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via BBC News David Cameron has threatened to withhold UK aid from governments that do not reform legislation banning homosexuality. The UK prime minister said he raised the issue with some of the states involved at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia. Human rights reform in the Commonwealth was one issue that leaders … Continue reading
via Thom Shanker and Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq … Continue reading
via Glenn Thrush and Dan Hirschhorn, Politico President Barack Obama marked the end of the Iraq War last week, but he left it to Hillary Rodham Clinton — whose support for the unpopular war in 2003 ultimately helped lift Obama to the White House — to answer tough post-withdrawal questions Sunday. The Secretary of the … Continue reading
via Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post President Obama’s lunchtime announcement that all American troops will be out of Iraq by year’s end will produce a series of political reverberations — some of which we know and some that, quite frankly, we don’t. Here’s our look at the knowns and unknowns from Obama’s announcement today. KNOWNS … Continue reading
via Asjylyn Loder and David Evans, Bloomberg In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the company … Continue reading
via Nouriel Roubini, Project-Syndicate This year has witnessed a global wave of social and political turmoil and instability, with masses of people pouring into the real and virtual streets: the Arab Spring; riots in London; Israel’s middle-class protests against high housing prices and an inflationary squeeze on living standards; protesting Chilean students; the destruction in … Continue reading
via Vernea Dobnik, AP/The Huffington Post The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spawned grass-roots activities around the U.S. and prompted comments from President Barack Obama, is now drawing political remarks from overseas. Poland’s former President Lech Walesa says he supports the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, saying he is planning either a … Continue reading
Don’t Quit, 99%. Get Louder. Occupy Every Street. United States Alabama Occupy Auburn Occupy Birmingham Occupy Huntsville Occupy Mobile Occupy Tuscaloosa Alaska Occupy Alaska Occupy Anchorage Arizona Occupy Arizona Occupy Flagstaff Occupy Phoenix Occupy Prescott Occupy Sedona Occupy Tempe Occupy Tucson Occupy Yuma Arkansas Occupy Arkansas Occupy Fayetteville Occupy Little Rock California Occupy Arcata Occupy … Continue reading
via William Kennedy, MSNBC A young woman spray-paints the final letter on a floral-patterned sheet. Unfurled it reads: “Occupy London, 15 Oct, occupylsx.org.” The small group of assembled activists applaud its look. “I love the kitschiness of it. It’s so ‘Laura Ashley’ English — perfect for a protest,” one says, namechecking the British brand known for its prim-and-proper … Continue reading
via Jonathan Franklin, The Guardian Sleeping on a tiled classroom floor, sharing cigarettes and always on the lookout for police raids, the students of Carmela Carvajal primary and secondary school are living a revolution. It began early one morning in May, when dozens of teenage girls emerged from the predawn darkness and scaled the spiked … Continue reading
via Reuters and MSNBC Mexico City lawmakers want to help newlyweds avoid the hassle of divorce by giving them an easy exit strategy: temporary marriage licenses. Leftists in the city’s assembly — who have already riled conservatives by legalizing gay marriage — proposed a reform to the civil code this week that would allow couples … Continue reading
via CNN As fears of a euro meltdown continue apace, a guerrilla war of Post-it note art has broken out in office spaces across corporate Paris. The first shot was fired four months ago, when employees at French computer gaming company Ubisoft – maker of the popular “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell” and “Ghost Recon” game series – put … Continue reading
UK passport forms are being updated to include options for same-sex parents. New forms including “parent one” and “parent two” alongside “mother” and “father” are expected to be brought in by the end of the year. The Home Office says the additional terms will ensure passports are issued safely to the right person. Gay rights … Continue reading
As al-Qaeda’s military capabilities have declined, it has become increasingly dependent on its message to stay in the global spotlight, a strategy undermined by the death of one of its chief propagandists , terrorism experts say. Propaganda has long been a priority of al-Qaeda and its affiliates, but its role has grown in prominence. “It … Continue reading
David Cameron has ruled out holding an “in/out” referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union as he dismissed one of the central demands of the Tory right. As Eurosceptics gear up for a Commons vote on holding a referendum later this year, after winning more than 100,000 signatures for a debate, the prime minister … Continue reading
A Saudi woman was sentenced Tuesday to be lashed 10 times with a whip for defying the kingdom’s prohibition on female drivers, the first time a legal punishment has been handed down for a violation of the longtime ban in the ultraconservative Muslim nation. Normally, police just stop female drivers, question them and let them … Continue reading
Speaking at a press conference in New York hours after landing back safely on American soil following their release to Oman on Wednesday, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal laid bare the extent of their harrowing two-year ordeal in Iran. “We had to go on hunger strike repeatedly just to receive letters from our loved ones,” … Continue reading
Having officially determined that God is totally cool with women voting, Saudia Arabia’s King Abdullah announced that starting in 2012, women will be allowed to vote and run in municipal elections. Which are the only kind of election anyway! And not only can Saudi women now participate in the low-level and politically-limited elections allowed by … Continue reading
As a convoy of Swiss and Omani diplomats rolled through the gates of Tehran’s Evin Prison on Wednesday afternoon, the relieved families of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, the American hikers held behind its gates for the past 26 months, were preparing to welcome them home — a reunion further delayed this week by a … Continue reading
When the Obama administration wanted to be certain that Congress would not block $50 million in new aid to thePalestinian Authority last month, it turned to a singularly influential lobbyist: Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Representative Kay Granger has urged the Palestinians to resolve issues in direct talks. At the request of the American Embassy and Secretary of … Continue reading
Israel’s most vocal supporters in the U.S. have long complained that the United Nations is a bastion of anti-Israeli sentiment, and this year’s General Assembly debate could be worse than ever. Palestinians are seeking U.N. membership as a state even though there’s no peace deal with Israel. Israel is also under diplomatic pressure from regional … Continue reading
President Obama will deliver a critical address Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly expected to be dominated by questions about Palestinian statehood. Obama’s administration will veto any request by the Palestinians for the UN Security Council to grant them a sovereign state, but the White House hopes to avoid that step. Such a vote … Continue reading
The United States, Europe and the Middle East quartet are engaged in a last-ditch effort to set up a fresh round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in an attempt to head off a major diplomatic embarrassment over the looming Palestinian request for recognition of statehood at the UN. The US is leading diplomatic pressure on Israeli … Continue reading
Gay Iranians are sending a message via a new Facebook group — “We are everywhere.” London’s Guardian first noted that a string of anonymous Iranians were proclaiming their homosexuality in videos posted on the “We are everywhere” Facebook group as a protest. They live in a country that not only recently executed three men for … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 