Ethiopia: UN Human Rights Chief ‘Seriously Alarmed’ By Intimidation of Journalists
The top United Nations human rights official today said she is “seriously alarmed” by the current climate of intimidation against journalists and human rights defenders in Ethiopia due to an overly broad interpretation of laws concerning terrorism and civil society in the country. “The recent sentencing of 20 Ethiopians, including prominent blogger Eskinder Nega, journalists […]
Read More →CIA takes over as Ethiopian regime crumbles: analyst
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. (file photo) Hated in his ethnic homeland of Tigray, once his power base, and hated by the Amhara elite, the ethnic minority who previously ruled Ethiopia, Meles has ceded de facto control of his ministries to technocrats from the CIA and […]
Read More →Romanian PM systematically abusing constitution, says EU EU report says Victor Ponta government has ‘threatened judges, illegally removed officials and tampered with democratic system’
Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta at the EU earlier this month. Photograph: Francois Lenoir/REUTERS European authorities have waded into a brutal political feud transfixingRomania, accusing the prime minister, Victor Ponta, of systematic abuse of the country’s constitution and undermining the rule of law in his campaign to unseat the country’s president. A 22-page report from […]
Read More →Quote Approval Becoming The Norm Between Journalists, Campaigns
The New York Times reported on Monday about a new trend in political journalism that many found unsettling. The paper’s Jeremy Peters wrote that, increasingly, both the Obama and Romney campaigns are insisting that they be granted veto power over any quotes of theirs that appear in articles — and that reporters are assenting to the […]
Read More →Ethiopia says Meles is ill amid AU Summit absence
Newai Gebreab (left), long time economic advisor to Meles, and Foreign Ministry chief Berhane Gebrekristos are running the country since Meles Zenawi’s absence from the state of affairs due to illness. The two individuals of Eritrean heritage assuming key leadership positions, closely supported by Gen. Samora Yonus and Communications Chief Bereket Simon (both of Eritrean heritage as well) together with Meles’ God-father and […]
Read More →ton: Egypt’s military must return to national security roleHillary Clinton meets Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo and says the US supports the full transition to civilian rule
The United States supports the full establishment of democratic rule in Egypt and the return of its military to an exclusively national security role, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said on Saturday. Making her first visit to Egypt since the inauguration of President Mohamed Morsi two weeks ago, Clinton stressed, however, that it was entirely […]
Read More →Iraq war will haunt west, says Briton who advised US militaryExclusive: Emma Sky – British civilian who advised US commanders in Iraq – say Muslim world sees a war on Islam
Emma Sky was civilian governor of Kirkuk and political advisor to General Odierno, commander of US forces in Iraq. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian A British academic who became a top adviser to the US military during the most troubled periods of the Iraq war has said she fears the west has yet to see how […]
Read More →Press release | PEN denounces sentencing of Ethiopian blogger Eskinder Nega
in the theater of One World a media project | in pursuit of cultural diplomacy and international understanding  Posted on July , 2012 NEW YORK CITY | PEN American Center reacted angrily to the sentencing of journalist Eskinder Nega to 18 years in prison on bogus terrorism charges in Ethiopia, calling on the United States and other donor […]
Read More →Ahmad Khan Samangani, Influential Afghan Lawmaker, Killed By Suicide Bomber At Wedding
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan, July 14 (Reuters) – A suicide bomber blew himself up at a wedding reception in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 22 people including a prominent politician, and wounding 40 others, police said. The death toll makes Saturday’s attack one of the most lethal in the country for months. Influential Afghan lawmaker […]
Read More →Iraq-Iran Ties Grow Stronger As Iraq Rises From The Ashes
WASHINGTON — In the run-up to the war in Iraq, neoconservative hawks in and out of the Bush administration promised that the U.S. invasion would quickly transform that country into a strong ally, a model Arab democracy and a major oil producer that would lower world prices, even while paying for its own reconstruction. “A […]
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