Ahead of a pivotal election on Sunday, Artur Mas, Catalonia's president, outlined his views on the call for independence. Highlighting the rejection of Catalonia's call for greater tax-raising powers, assaults on the teaching of the Catalan language at schools and the dire Spanish economy, Mas pledged to hold a referendum on independence if he was to be re-elected. Urging the nation to face the potentially historic choice it has before it, Mas said: “If we stay in the position we are in now, it will be a disaster,” “Something important is changing,” “If Slovenia, Malta, Estonia can be states...
Bahrain has convicted 23 medics who were involved in last year’s protest against the kingdom’s regime. The medics were either sentenced to three months in prison or a fine. The convictions have come soon after a report released by Amnesty International , criticising the deteriorating human rights situation in Bahrain. The report said that oppressive practices by the government have become ‘increasingly entrenched’.] The charges against the medics stem from treatment given to injured protesters, after demonstrations by Shias against the Sunni regime. Over 95 medics were arrested and 20 of them...
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for Simone Gbagbo for alleged crimes against humanity, urging her to surrender. Simone Gbagbo is a politician and the wife of the Ivory Coast's former president, Laurent Gbagbo, and campaigned for him during his presidential campaign. Over 3000 people died in the elections' aftermath after Laurent Gbagbo disputed the election results. A year ago, Simone Gbagbo was charged with looting, armed robbery and embezzlement, along side her husband. In a statement, the ICC said : "According to the warrant of arrest, initially issued...
Capitalising on his role in brokering a truce in the Israel-Gaza conflict, Egypt's President Mursi declared on Thursday that his decisions could not be challenged until a new constitution was agreed upon. In a statement, the presidential spokesperson said: “The President can issue any decision or measure to protect the revolution.” “The constitutional declarations, decisions and laws issued by the President are final and not subject to appeal.” The president granted the panel responsible for drafting the constitution, immunity from legal challenges against its formation. Meanwhile, commenting...
Nato has said it will look at Turkey’s request to deploy Patriot missiles along its border with Syria. The bloc’s chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the request would be considered “without delay”. Rasmussen said on Wednesday that he had received a request for the deployment on Wednesday. If accepted, he said it would "augment Turkey's air defence capabilities" and "contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along Nato's south-eastern border". Germany has already said it is pushing Nato to approve the request. "It would be a serious mistake if we were to refuse defensive support to a...
The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for sanctions to be placed on M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The passing of Resolution 2076, which was drafted by France, comes after rebels stormed Goma, the capital city of North Kivu province, despite UN combat helicopters assisting DRC forces. The statement from the Security Council "demands the immediate withdrawal of the M23 from Goma, the cessation of any further advances by the M23 and that its members immediately and permanently disband and lay down their arms". While Rwanda was not directly...
The Kazakh government has moved towards a ban on the two opposition movements and media outlets supportive of the opposition, reported Reuters on Wednesday. The leader of the Alga! party, Vladimir Kozlov, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years last month for an attempt to lead protesting workers to topple the government. A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said that both movements propagated extremism. "Kozlov's sentence established that the activity of the unregistered Alga! and Halyk Maidany movements, as well as the activity of a number of mass media outlets, was extremist," said...
After eight days of conflict, a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas took hold late on Wednesday evening, although distrust and singular attacks continued after the truce took effect at 9pm. The deal has momentarily suspended the Israeli threat of a ground invasion of Gaza after bombing and rocket fire left 162 Gazans, including 37 children, and 5 Israelis dead. Talking to a news conference in Cairo, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said: "If Israel complies, we are compliant. If it does not comply, our hands are on the trigger," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had...
The surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks was hanged in secret, the Indian government confirmed on Wednesday. According to the Home Minister of Maharashtra, R.R. Patil, he was executed at 07:30am local time on Tuesday, after being moved in secret to Yerwada jail in Pune a few hours prior. Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, a 25-year-old Pakistani, said to belong to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group was convicted over a year ago for his part in the attacks that killed 160 people. In August, India's Supreme Court upheld his sentence of the death penalty, and earlier this month, President Mukherjee rejected a...
The British Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced that the UK has recognised the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Syrian people and that it is a “credible” alternative to the current regime. "It is strongly in the interests of Syria, of the wider region and of the United Kingdom that we support them and deny space to extremist groups," he said to MPs. "A credible alternative to the Assad regime is emerging that has the growing support of the Arab League, the European Union, the United States and an...