Substantial military support for opposition Syrian forces remains necessary, urged advocates Saturday during a meeting of the Friends of Syria group, a day after rebels disclosed receipt of advanced weapons they said could change the course of the war. In the meantime, the BBC has reported that “Foreign ministers of the Friends of Syria group,
Read more: UK, US and allies will provide ‘urgent military support to Syrian rebels’
Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s anti-immigration National Front (FN) party, has demanded that the country give former American defense contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden immediate political asylum. In an open message, Le Pen said she was demanding French President François Hollande “to give, in the name of the French Republic, asylum to this young
Read more: Marine Le Pen demands political asylum for Snowden
It’s not often that Africa sees a visiting American president, much less two. But as President Obama travels across the continent next week, so will his predecessor, George W. Bush. Mr. Bush, who made fighting AIDS in Africa a top goal of his administration, will take a trip there — his third since leaving office
Foto: Diandra Didi Cromhout On the morning of 19 June, Tom Kirstein (83) and his wife Irene (66) were attacked on their farm just outside Zeerust in the North West province by five blacks. One of the attackers had a weapon. They were seeking weapons and money. Mr Kirstein was very badly assaulted. He suffered
Read more: Elderly farmer assaulted by 5 blacks near Zeerust
South Africa has not fully reversed the damage done by the Natives Land Act, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday. “A great wrong was done, and now it is up to us to follow-up by doing a great right,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery at a commemoration of the centenary of the
by Kevin King We are a very proud nation. Not when we rape our women, children and infants, murder each other in droves, commit racial, xenophobic and homophobic atrocities, but when we become all patriotic and go on the defensive after our failings are pointed out by outsiders, in this case the Americans. Preceding Obama’s
President Obama’s visit to the Group of Eight summit has created a political row in Ireland after an outspoken liberal lawmaker on Wednesday denounced the U.S. president as a “war criminal” for his drone use and his decision to arm the Syrian rebels. Parliamentarian Clare Daly said her country’s government had showcased the country “as
WikiLeaks just threw some gasoline onto the conspiracy fire. On Wednesday night, they Tweeted: “Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.” What exactly are they trying to say? Michael Hastings was a much admired freelance journalist who covered the wars in
Read more: Fanning the flames of conspiracy on death of Michael Hastings
Protests in Brazil indicate what goes way, way beyond a cheap bus fare. When, in late 2010, Dilma Rousseff was elected President after eight years of the impossibly popular Lula, a national narrative was already ingrained, stressing that Brazil was not the “country of the future” anymore; the future had arrived, and this was a
But despite Nelson Mandela’s stature as a global icon, money has failed to follow the flow of interest. Over the past two weeks, as Mandela recuperated in a Pretoria hospital from a recurring lung infection, those trading on his name, directly and indirectly, did not see a spike in their revenues, to their considerable distress.
by Abhik Kumar Chanda Foreign ministers of the “Friends of Syria” group meet in Doha on Saturday to discuss military help and other aid for rebels after an onslaught by government forces who have retaken key areas. The meeting will address in a “concerted, coordinated and complementary manner” the concerns raised by the opposition’s military
Read more: ‘Friends of Syrian rebels’ meeting in Doha to discuss more military aid
The South African government knew that British spooks were spying on it at the 2009 London G20 summit, say international relations sources. As soon as it became aware of the surveillance by the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters, it took measures to strengthen security for its delegations visiting foreign countries. The UK government acknowledged this
The dollar soared Thursday as global markets reeled from the US Federal Reserve’s signal it may start to taper its massive stimulus this year. News of a cash crunch in China also sent jitters through the market, driving investors into the safe-have dollar. The euro fell to $1.3223 around 2200 GMT from $1.3297 late Wednesday.
France on Thursday threatened Google with a fine of up to 150,000 euros ($198,000) if it does not bring its privacy procedures into line with French law on data protection within three months. In a move that France hopes will be followed by other European states, the national data protection agency Cnil said the US
Read more: France gives Google 3 months to adhere to French cyber privacy laws
