Lebanon’s parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday, following extensive behind-the-scenes negotiations. This marks a beginning, not an end, for a nation left drained by Hezbollah’s war with Israel amid a region in turmoil.
Tag: parliament
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked and enraged the country on Tuesday by declaring martial law and suspending civil liberties. The power grab quickly unraveled following democratic outcry, with lawmakers and citizens calling for the discredited leader to resign.
? Ahoj!* Welcome to Thursday, where Boris Johnson faces rising calls to resign, an ex Syrian colonel is convicted in a landmark torture trial, and the U.S. finds loopholes in the Gruyère cheese label. We also mark 10 years since the Costa Concordia disaster off the coast of Tuscany. [*Czech] SIGN UP This is […]
Scenes of violence against Syrian refugees are no longer unusual in Turkey, a country marked by rising nationalism amid a deepening economic crisis.
More than seven months after Poland’s longstanding conservative government lost national elections, its moderate successors are struggling to reconcile their coalition that includes traditional Catholics intent on blocking changes to the strictest abortion bans in Europe.
Peru’s President Dina Boluarte is traveling to China to fine tune free trade with this vital, if overbearing, business partner. It will also help her flee the deep and wide popularity among Peruvians.
As South Africa goes to the polls, Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress party is facing disillusionment among its voters, and risks losing its absolute majority in parliament. Corruption, crime and persistent social inequality are at the root of this disenchantment — and the memory of the liberation struggle is fading.
Europe’s fate is also being played out in countries outside the EU, where East and West are battling for influence. In Georgia on Tuesday, the government bowed to pressure from Moscow, and passed a law on “foreign influence” modeled on a Russia law.
Iran’s plans to boost security and intelligence collaborations with Russia are fueling fears among Iranians that Russia will soon act as power broker, decision-maker and secret policeman inside their country.
The country finds itself without a clear majority following yesterday’s parliamentary elections. Amid such inconclusive results, what are the country’s best options to avoid prolonged political limbo?
Two synods by the Catholic Church, to be held in Rome in late 2023 and 2024, are to debate possible and even radical changes to the Church’s practices and rules in line with the Argentine pope’s vision of a social and inclusive Church.
As Brazil’s President Lula da Silva wields limited power over parliament and his multi-party cabinet, he may be unable to fulfil many of this campaign promises, including protecting the environment.
What do we make of the echos from the U.S. Capitol assault on Jan. 6? Will Lula be able to heal Brazil’s democratic institutions?
The European Union accelerated Ukraine’s bid to join the Union. But there are growing signs, it won’t stop there.
-Analysis- ISTANBUL — Why did those who gave 60% of the vote to opposition parties in the June 7 parliamentary elections turn to the ruling AKP on Sunday? The message to the various forces of the opposition was clear: “You couldn’t find a ruling coalition with 60% of the vote. You made a mess of […]
Zaman, Nov. 2, 2015 “Alone in power,” writes Turkish daily Zaman on its Monday front page, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept back to victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections. In a defeat for political moderates, secularists and Kurds, the AKP will return to governing the country alone after winning […]
ANKARA —Last Sunday’s general elections in Turkey represented nothing less than a cultural and political revolution: Not only did President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lose his parliamentary majority, but Kurdish politicians also succeeded for the first time in winning enough votes to enter parliament. The Turkish electorate’s disenchantment with its egomaniacal leader deals a blow to […]
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Familiar Parade
During the summer months, the Ceremonial Guard performs the “Changing of the Guard” ceremony on the lawns of Ottawa’s Parliament Hill. The uniforms are very similar to those of the British Queen’s Guards, and are just one feature of the Canadian capital that surprised me in how much it looked and felt like capitals back […]
Hampered by plummeting oil prices and fading public support, President Nicolas Maduro and his crafty sidekick, Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello, are trying to provoke an opposition outburst. Last week’s arrest of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma was a c
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Something Is Rotten In Europe
The European establishment has a decade-long listening problem, and it won’t be solved by shaming the anti-EU populist parties that scored big in this week’s election.
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Custodians Of Style
At the height of Greece’s economic crisis, Syntagma Square was the site of mass protests, but it is also where the presidential Evzones perform their peculiar changing of the guard. Watching their exaggerated movement as they marched around in kilt-like fustanella and red shoes with black pompoms was indeed a treat.
