Young Sri Lankan Muslim Woman wins prestigious entrepreneur competition in Mexico City

“We chose Fathuma because the award will have the biggest impact on her, her family, her community and send a strong message to the world that women are able to start a business while remaining true to their family values. We thought it was remarkable that she was able to start up her business without having to give up her religious and cultural identity''. Read more>>>

Sri Lankan president at the UN denies war crimes

Addressing the UN, Rajapakse repeated the lie that his government and the Sri Lankan military committed no war crimes. Despite the government’s claims that the army killed no civilians, the UN and various human rights organisations have provided ample evidence that thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Tamil civilians died as a result of the military’s artillery and aerial bombardment. Read more>>>

London Muslim Women Protest; Pakistan Crisis Betrayal of Zardari Government

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UK DEMONSTRATION against Former Dictator, Musharraf of Pakistan

Protestors from across the UK will demonstrate in Birmingham this Saturday [12pm 2nd October 2010] at a rally organised by Pakistan’s former dictator Pervez Musharraf, as he aims to revive his political career by launching his ‘All Pakistan Muslim League’. Read more>>>

IMF-ILO conference warns of political upheavals

The fear of social and political upheaval haunting ruling circles around the world was graphically expressed at a recent joint conference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that reviewed the worsening global levels of unemployment and poverty. Read more>>>

UK Muslim Women Protest the Subjugation of Veiled Muslim Women Under French Secularism

Women from across London converged today at a protest outside the French embassy to voice their strong opposition to the divisive and discriminatory French law banning face veils from all public spaces in the country. Read more>>>

Basel III – averting another financial crisis or protecting vested interests?

Critics of Basel III argue that the reforms don’t go far enough and will not be fully implemented until 2019 before which there may well be another crisis, more likely if the economy goes into a double dip recession. The main reform is a three-fold increase in capital reserve requirements. However, a three-fold increase on average tier 1 capital ratios of a mere 2% currently to cover against bankruptcy doesn’t bode much confidence in financial institutions with casino-like business models. Read more>>>

By Sentencing Dr Aafia to 86 years the US has shown the Cruelty, Injustice and Inhumanity of its ‘Freedom and Democracy’

A US kangaroo court has sentenced Dr Aafia to 86 years in jail. Dr Aafia, a neuroscientist who studied at MIT, was kidnapped from the streets of Karachi in 2003, along with her 03 children. The whereabouts of her baby are unknown but there are reports that one of her children was shot and killed. Read more>>>

Obama at the UN: The arrogant voice of imperialism

In its tone and its content, the Obama speech was the authentic and arrogant voice of US imperialism. Parroting remarks delivered by George W. Bush from the same podium, Obama began by invoking September 11, 2001, once again exploiting the terrorist attacks of that day to justify the acts of military aggression committed by both US administrations in the intervening nine years. Read more>>>

French National Assembly vote to ban the burqa: An attack on People's rights

The 335-to-1 vote by the French National Assembly last month to ban full-face veils in all public places in France is a reactionary attack on democratic rights and a conscious step away from the rule of law. The trampling of religious freedom is part of a broader law-and-order campaign aimed at preparing police-state measures against the population. Read more>>>

Former Sri Lankan army chief convicted for second time

The military court hearings were held behind closed doors and the ruling has not been made public. The judges have sent their decision to President Rajapakse, who as commander-in-chief, will almost certainly rubberstamp the conviction once he returns from the UN General Assembly meeting in New York this week. If this second conviction is ratified, Fonseka will automatically lose his parliamentary seat. Read more>>>

llicit Arms in Indonesia

Indonesia is in much better shape than most of its neighbours with respect to illegal guns. “Unlike Thailand or the Philippines, Indonesia has no ‘gun culture’, and the scale of the problem remains relatively small”, says Jim Della-Giacoma, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Project Director. “Addressing it has taken on a new urgency, however, as extremist groups, worried about Muslim casualties in bombings, have begun to discuss targeted killings as a preferred method of attack”. Read more>>>

