EU Lifts Cuba Sanctions

EU members have voted to remove sanctions imposed against Cuba in 2003. Although the sanctions were suspended in 2005, today's vote confirms that they will be fully and officially abolished, in order "to encourage more reforms by President Raul Castro"."The European Union...

Out of Egypt-A Voice of Reason

"In Focus: From Abu-Fana to Al-Burullus Opinion By Khalil Al-Anani, June 10, 2008Egypt is boiling; this is the least one can say of the general conditions in Egypt. From Abu-Fana monastery, which witnessed violent clashes between Muslims and Copts less than two weeks ago, to...

Turkish court annuls headscarf law

The Constitutional Court found that the lifting of headscarf ban by the Turkish parliament violates the secularist principles of the constitution."The government argues that a headscarf ban stops many girls being educated. But much of the secular establishment resisted the...

News focus: has reform movement in Indonesia run aground?

"The reform movement which ended the 32 years of President Soeharto`s authoritarian rule in 1998 was expected to appear as a basis of democracy in the people`s life in Indonesia. But what had happened ten years later was that the reform agenda formulated in the past ran...