Ayman Nour, the former leader of Egypt’s al Ghad party, was released from jail on Wednesday. He was initially sentenced to five years in 2005 for forging documents to obtain legal status for his party; many, including Nour, suspect that this charge was fabricated in order to punish him for running against Egypt’s current President, […]
Canada will follow through on its promise to invest in the High North by building a research station in Nunavat. Three locations in the territory are being considered to house the High Arctic Research Station, which Canada hopes will attract foreign scientists. In addition, $85 million has been set aside for improving existing research facilities […]
Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu officially received a mandate from President Shimon Peres to form the next government. While Peres urged the creation of a broad national unity government, Netanyahu and Kadima Chairman Tzipi Livni intend to discuss a coalition on Sunday. However, Kadima officials persistently send mixed messages regarding the party’s intention to join a […]
The Kyrgyzstan Parliament finally passed a law requiring the United States military to leave the Manas airbase in 6 months, though when this clock starts ticking is unsure. The US has not given up however, and US Secretary of Defense Bob Gates stated yesterday that negotiations were still under way. Gates stated: “We have not […]
Creating jobs: highest priority China’s Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang urged the labor department to step up efforts create more employment opportunities for the country’s millions of migrant workers. In his appeal he stressed the importance of employment for China’s social stability. Official numbers now state unemployment in China up 0.2 percent at 4.2 percent but […]
I did not anticipate that I would be focusing so much on Tajikistan and its problems, but Radio Liberty is reporting that a deal has been signed between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on water and power. Apparently, parts of Tajikistan have been without power since December. The deal will trade Uzbek debt for Uzbek gas and […]
ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: Pakistan would make a formal request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month for an additional loan of $4.5 billion, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin said on Thursday. “I will visit the Washington offices of the IMF in March to make a formal request for more […]
ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday dismissed as speculative the growing criticism of the accord signed with the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi for introduction of Nizam-i-Adl in Malakand, warning speculations would not be helpful. ‘Establishing peace, security and stability are matters of highest priority for Pakistan government and it will use all necessary means to achieve these […]
That was how the liberal Novaya Gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya’s old paper and one that recently lost another of its journalists to a contract killing, summed up today’s “not guilty” verdict in the trial of Chechen brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov as well as Moscow ex-cop, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, for the murder of opposition journalist. Yet, at […]
EU Ambassador to the US John Bruton talks about US-EU relations under a new US administration.
Thomas Friedman wrote an intriguing article in last week’s NY Times on how immigration for highly-skilled workers could save the American economy. He said the following: “All you need to do is grant visas to two million Indians, Chinese and Koreans,” said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express newspaper. “We will buy up all […]
Hello everyone. So I’ll be moving to my new blog, Afghanistan, which you guessed it, will concentrate on, Afghanistan. Elina will be taking over Central Asia and I look forward to her posts and to see where she takes the blog. I will from time to time do a post here as well. So please […]
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