Europe (21)
Less than one hundred days after taking office, President François Hollande is already facing a difficult task of ensuring a rigid stance on crime without disgruntling left-wing supporters after the riots in the French city of Amiens, where hundreds of French youths set buildings and cars on fire and fought with the police. The violence was brought on by high unemployment rate, racial discordance and a fierce police force. An event that also triggered the riot and fueled the already mounting tension was when police officers aggressively questioned youths for…
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In an address to parliament, Norway PM Jens Stoltenberg apologized after facing strong criticism over the Norwegian authorities’ response to Breivik's bomb attack in Oslo and shooting spree on the island of Utoeya on July 22, 2011 that left 77 people dead. A government-appointed commission's 500 page report showed that the police could have prevented, or interrupted last year's killings but had taken an "unacceptable time" to reach Utoeya. On the day of the slaughter, the only police helicopter was unavailable because its crews were on holiday. Furthermore, a SWAT…
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Belarus News Featured
After a diplomatic dispute with Sweden, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko had been dismissing high-level officials from their duty. Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov was recently added to the list of officials who got removed from their positions, and was replaced by Lukashenko's head of administration Vladimir Makey, one of many Belarus officials on an EU blacklist.
French Riot Featured
Less than one hundred days after taking office, President François Hollande is already facing a difficult task of ensuring a rigid stance on crime without disgruntling left-wing supporters after the riots in the French city of Amiens, where hundreds of French youths set buildings and cars on fire and fought with the police. The violence was brought on by high unemployment rate, racial discordance and a fierce police force. An event that also triggered the riot and fueled the already mounting tension was when police officers aggressively questioned youths for…
Turkish PM Bans Abortions Featured
Abortion = murder. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unexpected campaign against abortion has made its stance clear: abortion is equal to murder. In what is seen as his party’s latest signal to shape Turkey's secular political system along more religious lines, Erdogan has vowed to effectively ban abortions in the predominantly Muslim country.
The results are in for the first round of the Presidential Polls for France. Taking the lead is the Socialist Party’s Francois Hollande, who got 28.8% of the votes last Sunday, overtaking incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy of the UMP who got 26.1%. Coming on third is the Nationalist Front’s Marine Le Pen with 18.5%. This is the first time since 1958 that an incumbent French president failed to get the top spot during the first round while running for re-election.
Putin Secures Third Term Featured
63.6 percent of all votes. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has secured victory in the first round of Russia’s presidential elections as he gained 63.6 percent of the vote with all ballots counted. Putin's resounding victory is enough to avoid a run-off against his closest rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who gained 17.18 percent. Having managed to mobilise the paternalist Russian electorate while playing down the burgeoning protest movement, Vladimir Putin has successfully manouevred his return to the helm of the Kremlin as he retakes the post…
Sarkozy Leaning To The Right? Featured
France, apparently, has ‘too many foreigners’. In a television debate Tuesday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy bluntly declared that there are too many immigrants in France, a situation that Sarkozy claimed made France’s attempts at integrating them into French culture and society paralysed and ineffective. The remarks came as the presidential election campaigns reached the run up to the first round of a French presidential election on April 22. The past couple weeks have seen presidential candidates beat each other up over myriad issues, increasingly broaching sensitive ones such…
Ireland’s Decisive Moment Featured
Can Ireland afford to say “no”? Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has announced his country will hold a referendum on Europe's fiscal pact. A "no" vote in Ireland could cause uncertainty on the financial markets and even put the future of the common currency in doubt. With the country still dependent on EU aid, most analysts say that the Irish can't afford to say no. As it happens, the chances are good that Kenny will win the debate. The Irish are admittedly resistant to monitoring by Brussels, and…
Redefining The Greek Tragedy Featured
Athens is in misery.The historic city has always had a problem with homelessness - like any other major city - but the financial and debt crises have led poverty to slowly but surely grow out of control here. Aid workers and soup kitchens in Athens are struggling to provide for the city's "new poor." Since the economic crisis has taken hold, poverty has taken hold among Greece's middle class and suicide rates have nearly doubled. In 2011, there were 20 percent more registered homeless people than the year before.…