Francois Hollande emerges as top likely challenger to Nicolas Sarkozy for French presidency
October 12, 2011 No Comment
PARIS – A moderate French leftist once dismissed as soft as a strawberry dominated nationwide primary voting Sunday, and emerged the top likely challenger to the divisive and impulsive Nicolas Sarkozy for the nation’s presidency. Pollsters say Francois Hollande, a longtime Socialist leader who urged his party to embrace European integration, could easily dislodge the little-loved Sarkozy as president. Sunday’s unusual Socialist Party primary produced the first electoral proof of Hollande’s popularity. But Hollande faces a tough runoff next week against the author of France’s 35-hour workweek, party stalwart Martine Aubry, as both seek…
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A Liberian Electoral Commission worker talks on the phone next to ballot bo… Young Liberian activists stage a march for peace in Monrovia. Liberians go … Liberians go to the polls on Tuesday in a tight race between Nobel winner President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and rival Winston Tubman as the nation seeks to cement its fragile eight-year peace. Final preparations for the key election were under way across the west African nation of four million people, which was shattered by a brutal 14-year civil war in which some 250,000 were killed between 1989 and 2003. “Deployment of materials from our magisterial warehouses has been completed, all the 2.5 million ballot papers have been distributed…
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The United States accused Iran today of backing a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, escalating tensions with Tehran and stirring up a hornet’s nest in the Gulf, where Saudi Arabia and Iran have long jostled for power. US authorities said they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran’s security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. One was arrested last month while the other was believed to be in Iran. The US State Department has issued a worldwide alert for US citizens. Iran denied the charges and expressed outrage at the accusations. But President Barack Obama called the plot a “flagrant violation of US and international law” and Saudi Arabia said it…
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Mention Liberia and you could be forgiven for thinking of child soldiers, blood diamonds and warlord Charles Taylor. The savagery of one of
Continue reading …A win for gay rights advocates in California: Opponents hoped to repeal a new law that requires public schools to teach about the contributions of gay people, but they failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . That means the law will take…
Continue reading …A win for gay rights advocates in California: Opponents hoped to repeal a new law that requires public schools to teach about the contributions of gay people, but they failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . That means the law will take…
Continue reading …A win for gay rights advocates in California: Opponents hoped to repeal a new law that requires public schools to teach about the contributions of gay people, but they failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . That means the law will take…
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MARK WEISS in Jerusalem THE ISRAELI cabinet met in emergency session last night and was expected to approve by a large majority a prisoner swap deal with Hamas under which captured soldier Gilad Shalit will be released in return for 1,000 prisoners, mostly Palestinian militants. The dramatic development came more than five years after Sgt Shalit, now aged 25, was seized by Palestinian militants from Gaza in a daring cross-border raid on June 25th, 2006. The last sign of life from Sgt Shalit…
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Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. When Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal remarked at the Council on Foreign Relations that then-President George W. Bush and the United States began the war in Afghanistan with a “frighteningly simplistic” view of the country, he could have added “superstitious.” Still, the Bush Administration’s preemptive wars and military campaigns against the people of Afghanistan, not to mention Iraq, conjures up the European Frankish King Clovis. When the Western Roman Empire was dying in the 6th century, Clovis was like other Barbarian rulers who were vying for political power and economic wealth. Food shortages and tribal warfare had forced many to…
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BURMA has freed more than 70 political prisoners under an amnesty by the new leadership, a Thai-based rights group says. The army-dominated nation, also known as Myanmar, has released one of its most famous dissident inmates – comedian Zarganar – as part of the move, which observers hope will see more prominent activists set free. “So far we have received information about over 70 political prisoners included in the release. I think we will see some more,” said Aung Khaing Min of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). The freedom of an estimated 2,000 political prisoners, including pro-democracy campaigners, journalists, monks and lawyers, has long been a key…
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