South Korea elects its first female president
Park Geun-hye, daughter of a former South Korean general who led a military coup, has been elected as the first female president in South Korea’s history. Her liberal rival Moon Jae-in, has already conceded his defeat. During her campaign, Park presented a platform that included extending a hand of friendship to communist North Korea, fighting government corruption, increasing welfare benefits, improving the, economy and curbing the power of big corporations.
The shadow of the crimes of her father, a former dictator, [...]
NBC correspondant released several days after being kidnapped in Syria
NBC News correspondent Richard Engel and his four-person crew have been released unharmed after five days in the captivity of the pro-Assad government militia known as Shabiha. “It is good to be here. I’m very happy that we’re able to do this live shot this morning,” Engel, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent, said on “Today.”
Engel and his team were travelling into northwest Syria, escorted by members of the Syrian Free Army, when they were ambushed by what they described as [...]
Egypt’s public prosecutor resigns
After his predecessor, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, was removed, Talaat Ibrahim was appointed public prosecutor of Egypt by President Mohammed Morsi. His appointment caused significant outrage within the rest of the Egyptian judiciary. Judicial officials claimed it compromised the independence of their institution and insisted the Supreme Judicial Council should have been the one to appoint a new prosecutor. Judges and officials demonstrated outside Ibrahim’s office, demanding that he step down from his new position. Today, Ibrahim did just that. He turned in his letter [...]
Russia acknowledges Syrian rebel gains as Assad regime shows signs of crumbling
The Assad regime of Syria has apparently lost what had been one of its most steadfast allies; Russia. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s top Middle East diplomat and the leader of NATO, grudgingly stated that the Syrian Free Army has gained the upper hand in the almost two year war against Bashar al-Assad and his regime. “Unfortunately, it is impossible to exclude a victory of the Syrian opposition,” said Mr. Bogdanov.
The US State Department expressed appreciation for Bogdanov’s [...]
North Korea successfully launches multistage rocket
North Korea successfully fired a long-range rocket on Wednesday that reportedly traveled the entire distance of a projected course. The rocket, according to Japanese military officials who were tracking it, flew south over the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and the Philippines. The North Korean government claims the rocket is meant to put a weather satellite into orbit, but other nations, including United States, South Korea and Japan consider it something far more sinister. They have deemed it to be [...]
Morsi orders military to keep order as constitutional vote approaches
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has annulled a decree that made his actions immune to judicial review, but that seems to have done little to placate his opponents. Opposition leaders are calling for renewed protests against Morsi on Tuesday, claiming the process for drafting the constitution that will be voted on on December 15 was dominated by Morsi and his Islamist allies. The opposition National Salvation Front said it will refuse to recognize the draft constitution “because it does not represent [...]
Morsi’s call for dialogue does little to calm conflict
Clashes between demonstrations by both supporters and opponents of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi have escalated to a point where officials consider it necessary to guard the presidential palace with army tanks. Morsi, however, is remaining firm in his commitment to move forward with the process of drafting the constitution.
“The constitutional decree and all its effects will end as soon as the result of the referendum is announced – be it a yes or a no,” said Morsi, referring to [...]
Protests in Egypt grow more violent as supporters and opponents of Morsi clash
The constitutional crisis in Egypt has taken a violent turn as organized demonstrations of both supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi clash outside the presidential palace. The conflict, sparked by a presidential decree Morsi issued to give himself expanded powers and now inflamed by a controversial draft of the constitution that was openly objected to by Morsi opponents, has had tragic consequences. In the confrontations between Morsi supporters, opponents, and security forces, 120 people have been injured, though [...]
Palestine threatening to bring war crimes charges against Israel
Galvanized by their recent obtainment of nonmember observer state status within the United Nations, Palestine is now indicating that it intends to join the International Criminal Court and pursue charges against Israel for war crimes. Although Palestinian officials themselves acknowledge that any kind of final decision on this matter is a long way off, just the threat has been enough to rattle Israel. Officials are concerned such prosecutions would make it difficult for Israeli officials to travel overseas or portray [...]
Congolese troops take back Goma as rebels withdraw
Reentered M23 rebels were to withdraw 20 kilometers from the North Kivu provincial capital. But residents and officials say some of the rebels remain on the outskirts of town, only three kilometers away. About 600 Democratic Republic of Congo government troops have reentered the eastern city of Goma as rebel forces withdraw as part of a diplomatic agreement. The regaining of Goma means the repossession of a provincial capital of North Kivu and a valuable mineral mining center. But the [...]
Mass protests surround Kuwait vote
Tens of thousands of protesters in Kuwait City are calling for a boycott of the upcoming election in protest of a constitutional amendment that altered voting rules last month. The grievance is over the annulment of the parliament in June by the Constitutional Court. The parliament represented major gains by the Islamist opposition party and reinstated the previous parliament which was largely allied to the ruling family. Opposition MPs say the amendment manipulates the ballot in favor of pro-government candidates [...]
Internet and cell phone service down in Syria
In a drastic move to counter the recent gains made by the Free Army, Syrian president Bashar al Assad’s regime has severed internet access and cellphone service across the country. Technology companies such as U.S. company Renesys, who have been monitoring internet service in the country say that international internet connectivity was lost across the country at 12:26 local time on Thursday. “In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria’s IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the [...]