Day: April 19, 2013

A Giant Setback for Human Rights

Source: NY Times: The Supreme Court’s conservatives dealt a major blow Wednesday to the ability of American federal courts to hold violators of international human rights accountable. The court declaredthat a 1789 law called the Alien Tort Statute does not allow foreigners to sue in American courts to seek redress […]

Emirates to Seize Qaeda Supporters

Source: NY Times. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Security authorities in the United Arab Emirates said on Thursday that they had arrested seven members of a “terrorist cell” affiliated with Al Qaeda accused of plotting attacks in the Emirates and in neighboring oil-producing states, according to the official WAM news […]

Boston Bombing Suspect Caught

Source: ET The teenage suspect in the Boston Marathonbombings, whose flight from the police after a furious gunfight overnight prompted an intense manhunt that virtually shut down the Boston area all day, was taken into custody Friday night after the police found him in nearby Watertown, Mass., officials said.The suspect, […]

APML urges army to intervene

Source: ET ISLAMABAD: Close associates of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf have asked top military leadership to intervene in the issue immediately before tensions between state institutions get worse. “Top military leadership will come into action [as an ex-general is being denied justice],” Major General (Retd) Rashid Qureshi, a close […]

Secret state

Source: ET We have a state shrouded in secrecy. In fact, even the media which is expected to bring facts to light and keep the public informed has its own secrets to hide. The problem begins with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the funds available to it for […]

Immigration and terror

Source: The Economist. THE strangest commentary produced by the news that the Boston terrorists seem to have been a pair of Chechen brothers from Dagestan has been speculation that this could mean trouble for immigration reform. The initial speculation earlier this week, before the bombers’ identities were known, involved comparisons […]

A blood-soaked election

Source: Friday Times: On April 11, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) took responsibility for killing Fakhrul Islam, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) candidate for the National Assembly and Sindh Assembly. Islam was shot in Hyderabad by two armed men riding a motorbike. The ubiquitous TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan called a newspaper […]