defense communities often produced spectacularly inaccurate forecasting and intelligence reports. Outdated ideas were clung to as dogma and new developments not embraced with disturbing regularity. One hundred years ago Great Britain stood tall as the world’s superpower and exuded hubris, unaware that much of the [...]
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Canada And Foreign Aid: A Distorted Image – Analysis
Every five years or so, countries that give foreign aid critique each other’s performance. It is a gentle kind of review, done under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report released in June 2012 underlined what it called “a lack of transparency around the means and ends of [Canada’s] [...]
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