LIBERATION, AFP (France) PARIS – Damascus has declared as “personae non gratae” top diplomats of the US, UK, France and several other Western nations, French-language newspaper Libération reports. The move comes a week after governments around the world expelled their Syrian diplomats in the wake of the Houla massacre in late May. The ambassadors of […]
Category: Geopolitics
AP, CNTV (China) BEIJING – Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on his first visit to his country’s vast neighbor since resuming the Russian presidency earlier this month. He later sat down for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao that are expected to touch on the crisis in Syria as well as on Iran, […]
STERN (Germany) BERLIN – Luka Rocco Magnotta , the Canadian porn actor wanted for the murder and dismemberment of his lover, is to appear in court in Berlin the day after being arrested in the German capital following an international manhunt. “The suspect will be presented today Tuesday to the judge who will confirm his […]
BBC ARABIC (UK), AL-MASRY AL-YOUM (Egypt) CAIRO – Protests are continuing in Egypt following the verdict in the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, Mubarak’s two sons and six security officials. Though the former president and interior minister receieved 25-year sentences, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak and the six […]
LEADERSHIP/THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE (Nigeria) LAGOS – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has declared three days of mourning following Sunday’s plane crash. The Dana Airline plane crashed in a densely populated district of Lagos on Sunday afternoon, killing all 153 passengers. Only 60 bodies have been recovered so far. The number of victims on the ground is […]
Even as diplomatic pressure grows on the Assad regime, inhabitants of the Djebel Akrad mountains are doubtful that anything less than are a military intervention can make the difference.
Many countries have sent Syria’s ambassadors packing in recent days. France did the same – sort of. This week the government officially expelled Ambassador Lamia Chakkour. She plans to stay on in Paris regardless.
AL-AHRAM, AL-MASRY AL-YOUM (Egypt) CAIRO – Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi expressed confidence that he would be elected in the upcoming runoff and sought to assuage Christians’ fears about Islamist rule, Egypt’s Al-Ahram reported on Friday. Egyptians, particularly those who supported the Arab spring revolution, will not accept a Mubarak-style regime again, Mursi told […]
Analysis: Whether it is for a factory opening or a ceremony honoring her hero, “Evita,” Argentine leader Cristina Kirchner finds plenty of opportunities to speak. Many discourses, but not much dialogue.
CARACOL RADIO (Colombia) FLORENCIA – Among the first to react to the release Wednesday of Roméo Langlois, a French journalist who was captured in late April by members of Colombia’s FARC, was one of the guerilla army’s old nemeses: ex-President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010). But rather than celebrate the handover, Uribe used the opportunity to question […]
CORRIERE DELLA SERA, LA REPUBBLICA (Italy) ROME – The Italian government has issued a decree raising the excise tax on petrol by 0.02 euros per liter in order to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake that struck Tuesday in the northern part of the country, Corriere della Sera reports. Italian Prime Minister Mario […]
EL TIEMPO (Colombia) FLORENCIA – UPDATE: The operation was carried out successfuly, with a smiling Roméo Langlois freed in the remote village of San Isidro. See the first video images of the released reporter: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Yib9n-u6ug expand=1] Earlier in the day, reports circulated that operations were currently underway in Colombia to free Langlois, a French […]
Foreign students in the Russian city of Orenburg are being asked to move out of their dorms because city officials think African students risk raping children in the nearby summer camp. And this is supposed to be a Russian city known for tolerance…
BANGKOK POST (Thailand) BANGKOK – Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has landed in Thailand for her first trip abroad in 24 years. Upon arrival Tuesday, she was greeted at the airport by a swarm of media, as well as own compatriots, who have a strong immigrant presence in Thailand. Her visit began with […]
L’ACTUALITÉ.COM (Canada) As talks between the Quebec government and student unions on university tuition hikes continue in Montreal, recent figures on the number of striking students per university show a deep Anglo-French divide. The student bodies in Quebec’s English-speaking universities are much less active in the protests. On his blog for L’Actualité.com, Anglophone writer and […]
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Syria, Is This The Tipping Point?
ASHARQ AL-AWSAT (United Kingdom) / LE MONDE (France) DAMASCUS – Syria is burning again, with action intensifying both along the front lines and in diplomatic corridors in the wake of a massacre of civilians that could mark a turning point in the yearlong conflict. Along with Canada and Australia, the major European powers, UK, Germany, […]
Four years after the idea of a free trade agreement between China, Japan and South Korea was put forward, the three countries are stuck in a tense diplomatic game of words and horse-trading.
AL-ARABIYA (United Kingdom) DAMASCUS – “It seems that the word ‘revolution” is no longer desirable in official circles in Syria,” writes Al-Arabiya reporter Kamal Qubeisi from London. “The Revolution” happens to be the name of one of Syria’s three main official newspapers, but after 50 years on Syrian newsstands, the paper will merge with another […]
From low turnout to campaign blunders, the first round of Egypt’s presidential voting — which saw Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy and former Mubarak ally Ahmed Shafik, advance to next month’s runoff — was anything but predi
Op-Ed: Barack Obama’s decision to align himself with François Hollande, the recently elected president of France, could cost him politically.
