Politics

It is reported that The Head of RosAtom Russia’s Federal Atomic Agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, will meet Iran’s Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, in Tehran December 11 to discuss economic affairs of mutual interest. Kiriyenko, former Russian Prime Minister, had proposed in February this year, that Russia would provide Iran with enriched uranium for its nuclear power plants, thus avoiding the need for Iran to build plants that might be used for weapon production. Since then there have been Security Council resolutions and threats of economic s

Pope Benedict will be visiting Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation, for four days starting on November 28. Some, organized by an Islamist party, protested the visit in the streets after hearing of the Pope's trip. Security concerns are on the rise as the protests progress. Benedict will arrive in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. According to Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, objectives of the Pope's visit are to eliminate misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians, and to clean up the 1,000-year divide in Christianity between the V

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney met with Saudi leader King Abdullah in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, today. The Vice President is seeking the Sunni royal family's influence and tribal connections to calm Iraq after an especially violent week. A Saudi official said Cheney and Abdullah would discuss "the deteriorating situation in Iraq" as well as the situation in Lebanon, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the standoff with Iran. Cheney will also meet the Saudi Crown Prince Sultan, the official said, speaking on condition of

An ongoing struggle in Kazakhstan between the authorities and a local Hindu village has turned serious. Forum 18 has been documenting the alleged human rights abuse regarding the Hare Krishna village for some time, but as of 21st November events took a drastic turn. The following was seen and written by Ninel Fokina, president of the Almaty Helsinki Committee, and Andrei Grishin, official member of the International Bureau of Human Rights and Law Observance: On November 21, 2006 at 1 pm the information was received that according to the court

Mr Alexander Litvinenko, reputed to have been an Ex-Russian spy who had defected to Britain, died last night in mysterious circumstances. He had alleged many associations between people in high places and organised international crime, implying that President Putin and Romano Prodi among others had been involved personally. He had sought political asylum in UK in 2000 and became a naturalised citizen in October this year, just weeks before his death. Mr Litvinenko was said to have been investigating the shooting of Russian journalist and human

The British Cabinet decided that Britain will retain its nuclear deterrent by replacing the Trident missile system carried on submarines, in its first meeting on the subject yesterday. The case for considering land-based and airborne systems made by former Defence Minister Geoff Hoon was rejected. The Cabinet agreed that three or four new submarines should be built to carry the new missiles, but the number of nuclear warheads to be carried by each vessel will be decided at a later date. The existing fleet of four Vanguard class submarines, ev

Nepal's 10-year civil war has come to a peaceful conclusion with the signing of a historic accord between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Prachanda, leader of the Maoist rebel faction that had been fighting for political change. The deal was signed in Kathmandu on Tuesday. The deal would allow the Maoists into the Nepalese government, and place both Maoist and government weapons under UN scrutiny. The Maoists had been observing a ceasefire since its declaration more than six months previously. Prachanda said that the peace agreement

The Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, announced at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday that he will recognize Quebecois as a nation within Canada, despite a similar Bloc Quebecois' motion. The separatist Bloc Quebecois (BQ) opposition party originally introduced the motion to recognize Quebec as a nation, without specifying in or out of Canada. But Harper said that he will only recognize the Quebecois as a nation within Canada. The Bloc, led by Gilles Duceppe is, by tradition, dedicated to separating Quebec completely from Canada. This has never pass

New Zealand National Party leader, Dr. Don Brash has resigned as the leader of opposition. Dr Brash made the announcement at press conference held in parliament, stating that ongoing media speculation about his leadership was damaging the party's reputation. Brash will officially step down on Monday, where the party will vote for a new leader and deputy-leader. "For some weeks now I've been giving consideration to the right time and the right way to announce this decision. I've held off because I've been keen to have two untidy matters dealt w

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Bangladesh, Justice MA Aziz has agreed to step aside for three months, the country's president and chief advisor to caretaker government, Iajuddin Ahmed announced in a television address to the nation late last night. The Awami League-led alliance accused Aziz of bias towards the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who ended her five-year term in October 2006. President Ahmed said that Justice Aziz has agreed to go on leave for three months in order to u

On Tuesday, BVA published a telephone poll conducted for French magazine Le Figaro and news channel LCI to gauge support for right-wing presidential candidates. 73% of Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement or UMP) party supporters identified Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as their preferred candidate for May's presidential election. The UMP is one of the two major parties in France, and represents conservative politics. It was formed in 2002 as a union of several right-wing parties, and currently controls the leg

Yesterday, Pierre Gemayel was shot in his car and was declared dead at the hospital. He was the Lebanese industry minister. Today, his corpse was driven into his native town of Bikfaya followed by thousand of people mourning him. He is the fifth personality assassinated in Lebanon in one year and the fifth of the Gemayel's family according to his father, former president Amin Gemayel. One week ago, Samir Geagea, the commander in chief of the Lebanese Forces, announced rumor of assassination of one minister. The funeral of Pierre Gemayel will