By Michele Penna A geopolitical weekend is awaiting Xi Jinping, the new President of China. Starting today until March 24, Mr. Xi will be hosted by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, while the world will debate the meaning of the first overseas trip the Chinese President makes during his mandate. As the order in [...]
Xi Jinping’s Moscow Visit Hints At China-Russia Thaw – Analysis
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Understanding North Korea – Analysis
By Kongdan Oh When the third son of dying leader Kim Jong-il was designated as the successor of his ailing father in December 2011, the media asked me to comment on the young (28 or 29) Kim’s inclination to reform North Korea’s politics and economy. Journalists pointed out that Kim Jong-un had received several years [...]
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Obama: Helping Protect Our Kids By Reducing Gun Violence – Transcript
By President Barack Obama It has now been three months since the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut. Three months since we lost 20 innocent children and six dedicated adults who had so much left to give. Three months since we, as Americans, began asking ourselves if we’re really doing enough to protect our communities and [...]
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Obama Leaves Jordan At End Of Middle East Tour
U.S. President Barack Obama left Jordan on Saturday, ending a four-day Middle East tour that included his first presidential trip to Israel and efforts to revive the Middle East peace process. Obama flew back to the United States Saturday after leaving an airport in Amman. Earlier Saturday, President Obama visited Petra, Jordan’s fabled ancient city [...]
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Palestinian Authority To Receive $500 Million In Aid As US Unblocks Frozen Funds
The US has unblocked almost $500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority as it faces its worst economic crisis in years. The move comes months after Congress froze Palestinian aid in response to its bid for non-member observer status at the UN. “To date, we have moved $295.7 million in fiscal year 2012 money…and [...]
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Russia’s Exiled Tycoon Boris Berezovsky ‘Commits Suicide’
The fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has been found dead in the bathroom of his London house. The report first emerged from his immediate entourage and was later confirmed by a Moscow legal firm. It quoted a caller from London as saying that Berezovsky had committed suicide. Once a powerful influence in the Kremlin, he [...]
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CIA Feeding Information To Syrian Rebels To Aid Fight – Reports
Select opposition fighters in Syria are being fed information from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to enhance their fight against government troops, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The newspaper said, citing unnamed current and former U.S. officials, that the new CIA effort reflected a change in the administration’s approach that aims to strengthen secular [...]
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Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline: Implications For India – Analysis
The Pakistani President and his Iranian counterpart Dr Ahmadinejad on 11 March performed the groundbreaking of the long-awaited $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project at Gabd on the Pakistan-Iran border and in the process laid the foundation of bilateral energy cooperation opposed by the US. They also unveiled a plaque of the project and [...]
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The Pain Of The Ogaden Somali People: Hiding From The Truth – OpEd
“Every night, they took all of us girls to [interrogations]. They would separate us and beat us. The second time they took me, they raped me… All three of the men raped me, consecutively”. Along with 15 other female students, Human Rights Watch (HRW)i report in Collective Punishment, this innocent 17 year-old Ogaden Somali girl, [...]
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U.S. Fears For Safety Of Christian Convert In Iran
The U.S. Secretary of State has expressed concern for the well being of Saeed Abedini, the Iranian Christian convert, and called for his release from prison. Reuters reports that John Kerry said on Friday March 22 that he is concerned that Abedini, a dual citizen of Iran and the U.S., has not been allowed access [...]
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Pakistan: Hold Musharraf Accountable For Abuses, Says HRW
The Pakistani government should hold the country’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf accountable for human rights abuses when he returns to Pakistan, Human Rights Watch said today. Musharraf announced that he intends to return on March 24, 2013, after over four years in exile to be a candidate in parliamentary elections scheduled for May. Legal [...]
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Fireball Seen Over US East Coast Likely Meteor – NASA
The U.S. space agency said Saturday that numerous reports of flashes of light in the sky along the east coast of the United States appeared to be “a single meteor event,” according to news reports. Bill Cooke, representative of NASA’s Meteoroid Environmental Office, told Associated Press that the flash “looks to be a fireball that [...]
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Burma: Buddhist-Muslim Clashes In Meikhtila – Analysis
Between 20 and 26 persons are reported to have been killed in three days of violent clashes between Buddhists and Burman Muslims (not Rohingyas) in the central Myanmar cantonment town of Meikhtila since March 20, 2013. Official figures have, however, given the death toll as five only till the evening of March 22. The town [...]
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The Case Of Sanjay Dutt – OpEd
I have been in receipt of many tweets and E-Mails criticizing me for advocating that the case of Sanjay Dutt, who has been convicted under the Arms Act for having been found in illegal possession of two fire-arms and sentenced to five years of imprisonment, should be treated differently and any petition from him for [...]
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Pope Francis And Benedict XVI Meet As ‘Brothers’
By Alan Holdren Pope Francis met with Benedict XVI on Saturday for the first time since his selection, an historic visit that took place in a fraternal atmosphere. “We are brothers,” Pope Francis told his predecessor before praying side-by-side with him at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. The March 23 encounter marked the [...]
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Obama Says Iran’s Future Brighter With No Nuclear Program
U.S. President Barack Obama says Iran could face a completely different future if it stopped its nuclear program. The U.S. president made the comment on the last lap of his Mideast trip, speaking at a joint press conference with the Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah II, and it came after the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei [...]
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Lebanon’s Government Resigns In Bid To Ease Divisions And Calm Tensions
Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the resignation of his government Friday in a dramatic move that came amid political divisions and threats to Lebanon’s security and stability from escalating tension on the border with Syria and fighting in the northern city of Tripoli. Mikati’s decision came shortly after Hezbollah and its March 8 allies foiled [...]
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Tunisian Nude Photo Draws Islamist Ire
By Yasmin Najjar An Islamist activist on Thursday (March 21st) hacked the Facebook page of feminist group Femen’s Tunisian branch and posted religious messages after images of two members of the group posing topless were published on the internet, AFP reported. “Thanks to God we have hacked this immoral page and the best is yet [...]
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Judicial Reforms Make Courts More Efficient In Macedonia
By Aleksandar Pavlevski Once full reform is implemented in Macedonia’s judiciary sector, the result will be a transparent and efficient justice system, experts said. According to officials, citizens will be able to quickly resolve their disputes, judges will be held responsible for their work, and the system will be able to handle an increase in [...]
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After Chavez’s Death: Is Russian Presence In Venezuela At Risk? – Analysis
By Philippe Conde The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on March 5, the same day that Soviet premier Joseph Stalin expired sixty years prior, raises questions about the continuation of the warm ties between Moscow and Caracas. Since 2005, the two countries signed multibillion-dollar contracts mostly in the armament and energy fields. Russia also [...]
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