#US

It’s ten days to midterm elections in the US. Tempers are running a bit high. Now FreedomWorks, one of the larger organized vehicles driving Tea Party activism, claims to have been shut down by a “cyber attack” when they were about to start a Glenn Beck online fundraiser. The WSJ doesn’t provide many details apart […]

The news of India’s election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council was reported with a sense of elation by the national media. Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna referred to it as a “chance to prove worth” for the big throne indicating India’s claim for permanent membership of the Security Council. The South […]

The topic of Lebanese arms is in the news once again. Externally, the United States has put on hold $100 million in military aid for fear that the weapons may fall into the hands of Hizballah. Internally, Prime Minister Hariri is talking up elevated arms control in the wake of a sectarian altercation in Beirut […]

If it seems like the pace of events has been accelerating since Hassan Nasrallah announced that he expects Hizballah members to be indicted in the Hariri Tribunal, it has. Immediately, leaders from Saudi Arabia and Syria rushed to Beirut to calm the situation. Shortly after they left town, an Israeli commander was killed by the […]

It’s no surprise that the “biggies”—the McDonalds, the Microsofts, the Boeings—have a MENA presence (MENA=Middle East and North Africa).  But what about small to medium enterprises? How do they even begin to take advantage of this huge (and growing) market of hundreds of millions of consumers? A great answer can be found in an article, […]

It’s rare that human rights activists get truly excited about anything happening in Washington, let alone celebratory. But that is not the case this week as yesterday the US took a step forward in helping end Africa’s longest running conflict with the House of Representatives passing the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery […]

Big news from the FCC, America’s telecom regulator. Their feisty and energetic chair Julius Genachowski is planning to put some serious teeth back into Internet regulations. A while ago the Supreme Court shot down the primary foundation for FCC regulation of broadband technologies. One of the most visible likely casualties of unfettered ISPs pursuing unlimited profit guided […]

At the 14o Characters (tee hee) Conference some peeps were talking about using Twitter to monitor elections. Yes yes, we’ve been over that before. Shenanigans in authoritarian regimes, blah blah. Ah, but they were talking about America. The WSJ wrote it up. “This is something we can do without running to the lawyers on election […]

The US State Department recently released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. This is done every year as a requirement of the Foreign Assistance Act and normally does not gain much attention. However this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made waves with the announcement that the US will be subjecting itself […]

President Asif Ali Zardari, in a meeting with Director of US National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, urged US to assist Pakistan in its own civilian nuclear technology deal to help overcome its dire energy needs. President had suggested that this kind of deal will not only bridge the trust deficit between the two countries, but […]

In Brazil, nicknames are very common, especially for famous people and even politicians. President Lula da Silva received his nickname when he was  young, since the common nickname for Luiz, his given name, is Lula (similar to calling a person named Robert, Bob). However, given that lula means squid in Portuguese, the president has really […]

Nawaz Sharif present flowers to Justice Khawaja – daylife Saturday February 13 – The Chief Justice of Pakistan defied Presidential orders through a suo moto action against the Presidential notification for appointment of certain judges. Chief Justice, in a rare nightly emergency session, formed a three members bench that suspended two recommendations for judges’ appointment […]