New videos show more rebel groups in Syria have U.S.-made anti-tank missiles

New videos show more rebel groups in Syria have U.S.-made anti-tank missiles

    Wednesday, May 07, 2014   No comments

Advanced American-made anti-tank missiles can be seen in numerous videos posted by Syrian rebel groups over the weekend, an indication that what experts thought was a limited trial program to arm moderate pro-Western units recently has been expanded.

Death Stalks Muslims as Myanmar Cuts Off Aid

Death Stalks Muslims as Myanmar Cuts Off Aid

    Tuesday, May 06, 2014   No comments

SITTWE, Myanmar — By the time the baby girl was brought to the makeshift pharmacy, her chest was heaving, her temperature soaring. The supply of oxygen that might have helped was now off limits, in a Doctors Without Borders clinic shut down by the government in February.

al-Qaeda infighting shows that even if Assad is removed, Sunnis will countinue to suffer: 60,000 civilians forced to leave Islamist controlled areas

al-Qaeda infighting shows that even if Assad is removed, Sunnis will countinue to suffer: 60,000 civilians forced to leave Islamist controlled areas

    Monday, May 05, 2014   No comments

The British-based Observatory said the Nusra Front had taken over control of the town of Abreeha from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a former al Qaeda affiliate formally disowned by the group this year.

At least 62 fighters had been killed in around four days of clashes in the area, which have emptied Abreeha and the towns of al-Busayrah and al-Zir, whose populations total over 60,000, the Observatory said.

Tunisian National Constituent Assembly approves new electoral law

Tunisian National Constituent Assembly approves new electoral law

    Saturday, May 03, 2014   No comments

Tunisian members members of the Constituency Assembly  have adopted a sweeping new electoral law that paves the way for general elections later this year and is a milestone in this country's new democracy.

The law requires party lists for legislative elections to be half women and half men. It also allows members of the authoritarian regime ousted in 2011 to run for office.

The elections are now expected no later than Nov. 23.

Breakthrough law strives to bring gender equality to Senegal’s government

Breakthrough law strives to bring gender equality to Senegal’s government

    Friday, May 02, 2014   No comments

The women of Senegal are entering an unprecedented age of political empowerment. A breakthrough law doubled the number of women in the country’s parliament, far surpassing the United States’ female representation in Congress. Women all over the country are mobilizing to meet the new opportunity head on. But how is the traditional, patriarchal West African nation responding to the sudden change?

Syrian forces poised to recapture Homs after truce agreed with rebels

Syrian forces poised to recapture Homs after truce agreed with rebels

    Friday, May 02, 2014   No comments

48-hour ceasefire will allow hundreds of rebel fighters blockaded in old quarters of city to flee north, activists say

Syria's government and rebels have agreed to a ceasefire in Homs to allow hundreds of fighters holed up in the old quarters of the city to leave – a deal that will bring the country's third-largest city under the control of forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad.

If the agreement holds, the capture of the city will be a significant victory for Assad weeks before presidential elections set for 3 June.

Iraq’s Kurds Keep One Eye on Iraqi Elections, Another on Local Polls

Iraq’s Kurds Keep One Eye on Iraqi Elections, Another on Local Polls

    Thursday, May 01, 2014   No comments

For the second time in seven months Iraqi Kurds head to the polls on Wednesday, this time to elect new representatives for the Iraqi parliament and provincial councils for their own autonomous Kurdistan Region.


Five major Kurdish parties are vying for voters, with rivalries divided into geographical areas where each party feels it has strongest support.


The largest Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) enjoys a strong popular base in the Kurdish capital of Erbil, where it sits in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and in Duhok. The Partriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), meanwhile, is most confident in Sulaimani province and the Garmiyan region.