Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has asked UN to grant Palestinians the status of “non-member observer state”, stressing that a “Palestinian state must be realized” One year after his bid for full membership of the United Nations failed because of a lack of support in the Security Council, Mr. Abbas returned to the UN General Assembly. […]
International
EU Sanctions in Syria: Slow Tools for an Urgent Objective
The uprising in Syria has led the European Union (EU) to employ an instrument it rarely uses in the Mediterranean: sanctions. Since May 2011, the EU has deployed its sanctions toolbox in support of the anti-regime uprising in Syria. The objective of the EU is to increase pressure on the Assad regime to end repression, […]
Summer heat in Hong Kong
The summer has been hot in Hong Kong this year, and not only because temperature reached 32 degrees amid intense humidity. 100 000 people, mainly Hong Kong students, have been taking to the streets, and demonstrating in front of the government headquarters to oppose a new education curriculum, called the “moral and national education”. […]
French magazine cartoons: France fears violent backlash
France, fearing a backlash after a French satirical magazine published provocative cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, has decided to temporarily close on Friday its diplomatic missions, cultural centers and schools in 20 Islamic countries and asked the authorities of these countries to tighten security measures around these compounds. In some countries, French schools were shut […]
Brazil: A new policy of “positive discrimination” in universities
Brazilian universities are required as of this academic year to devote an increased percentage of their admission capacity to poor students enrolled in public schools and to increase the number of university students of African descent. This new policy of “affirmative action” or “positive discrimination” as it is sometimes called is stipulated in a new […]
Spain: People on the dole to near 6 million in 2013
The number of people on the dole in Spain will near 6 million in 2013, i.e. more than a quarter of the workforce in the country. The gloomy unemployment figures were disclosed this week by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) which underlined that the labor reform adopted by the government will not curb […]
Senegal: a false bomb alert to prevent wife from leaving
Jealousy is a feeling that can sometimes take you too far. A Senegalese national found no other way to prevent his wife from traveling abroad than call the carrier staff to tell them a bomb was on board the plane that was about to take off from Dakar airport. An anonymous caller told the ground […]
Washington fears violence over anti-Islam film may spread to U.S.
While protest movements and demonstrations, sometimes violent, are being staged across the Islamic world to denounce the video deemed insulting to Islam’s prophet Mohammed and to Muslims’ beliefs, Washington is fearing this violence may spread to the United States. According to US media, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have released a joint […]
UN considering proposal on neutral force deployment in Eastern DRC
The United Nations peace keeping operations department is looking into the proposal to deploy a neutral force in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an attempt to quell the violence and alleviate the sufferings of the local population. The proposal to deploy a neutral international force along the Rwanda- DRC […]
International Community Pledges $6.4 Bln to Yemen
International donors have pledged $6.4 billion to Yemen to support the country’s socioeconomic development plan, political transition and efforts to rebuild after it was rocked by political unrest and Al-Qaeda attacks. At the end of their meeting in Riyadh, which brought together more than 280 participants from 27 countries, 36 regional development & international finance […]









