International

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:11 UTC

  Obama says Brazil’s transition to democracy an example for the Arab world

  

  President Barack Obama, declaring support for Brazil’s rising global economic clout, said the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy can serve as a model for pro-democracy movements around the world, including in North Africa and the Middle East.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:06 UTC

  Massive support in Egypt for constitutional amendments

  

  Egyptians have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a package of constitutional amendments, according to official results released on Sunday evening. Slightly more than 77% of voters endorsed the amendments, the country's supreme judicial committee has announced.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 06:58 UTC

  Syrian protestors torch courthouse and other government buildings

  

  Crowds have set fire to the courthouse and other buildings on a third straight day of demonstrations in the southern Syrian city of Daraa. Residents said one person was killed and scores injured when security forces used live rounds against protesters. Witnesses said dozens were also taken to be treated for tear gas inhalation at the main Omari mosque.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 06:51 UTC

  IAEA says Japan’s nuclear emergency remains very serious; death and missing toll reaches 21.000

  

  The United Nations nuclear agency, IAEA, says there have been positive developments in Japan's efforts to tackle a nuclear emergency after the 11 February quake.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 06:46 UTC

  Gaddafi’s compound destroyed in air strike; Libyan military announce cease-fire

  

  A three-storey building in a military command centre used by Muammar Gaddafi has been destroyed in an air strike by coalition forces. The Sunday-night strike was the first reported attack on the Bab al-Azizia, a sprawling compound in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, that Gaddafi has used several times as a setting for televised addresses, and which was bombed by the United States in 1986.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 06:42 UTC

  Words Can Be Deadly: ‘African’ is no synonym for ‘Mercenary’

  By Younes Abouyoub, Ph.D.
  
  Shortly after the popular uprising started in Libya, the situation quickly turned violent. At first rumors, then confirmed reports talked about mercenaries wreaking havoc in different cities in Libya.

• Sunday, March 20th 2011 - 07:36 UTC

  In spite of reform promises and repression, Mid East and north Africans take to the streets

  

  It’s not only Libya. Turmoil and unrest is escalating in the rest of the Middle East and North Africa with violent repression and promises of reform as people take to the streets in growing numbers. Such is the case in Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

• Sunday, March 20th 2011 - 01:23 UTC

  US, UK and France begin bombing Libyan military targets following UN resolution

  

  The US, UK and France on Saturday began attacking Libya as enforcement of the UN-mandated no-fly zone gets under way. Pentagon officials say the US and the UK have fired more than 110 missiles.

• Friday, March 18th 2011 - 16:46 UTC

  EU/Mercosur negotiations stumble, but both sides determined to continue

  

  The fourth round of European Union/Mercosur negotiations for a trade agreement concluded in Brussels Friday with no major advances which could be a setback for the original plan to have a deal sealed by the end of the year.

• Friday, March 18th 2011 - 04:05 UTC

  US, UK, France prepare to implement UN Security Council no-fly zone over Libya

  

  United States President Barack Obama called his British and French counterparts on Thursday and the three agreed Libya must comply with a new U.N. Security Council resolution, the White House said.
  Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy also agreed that violence against the civilian population of Libya must cease.