ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The promised reinstatement of Pakistan’s chief justice defused a protest movement threatening the U.S.-allied government, but it could still spell trouble for the country’s struggling president. The army is said to have directed President Asif Ali Zardari to defuse the developing showdown with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and lawyers leading a column […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — It was a signal moment in Pakistan’s political development: A huge demonstration forced the restoration of a dismissed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a symbol of democracy and the rule of law. The army did not stage a coup, but insisted that the government accept a compromise. The deal between President Asif […]
The preamble to the Constitution of Pakistan binds the state ‘to exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives’ who, in turn, are bound to fully observe ‘the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam’. The constitution is, thus, violated whenever martial law is imposed, which indeed it […]
The holocaust drama The Reader edged out Waltz with Bashir, a film about Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, for the Oscar because “Hollywood likes its Jews… hunched over and dressed in rags”, not waging morally ambiguous wars, Bradley Burston wrote in Haaretz. Similarly, America likes its Russian artists defecting from their home country and condemning its […]
There has been a lot of chatter lately regarding Hizballah’s relationship to the West. The Lebanese political/social/guerrilla group has been meeting with British officials for the past two years. Such meetings have led people to suspect a possible thawing in the relations between the United States and Hizballah, an idea that the U.S. is quick […]
After President Obama’s announcement last month that he was sending in 17,000 more US troops to fight for stability in Afghanistan, it seemed that there were few who thought it a bad idea, though some surely did, and the American people seemed to back the plan according to several polls and newspaper articles. The main […]
With Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reaching his final moments in office, he set a deadline for the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for yesterday while his envoys to negotiations with Hamas in Cairo attempt to hammer out the final prisoner swap deal. Hamas originally requested over 1000 soldiers for Shalit and Syrian President […]
One of the European Union’s most important officials, Commissioner Jacques Barrot is visiting the US this week with some good news for the US administration. The Frenchman, who is charge of Justice affairs and security is dropping hints about Europe accepting up to 60 detainees that are currently interned in the Guantanamo detention facility in […]
China’s international investment losses exceed $80 billion China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the country’s exclusive manager of almost $2 trillion foreign exchange reserves, has lost more than $80 billion in its diversification into global equities. Details of SAFE’s holdings are only disclosed to the top Chinese leadership, a fact that makes exact estimates […]
The Lebanese Embassy in Damascus opened today. What does that mean in practical terms? Not much if Syria continues to meddle in Lebanon’s internal affairs. Time will tell if the exchange of diplomats is more than a (short lived) PR stunt.
Musadiq Sanwal reports live from Islamabad as the second lawyers’ Long March arrives in the capital. Meanwhile Muhammad Badar Alam, Bureau Chief of the Herald, provides the latest news from Lahore. While lawyers and political activists of the PML-N march on, they will have updates from the protests, the word on the street, and stories […]
The five signatories of the Polar Bear Agreement will meet for the first time since signing the treaty in 1973 to discuss how to save the polar bear. Representatives from Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the U.S. will attend the The International Meeting Under the Polar Bear Agreement in Trosmø, Norway, beginning today. When the […]
Recent Zimbabwe news that falls into three comfortable, indeed cliched, categories: The Good: Trevor Ncube, the media magnate behind The Mail & Guardian, The Zimbabwe Independent, and the Standard newspapers is set to start a new daily newspaper, NewsDay. The Bad: Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, fears that without an infusion of western cash, the country’s […]
Things are coming to a head with the increasingly troubled South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). But the irony is that while for years critics of both the ANC and SABC have accused — and not without merit — the government of being too closely tied to the state broadcaster, the current circumstance may find the ANC […]
I love the lede to this piece on how South Africa’s politicians are trying to capture a bit of that Obama Magic in the run-up to April’s election.: Public name-calling, political turf wars and increasingly innovative ways to woo voters – that’s just some of the ingredients that define the run-up to Election ’09. While […]