Eritrea: The Siege State

Eritrea has fought in recent years, directly or indirectly, with Ethiopia, Yemen, Djibouti and Sudan and involved itself in various ways in the conflicts in eastern Sudan, Darfur and Somalia. Relations with Ethiopia in particular remain extremely tense, in large part because Ethiopia has failed to abide by its Algiers Peace Agreement commitment to accept binding arbitration on their disputed border. (The boundary commission ruled that the town of Badme – the original flashpoint of the war – was in Eritrea.) The UN Security Council’s failure to compel compliance reinforced the sense in Asmara that the international community is inherently hostile. While Eritrea asserts that it is pursuing legitimate national security interests, its aggressive approach and abrasive tone have left it increasingly isolated. Read more>>>

London Muslim Women Protest Against French Niqab Ban (Women Only)

On September 14th, the French Senate ratified a bill to ban face veils in all public spaces across the country in the name of protecting ‘liberty’ and ‘equality’. Muslim women in France will no longer be allowed to wear the niqab in the streets, in parks, on public transport, and in all government buildings including benefit offices, hospitals and schools. Read more>>>

Sri Lanka is still denying civilian deaths

During the Vietnam conflict, the US military developed some creative ways to increase the numbers of Viet Cong insurgents it claimed to have killed. "If they're dead, they're Viet Cong," meant that any Vietnamese killed by American soldiers would automatically count as enemy fighters. Sri Lanka's defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has taken such creative accounting to new heights. Read more>>>

Palestinian Security Reform under Occupation

Palestinians are trying to square the circle: build a state while still under occupation; deepen cooperation with the occupier even as they seek to confront it; and reach an understanding with their historic foe even as they prove unable to reach an understanding among themselves”, says Robert Malley, Crisis Group’s Middle East & North Africa Program Director. “Without serious progress towards ending the occupation and reversing intra-Palestinian divisions, the PA won’t have the credibility it needs to pull it off. Read more>>>

Turkey’s Crises over Israel and Iran

Turkey has changed greatly over the past two decades, becoming richer, more self-confident and no longer dependent on Washington or Brussels alone”, says Hugh Pope, Crisis Group’s Turkey/Cyprus Project Director. “Despite the recent crises of confidence, all sides need to remember they still have a lot in common, and these commonalities remain a strong basis for improving stability in the region. Read more>>>

Great power rivalries intensify ethnic conflicts in Kyrgyzstan

Both the US and Russia maintain key military installations in Kyrgyzstan, with Washington using its Manas air base as a major supply point for the occupation of nearby Afghanistan. The respective positions taken by the Kremlin and the White House on the question of the OSCE deployment in Kyrgyzstan are bound up with their efforts to advance their own national interests in Central Asia. Read more>>>

Conflicts intensify within Egyptian ruling elite

Conflicts and divisions are intensifying within the Egyptian ruling elite just a few weeks before the parliamentary elections due in October, and one year before presidential elections. Hosni Mubarak, the acting Egyptian president, is considered to be seriously ill and has so far failed to clarify any procedure for his successor. He never appointed a vice-president and said a few years ago that he would serve Egypt up to his dying breath. Read more>>>

Kennedy addresses Catholicism and the separation of church and state

By emphasizing the separation of church and state, Kennedy spoke in terms that would become, decades later, beyond the pale in official US political discourse, where religiosity and every manner of personal identity emerged as primary subjects of media focus in elections. Read more>>>

Food riots erupt in Mozambique

Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, is one of the most impoverished nations in the world, ranked 175th out of 179 countries on the UN Human Development Index. Seventy percent of the population of 23 million survives beneath the poverty line and an estimated 54 percent are unemployed; the statutory minimum wage is US$37 a month. Annual per capita income for the population as a whole is only $807. Read more>>>

Japan’s new Political Crisis

The current contest for the post of Japanese prime minister is another sign of deep-seated political instability fuelled by the country’s economic stagnation and worsening social crisis as well as growing global rivalries and antagonisms, particularly between China and the United States. Read more>>>