UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan has called for a transitional government to be established in Syria. The UN brokered peace plan, which calls for the creation of a transitional government in Syria, was accepted after talks in Geneva, attended by Russia, China and western countries. The agreement says that members of the current government and the opposition could be a part of it. "We are determined to work together urgently and intensively to bring about an end to the violence and human rights abuses, and the launch of a Syrian-led political process, leading to a transition that meets the...
Australia’s Senate has voted down an asylum bill which would have reopened an off-shore detention centre and allowed the Australian government to deport asylum-seekers to another country for processing. The bill was supposed to deter asylum-seekers from making the long and dangerous boat journey to Australia. The defeat of the bill means the political stalemate on the asylum debate, which has been reignited by the sinking of two boats in the past week, continues. The Australian government wants to back a deal in which they can send asylum-seekers to Malaysia in exchange for resettling U.N...
The US has given China and Singapore exemptions from sanctions for buying Iranian oil. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that both countries had earned the exemptions by cutting imports. All of the twenty biggest importers of Iranian oil have been granted reprieves from the sanctions, before the deadline on June 28. The sanctions would have seen the concerned nations cut off from the US financial system. "Their cumulative actions are a clear demonstration to Iran's government that Iran's continued violation of its international nuclear obligations carries an enormous economic cost,"...
Burma is tightening restrictions on press freedom, despite their recent promises to reform and end censorship, warned the press watchdog, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF). In a report published on Friday, RSF said, “modernization and liberalization of the media and adoption of media legislation are not going to be the result of a country’s democratization but are inescapable preconditions for its democratization, ones that must be tackled right away.” The media in Burma experienced the relaxing of several repressive censorship rules during 2011. However, RSF noted that domestic and...
Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and former IRA commander has met and shook hands with the Queen. The meeting took place at a charity event in Belfast on Wednesday morning. The image of the handshake has been touted by observers as iconic and a symbol of progress and reconciliation. Sinn Fein quoted McGuinness as telling the Queen that their meeting was a “powerful signal that peace-building requires leadership”. The BBC’s Ireland Correspondent has said that although “the image will help Sinn Fein reach out to voters, previously reluctant to support a party...
The former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has failed in his attempt to be cleared of all charges at The Hague war crimes tribunal. Karadzic denies 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is accused of being responsible for the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, which left over 7,000 Bosniak men and boys dead. The judges rejected his acquittal bid, saying that the "genocidal intent" of the accused "may be inferred" from all the evidence. They found Mr Karadzic’s claim of being unaware of the ground situation as not credible, as evidence shows that there were meetings...
Russia has said it will support a proposal to form a national unity government, consisting of members of both the government and the opposition. Kofi Annan’s plan will be discussed at a conference in Geneva on Saturday with the UN Action Group on Syria. According to Western diplomats, President Assad will not be part of the unity government, although his role is not defined in Annan’s proposals. Russia has refused to support the removal of Assad as a solution. "We do not and cannot support any intervention or solutions dictated from abroad" said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He added Assad’...
Addressing his new Cabinet, the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, remained defiant, and instructed the C abinet to defeat the 16-month-old uprising. Assad said, “We live in a real state of war from all angles,” “When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war.” Criticising the West, Assad said, that the West “takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage”.
An Egyptian journalist was deported by the Sudanese government on Tuesday, as authorities continued to try and end anti-austerity protests. The journalist, Salma El Wardeny, who works for Bloomberg News, had been covering the protests and uploading videos of protests on the site YouTube. On Tuesday, when she attempted to renew her press accreditation, she was denied permission, and instructed to leave the country. Speaking to AFP, Wardany said that had " ordered me to leave ". Protests against President Bashir's proposed spending cuts and austerity measures began last week, and show little...
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has proposed a $10 billion loan for countries in Latin America to fund infrastructure projects. Speaking near the end of his tour to the region, Premier Wen also proposed a free trade agreement between regional trade bloc Mercosur, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. "The Chinese government... will continue to offer economic assistance to countries in the region that are interested," Premier Wen was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency. China has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves and is looking for new areas to invest their...