France has close by complicated relationships with countries like Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, where the effects of the Arab spring may vary but cannot be undone. After sometimes tense relations with Nicolas Sarkozy, what approach will François Hollande
GAZETA.RU (Russia) MOSCOW – A manhunt is underway in the Siberian region of Altai Krai after two poachers where spotted shooting animals and collecting their meat in a wildlife reserve, Gazeta.ru reports. The incident was caught on a mobile-phone video, reigniting a debate on helicopter-assisted poaching in the region. In January 2009, a helicopter crash […]
Uniquely situated, NATO member Turkey is pushing fellow alliance members to rethink the approach to the withdrawal from Afghanistan slated for 2014. Turkish President Abdullah Gül also has his say on Pakistan, and addresses unfinished business with the ne
LA REPUBBLICA (Italy) VATICAN CITY – The Vatican confirmed Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI’s personal butler has been arrested, as a scandal over leaks to the press and alleged financial corruption threatens to spin out of control, La Repubblica reports. Beyond the substance of the charges, the arrest of Paolo Gabriele, a layman who lives […]
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Russia And Syria Get Even Cozier
GAZETA.RU (Russia) MOSCOW – Russia and Syria are in talks to establish a new free-trade zone, the latest sign that Moscow will stand by their man in Damascus. In an interview with ITAR-TASS news agency, Russian Vice-Premier Alexander Khloponin announced the possibility of a new free trade zone to expand commerce between Syria and the […]
A book fair planned for this weekend was supposed to liven up Moscow’s Taganski neighborhood with a bit of poetry and music. City authorities saw a threat to public order.
LE DEVOIR (Canada) MONTREAL – Student demonstrations in Quebec took a new, loud turn last night in Montreal, as demonstrators crowded city streets and banged on pots and pans in response to a new law limiting protests, Le Devoir reported. Demonstrators started their noisy procession around 8 p.m local time in Montreal and other cities. […]
On May 15 Palestinians always mark Nakba Day, or the “catastrophe” of their exile following the creation of Israel. Some Israeli leaders have now responded by asking for the compensation of Jews expelled from Arab countries.
MTV (Lebanon) BEIRUT – After having earlier stood by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch has now declared that the fall of what he calls the “dictatorship” of the current regime would not affect Christians in Syria, reported Lebanon’s MTV television (not affiliated with the American music broadcaster) Still Patriarch Bishara al-Rai, whose followers […]
Europe hustles to figure out how to save its single currency in the face of an escalating debt crisis in Greece. Germans are looking surprisingly fondly at Ireland and Portugal, which have shown a commitment to austerity that Greece has simply not managed
Ahmed Shafik’s giant posters are all over Cairo as Egypt goes to the polls to pick a new president. Well-financed, this candidate was once a minister for deposed President Hosni Mubarak. He famously offered to pay Tahrir Square demonstrators in c
A new report found that Italy suffers an acute shortage of young people in positions in power. The first place to look is inside the ruling cabinet of (69-year-old) Prime Minister Mario Monti.
AL ARABIYA (Dubai) In the first such step of its kind, the Syrian Army has agreed to a prisoner exchange with the opposition forces of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Syrian government forces freed two arrested men from Syrian prisons in exchange for the remnants of a destroyed tank in the town of Khan Sheikhoun […]
Op-Ed: Elections can be both democratic in appearance, and anti-revolutionary in substance. Egypt’s post-Mubarak presidential election does mark a moment of transition, though it is likely to be followed by a not-so-subtle return to the past.
The conflict in Syria has already cost some 10,000 people their lives, according to U.N. estimates. Rebel fighters must rely on outside help to combat the Assad regime, which means money from Gulf states and fighters with jihadist objectives.
EL COMERCIO (Ecuador) QUITO – Why will there never be a coup d”état in the United States? “Because it doesn’t have an American embassy,” Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa told Wikileak’s founder Julian Assange in an interview broadcast Tuesday on Russia Today. The left-wing leader credited the joke to his Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales. “I really […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar) KABUL/KRASNOKAMENSK – When asked if he thought Vladimir Putin might change now that he’s returned to the Kremlin, jailed former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky replies: “No.” But he also offers a caveat. Commenting just two weeks after Putin was sworn in for a third presidential term (after an interim as Prime Minister), […]
L’ORIENT LE JOUR (Lebanon) BEIRUT – “Bring Candles & Lebanese Flags only..” pleads the message on Facebook. A group of young Lebanese activists have organized a meeting Monday night on Martyrs Square, in Beirut, under the slogan “Say no to War… we want Peace in Lebanon.” Sunday, two anti-Syrian Sunni Muslim clerics were killed at […]
Compared to some other natural disasters in recent years, the death toll of seven may pale in comparison. But then we hear the individual tales of the earthquake that struck northern Italy, and the sorrow quickly mounts. Here are their stories.
A year and a half after the beginning of the Arab Spring, the Muslim Brotherhood is in many ways enjoying a historical triumph. But in Egypt, where it was born, the movement is challenged by a splintering of political Islam — and by its own political err