Tunisia’s major parties may have ended a months-old stalemate by negotiating a provisional agreement on the country’s future constitution, but the country’s democratic transition faces an overlapping threat from violent jihadists and ultra-conservative Salafists, say analysts.
“We have overcome …
At first glance, it might seem counterintuitive that media freedom is on the decline, writes Karin Deutsch Karlekar, project director of Freedom House’s annual Freedom of the Press report.
After all, in a world in which news is being produced …
“At least 23 people were killed in Iraq on Monday in a series of car bombs in Shi’ite Muslim areas and militant attacks, taking the week’s death toll to nearly 200 as sectarian violence intensifies,” Reuters reports:
Clashes have …
“The Obama administration warned Friday that nations such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela are turning up pressure on human rights other activists, decrying what it described as a global crackdown on the ‘lifeblood of democratic societies,’” the Associated Press …
While Western commentators have lauded China’s model of authoritarian development – even advocating its transferability to other developing economies – President Xi Jinping isn’t so enthusiastic. “China’s model of development is not sustainable,” he said this month. But …
“Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has dissolved parliament ahead of a general election. Mr Najib, whose National Front (BN) coalition has been in power for over 50 years ….. will face opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim [left] in what is …
Although all autocrats fit the same basic profile, the similarities between Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez are particularly striking, Michael Bohm writes in the Moscow Times, citing the top 25 similarities between the two:
1. Both came from modest, …
Independent radio station Klubradio “has found itself at the center of what its director, Andras Arato, calls a government-backed war to weaken and silence the station,” writes Dan Bilefsky in the New York Times:
The clash has become emblematic …
President Thein Sein’s government top-down reform process has pushed through important initiatives at a rapid pace to open unprecedented political space in Burma, says a leading rights advocate.
“But open political space will not bring meaningful change unless …
Iran’s “Butcher of the Press“ goes on trial as Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari calls for the release of journalists arrested on charges of ‘conspiring’ with foreign media, RFE/RL’s Journalists in Trouble reports:
According to the video, published by …