-Opinion- ISTANBUL — On one hand, there is an investigation of an imaginary terrorist organization and the claim of a wiretapping list that includes some 7,000 people. On the other, there is the recording of a telephone conversation that has been spreading on YouTube, allegedly between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son. The […]
Despite the high profile women presidents of Brazil and Argentina, the fairer sex is notably underrepresented in cabinet positions across Latin American governments.
President Hollande has the power to strike militarily without parliamentary consent. But democratic and political necessities require it.
AAP (Australia) Worldcrunch TAIPEI – Taiwanese MPs exchanged punches and threw water at each other on Friday morning ahead of an expected vote to authorise a national referendum on whether to build a fourth nuclear power plant on the densely populated island of 23 million people. While Taiwan“s frequent earthquakes have led many residents to […]
KUALA LUMPUR – The father, Anwar Ibrahim failed: the opposition coalition he’s been leading lost this month’s national elections. By all accounts, he will never be Prime Minister. The daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, was instead reelected comfortably to her seat as Member of Parliament in the May 5 legislative ballot. Time is on her side, […]
Italy’s seven-time prime minister, known as one of the most powerful and intriguing post-War politicians, died Monday at 94.
From South Korea to Ukraine to the Alabama state house, politicians are ready to fight for their ideas. Literally. The latest example comes from Venezuela, where legislators got into a mega-brawl Tuesday over the contested results of the recent presidential election. Buckle up and roam around our map of Parliament fights to see lawmakers getting […]
LE PARISIEN, LE MONDE, LIBERATION, FIGARO, EUROPE 1 (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – The French National Assembly legalized gay marriage on Tuesday, after months of tumultuous debate both in Parliament and on the streets. The law was passed with 331 votes in favor, and 225 opposed. “It is a historic vote,” wrote Le Parisien newspaper, as […]
TVNZ, NZ HERALD, FAIRFAX NZ NEWS, 3 NEWS (New Zealand) Worldcrunch WELLINGTON – New Zealand has become the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. Parliament voted 77-44 late Wednesday to amend the 1955 Marriage Act to describe marriage as a union of two people regardless of their sex, sexuality or how […]
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti was called on to lead a caretaker government. His expertise was welcome, but then the economics professor was bitten by the bug of political ambition…
AAP, ABC, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia), TVNZ (New Zealand), IRISH TIMES (Ireland) Worldcrunch CANBERRA – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard apologized Thursday to two-decades worth of mostly young, unwed mothers who were forced to give up their babies for adoption. From the 1950s to the 1970s, an estimated 150,000 unwed Australian mothers had their babies […]
LE MONDE (France), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – According to Le Monde, the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on March 3, was more like a star-studded film premiere than a political event. The CPPCC is a 2,200-member body that meets annually to debate policy and advise government. It includes politicians, but […]
Beppe Grillo’s protest movement was the winner in Italy’s election that signals a failure of an entire political class.
The most alive of the dead languages is also getting a boost in some surprising corners outside the Vatican walls.
THE AUSTRALIAN, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, ABC NEWS (Australia) Worldcrunch CANBERRA – Australia’s lower house of Parliament unanimously passed a historic bill on Wednesday recognizing Aboriginals as the first inhabitants of Australia. Parliament voted in favor of an act of recognition which commits Australia to changing its Constitution to acknowledge indigenous Australians, reports the Australian. Prime […]
SKY NEWS (Australia), THE GUARDIAN (UK), LIBERATION (France), AP Worldcrunch PARIS – Gay marriage rights are gaining momentum around the world. In the last four days, three countries have each taken a major step toward expanding marriage rights to same-sex couples. FRANCEThough the legislative process is just beginning, the French National Assembly approved a centerpiece […]
FOLHA DE SAO PAULO (Brazil) Worldcrunch BRASILIA – Francisco Everardo Oliviera Silva – better known as Tiririca (Grumpy) – was elected to the Brazilian Parliament in 2010 with the highest number of votes. He had campaigned on the slogan “Vote Tiririca, it can’t get any worse.” Now he says he has lost hope for politics […]
OpEd: Same-sex civil unions have been defeated in Poland’s Parliament, thanks to a hard-right minority inside the ruling party. History tells us this will not stand.
ISTANBUL – Turkey has finally passed a hotly-debated law that will allow Kurdish criminal defendants to speak their mother tongue in court. The drama leading up to Thursday’s vote is a reminder of how complicated — and charged — the broader “Kurdish Question” continues to be in Turkey. The final round of debate on pitting […]