Japan: Earthquake Interrupts Electronics Supply Chain

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 06:45 PM PDT

The collateral damage from last month’s massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan is now extending to the electronics industry. U.S.-based research firm IHS iSuppli said Friday the disasters had led to the “most significant” disruption ever to the industry’s supply chain. Japanese manufacturers are key sources for a number of components used to produce things [...]

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Don’t Blame The Euro, Says EEAG Report 2011 – Analysis

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:33 PM PDT

The U.S. financial crisis infected Europe with an economic malaise so severe that it brought some countries to breaking point in 2010. The reaction was to bail out the banks, implement Keynesian recovery programs and formulate loose monetary policies. This approach has aggravated already huge public debts, which, in some cases, were already unmanageable. The [...]

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IAEA Update: Japan Fukushima Nuclear Crisis ‘Remains Very Serious’ – Statements

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:26 PM PDT

Overall at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the situation remains very serious, the IAEA said Friday. The Unit 1 condenser is full. In preparation for transferring water in the basement of the turbine building to the condenser, water in the condenser storage tank is being transferred to the suppression pool surge tank since 31 March, 03:00 [...]

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Syria: At Least Four Dead In Protests

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:22 PM PDT

According to news reports, demonstrations were held Friday in several cities, including in the southern city of Daraa and in Lattakia. Eyewitnesses said that Syrian security forces killed at least three protesters in Duma, a southern suburb of Damascus, adding that the three were among at least 2000 people who chanted slogans demanding freedom when [...]

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Kosovo: Court Decision Might Mean Snap Elections

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:20 PM PDT

By Muhamet Brajshori For the second time in only a few months, Kosovo is again without a president. A court ruling on Wednesday (March 30th) found that members of parliament had breached the constitution when they voted on February 22nd to elect businessman Behgjet Pacolli as head of state, despite the lack of a required [...]

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Afghanistan: EU, NATO Condemn Attack On UN Staff

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 01:17 PM PDT

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said she was “deeply shocked” by the news that the UN office in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, was stormed by a crowd today, which murdered UN staff members and set the office on fire. It is understood that the demonstrators had been protesting against the burning [...]

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Libya: Business As Usual, But What About Tamoil? – OpEd

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 12:05 PM PDT

When politics makes strange bedfellows, oil is often the motive for the relationship. For example, the United States strongly condemns and opposes Hugo Chavez while filling Venezuelan coffers with cash to feed America’s carbon addiction to the tune of over 900,000 barrels of socialist-made crude per day. We are seeing a similar phenomenon occurring in [...]

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Italian Anarchists Behind Switzerland Letter Bomb Attack

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 12:01 PM PDT

A group of anarchists from Italy has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s letter bomb addressed to someone in the office of the Swiss nuclear power lobby organisation. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office says investigations are being coordinated with the authorities in Italy and Greece where two similar attacks were carried out this week. “We have indications that [...]

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Syria Moves Towards Resolving Its ‘Kurdish Problem’ – OpEd

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:58 AM PDT

One of the most embarrassing things about Syria has been the pre-Baath denial of rights to Kurdish citizens. But that could be about to change in a very quiet announcement that’s just been made. In 1962, the ‘Hasaka Survey’ was carried out, named after one of the country’s main Kurdish population centres. In that census, [...]

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Young Russians Often ‘Nostalgic’ For A Country They Never Knew – Analysis

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:47 AM PDT

While most of the 59 percent of the Russian population which says that it regrets the disintegration of the Soviet Union is made up of people old enough to have lived in that country, many Russians too young to do so are nonetheless showing a nostalgia for a country they are too young to have [...]

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Republic Of South Sudan Faces Precarious Start – Analysis

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:44 AM PDT

A resurgence of internal armed opposition in Southern Sudan illustrates that the birth of this new independent nation, scheduled for 9 July, will be marked not only by celebrations of long-fought liberation from the North, but also by anxiety about the government’s ability to maintain peace and stability across a vast and ethnically diverse region. [...]

