Speaking at a GOP fundraiser in the important election state of New Hampshire, Senator Rand Paul called for an independent investigation into the IRS targeting scandal that has lead many to further distrust the government. … Read More
Equatorial Guinea – Facebook and opposition websites blocked ahead of elections
Reporters Without Borders condemns the government’s blocking of access to Facebook and certain opposition websites since 12 May. The targets include the site of the main opposition party, Convergence For Social Democracy (CPDS), which is fielding candidates for the 26 May parliamentary and municipal elections. At the same time, the website of the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) continues to be fully accessible. “This act of censorship at President Teodoro Obiang Nguema’s (…) … Read More
Opposition leader Navalny on trial for fraud
The new round of hearings started in the provincial town of Kirov on Wednesday, one week Navalny’s lawer requested an adjournment for more time to study the case.At the very beginning of the Wednesday session the defense again asked for a similar adjournment but the judge turned down the request.Then, the defense lawyers asked for the case to be returned to prosecutors as it allegedly lacked the full list of evidence and some figures were mixed up in the sum of the material damages. The judge turned down this appeal as well.After a break the defense demanded the judge to be replaced saying that the current judge is not free and independent.Like a week ago the court building is surrounded by reporters and supporters of the suspect. Also about 30 people held a rally against Navalny nearby which ended without incident.Navalny is suspected in defrauding the Kirovles state owned timber company of 16 million roubles (over $500,000) in 2009 when he worked as a voluntary aide to regional governor Nikita Belykh. The charges are mostly based on the confession of the former head of Kirovles who had already been tried for embezzlement but entered a plea deal and received a four years suspended sentence.One more person is a suspect in the case – Petr Ofitserov who was heading the company that was allegedly signing false contracts with Kirovles on Navalny’s instructions.Navalny is a trained lawyer (though his opponents question the attorney record that he presented to officially receive this status) with a long history of political work. His allegiances included the veteran pro-democracy Yabloko party, nationalist movements (he himself founded one) and modern pro-market liberals, such as governor Nikita Belykh.The People’s Alliance political party is claiming Navalny as their leader. The party is currently undergoing registration and Navalny says he is neither the official leader nor even a member of the group.Despite intensive media coverage of the process Navalny’s popularity among ordinary people is still average – he is not even the most well known of the opposition figures.According to the latest poll conducted by the VTSIOM public opinion center only 53 percent of Russians know about Navalny and 47 percent admitted that the name did not ring any bells.Of those who know about Navalny 51 percent said they disliked him and only 19 percent told the pollsters they approved of the opposition blogger and his activities.Other opposition leaders appear to be more known to the public with former Nizhny Novgorod governor Boris Nemtsov claiming the highest popularity at 78 percent. Nemtsov outpaced even grandmaster Gary Kasparov and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov – with only 76 and 68 percent of Russians saying they knew their names.When the pollsters asked the Russian public what they thought about the possible motives behind Navalny’s relentless activism, 13 percent said that it was a thirst for power, 10 percent named the discontent with the existing Russian authorities, 6 percent said Navalny was driven by his own urge for justice, and 3 percent agreed that the blogger was fighting corruption. Another 3 percent suggested that Navalny was working on orders from the West. … Read More
Egypt invites Russia to mine uranium, build nuclear power plants
The Egyptian leader has paid official visit to Russia to hold talks with Vladimir Putin as clashes continue in Egyptian cities.The latest reports suggest that at least 48 people have been wounded in Cairo over the last 24 hours, as Muslim Brotherhood supporters and opponents clashed. Nine of the hospitalized reportedly suffered gunshots. Police deployed teargas to disperse the rival groups, but with little success.Egyptian opposition activists demand Mohamed Morsi’s resignation, saying they don’t want Islamist rule in the country.While political opponents in Egypt are unable to find common ground, Morsi’s economic and political negotiations in Russia appear to bring some concrete results.”We have agreed to gradually proceed toward diversifying our trade and economic ties. New joint projects in the areas of industrial cooperation, energy or, say, agriculture could increase the mutual investment flows,” Vladimir Putin said, informing that the financial agencies of the two countries will get in contact to extend a loan to Egypt at a bilateral meeting in the nearest future.Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak announced that Egypt proposed sending a delegation to Cairo “to resume cooperation in peaceful nuclear projects” to jointly construct new nuclear power plants. Cairo plans to build 4 GWt of nuclear power facilities by 2025, Novak said.Cairo has also invited Moscow to step in joint developing of uranium mines in Egypt, he said.Moscow said it would like to see Egypt taking part in Gas Exporting Countries Forum scheduled to take place in Moscow in July 2013.”Egypt is a gas extracting country. A Gas Exporting Countries Forum is scheduled to be held in Moscow in July. We will welcome the participation by the president of Egypt or his representatives,” Putin said.International politics positions of the two countries also coincided a lot, as the leaders “thoroughly considered a number of acute international problems,” Putin said, and found common ground on the issues of international politics, particularly the hair-trigger situation in the Middle East, and especially emphasized the civil war in Syria.The presidents agreed that diplomacy is the only solution to the Syrian crisis and that foreign intervention into Syria is unacceptable.“There should be a political and legal solution of the Syrian crisis without external meddling. We are for an early ceasefire to start intra-Syrian negotiations,” Putin said, stressing that Moscow’s and Cairo’s “positions are close.”Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told the media after the talks that “The Egyptian president voiced very new, fresh and interesting ideas,” on the Syrian crisis settlement.Moscow and Egypt also found considerable similarity in the approaches to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict.”We believe it is essential for the quartet of international mediators to step up its activity in cooperation with the Arab League States,” Putin noted.At the end of the talks, Morsi invited Putin to pay a return visit to Egypt.In the meantime clashes between Egyptian opposition and Muslim Brotherhood are running high.The parties are throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at each other, both sides use homemade handguns.Opposition accuses police of siding with Morsi supporters from the Muslim Brotherhood as police use teargas to disperse crowds.“We need calm and we also need president Morsi to step down because we are tired of this,” Morsi opponent Emad George told AP.In the light of the turbulent events in Egypt, Putin particularly asked Morsi to give “increased attention to Russian tourists’ safety.”On Friday Islamist Morsi supporters held rallies outside the High Court building in Cairo and in the coastal city of Alexandria, demanding the “cleansing of the judiciary.” They believe the loyalists from the former regime are blocking Morsi’s policies. Their opponents insist that Islamists want to consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood’s power by taking over the courts and get rid of secular-minded judges. … Read More
French marriage equality opponents prepare for last protest before vote
France’s bitter debate over gay marriage is set to reach a potentially explosive climax on Sunday, two days before a bill legalising same-sex unions is due to be finally approved. Opponents of the reform have been urged to take to the streets of Paris in a last-ditch show of their hostility…
Senate Rejects Gun Control Measures; Bill Looks Dead
Today the
Senate
rejected all nine proposed amendments to the gun control bill
it is considering, including measures expanding the
background-check requirement for gun buyers, banning “assault
weapons,” and limiting magazines to 10 rounds. ;The New
York Times
reports that ;Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
“planned to pull the overall gun bill from the Senate floor and
move on.” Yet “Democratic leadership aides promised that the effort
could be revived if a public groundswell demanded it.” Seems
unlikely.
According to the Times, “The Senate’s opponents of gun
control, from both parties, said that they cast their votes based
on logic and that passion had no place in the making of momentous
policy.” Let’s put it this way: Passion may have a place, but it is
not a
substitute for rational argument. … Read More
GOP filibuster kills background checks
The bipartisan compromise proposal to expand background checks to more gun sales died in the Senate this afternoon after the bipartisan majority fell far short of the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster on the bill. The vote was 54-46. While advocates thought they might be only two votes away not long ago, the six vote deficit makes it highly unlikely that the majority will ever secure the votes it needs. If Republicans had not filibustered, the measure would have passed, as final passage requires only 50 votes (plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Joe Biden).The proposal, authored by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, was the best shot at passing any kind of expansion on background checks, even though it was far weaker than what Democrats and gun safety advocates had hoped for. But opponents of the bill deliberately misrepresented the bill by claiming it could lead to a national gun registry, which many gun advocates fear could lead to confiscation or even tyranny, even though the Manchin-Toomey proposal actually made it a felony officials to create a registry.Continue Reading… … Read More