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Dominci In Israel: Dispossession By Law – OpEd

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:34 AM PDT

By Seraj Assi Imagine you are an Israeli Arab. You receive a graduate fellowship in an American university. You set there in the campus cafeteria, meet with a Syrian or Lebanese colleague or friend, a fellow Arab who happens to share with you the same religion, nationality and language. You then return home for the [...]

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EU Approves Possible Military Operation For Libya

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:32 AM PDT

The European Council on Friday approved the decision to mount an EU military operation to support humanitarian efforts in Libya, if asked to do so by the United Nations. “The EU will, if requested by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), conduct a military operation in…order to support humanitarian assistance in [...]

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Arab World Grapples With Another Day Of Protests

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:28 AM PDT

Protests heated up across the Middle East and North Africa Friday. At least three people were reported killed in Syria as security forces opened fire and used tear gas and batons to crack down on protesters across the country. Witnesses say at least one demonstrator was killed in Oman as security forces fired water cannons [...]

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Iran: Senior Members Of Clergy Commiserate With Opposition Leader

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 10:09 AM PDT

Several senior members of the Iranian clergy have issued condolences for the passing of MirHosein Mousavi’s father, MirEsmail Mousavi. Kaleme opposition website reports that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran’s Expediency Council, expressed sympathy for the Mousavi family, adding that they had made many worthy contributions to Islam, the Revolution and the country, as [...]

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FBI Asks Public To Help Crack Code To Solve Murder

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 10:06 AM PDT

On June 30, 1999, sheriff’s officers in St. Louis, Missouri discovered the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick. He had been murdered and dumped in a field. The only clues regarding the homicide were two encrypted notes found in the victim’s pants pockets. Despite extensive work by the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), as [...]

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Assessing The Situation In Libya – Statements

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:57 AM PDT

By James B. Steinberg, US Deputy Secretary of State, Statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Washington, DC, March 31, 2011 Good afternoon. I want to thank Chairman Kerry and Ranking Member Lugar for inviting me today. I am grateful for this opportunity to update you and answer your questions. In his speech on Monday [...]

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Iran: Former Intelligence Official Nourollahian In Evin prison

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:54 AM PDT

Mohammad Reza Nourollahian, a cleric and advisor to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been transferred to Iran’s notorious Evin prison after he was arrested during a funeral procession held for Mousavi’s father on Thursday. According to Kaleme, a website affiliated with Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, Nourollahian was arrested in a brutal fashion [...]

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The Welcome Return Of Interventionism – OpEd

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:47 AM PDT

By Peter John Cannon At the beginning of the year, few would have predicted that Britain and the United States would be involved in another military intervention. Britain, the United States and European nations were – and still are- cutting their defence budgets. Discussions on Afghanistan centred around dates for withdrawal, regardless of the result. [...]

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Afghanistan: UN Staff Killed In Attack

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:42 AM PDT

United Nations personnel working in Afghanistan have been killed today after a group of demonstrators attacked a UN compound in the country’s northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The attack took place this afternoon at an operations centre for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), according to information released by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson. The exact number [...]

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Syria: Protests Held In Several Cities

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:38 AM PDT

According to news reports, demonstrations were held Friday in several cities, including in the southern city of Daraa. Protesters were demanding freedom amid a heavy presence of Syrian security forces. There were unconfirmed reports of demonstrations in the province of Hasaka, especially in the cities of Qamishli and the Raqqa. Eyewitnesses said protesters marched in [...]

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Algeria: State Media Gives Voice To Opposition

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:35 AM PDT

By Fidet Mansour Algerian state-run press used to avoid broadcasting dissident views at all costs, earning a reputation as a mouthpiece for the government. Faced with popular pressure, public media outlets are beginning to allow more space for the opposition. State-owned channels covered recent Algerian communal guard rallies, trade union protests and student sit-ins. National [...]

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Fighting Continues In Libya As Qaddafi ‘Exit’ Talks Reported

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 09:30 AM PDT

(RFE/RL) — Libyan opposition fighters battled Muammar Qaddafi’s forces at the oil port of Brega as Western powers stepped back from the idea of supplying weapons to the rebels and pushed, instead, for a political solution. British media reports say an envoy of Muammar Qaddafi’s government has been in London for secret talks aimed at [...]

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