By Caleb Lauer ISTANBUL – Though genocide scholars around the world agree that more than one million Ottoman-Armenian civilians were deliberately killed during World War I when Turkish Ottoman authorities forced them to walk out of Anatolia into the Syrian desert, Turkey has always officially denied this was genocide. Ankara has insisted that a commission to study this tragic history be a pillar of its now fizzling peace deal with neighboring Armenia. The idea of the commission has caused much controversy. Armenia, bowing to Turkish pressure and eyeing the prospect of an open border with its much richer European Union-candidate … Continue reading Turkey changes course on Armenia

By Farid Ahmed DHAKA – Bangladesh has vowed to bring to justice the fugitive killers of the country’s founder president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, now that five of his assassins have been executed 35 years since his murder. Six of the killers who were tried in absentia are still on the run and hiding out in other countries, a top police officer in Dhaka told local media. Another had previously died in Zimbabwe. Around midnight on Thursday at the Dhaka central jail, five of the 12 former army officers who killed Sheikh Mujib – as the country’s founding father is popularly … Continue reading A ‘black chapter’ closes in Bangladesh

By Kent Ewing HONG KONG – The warlords Cao Cao and Liu Bei were fierce rivals in life, with their exploits vividly described in the classic historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the most revered classical novels in Chinese literature. Now, 1,800 years later, that rivalry has been renewed in death. In a game of archaeological one-upmanship, two teams of tomb warriors claiming to have found the burial sites of the legendary generals are battling it out in the Chinese media to gain official recognition for their claims. So far, neither party has been successful and, indeed, both … Continue reading Tomb warriors battle in China

The peculiar urge to sack the England captain Is adultery a sufficient reason? Or perhaps betraying a team-mate? A refresher in anthropology might provide an answer David Aaronovitch Footballers are not entirely like the rest of us. Yesterday, in a Sky interview, the former England forward, Steve Bull, was talking about the former England goalkeeper, Bert Williams, who celebrated his 90th birthday on Sunday. “If I get to half that age,” said Bull, “I’ll be happy.” It turns out that Bull will be 45 on March 28. I am afraid that I don’t find the John Terry story very much … Continue reading Englands peculiar urge to sack the England captain over sex! SO WHAT?

Ayesha Ijaz Khan The confrontation between the executive and the judiciary, not to mention within the legislature, is poised to begin. This is not a bad thing. This is the nature of democracy. It is only through such struggles, resistance and defiance that the ideas of checks and balances and the separation of powers came into being Since the judicial verdict on the controversial NRO became public, there has been constant debate on a confrontation between the executive and the judiciary in Pakistan. Of interest in this context is President Obama’s comment at his first State of the Union address, … Continue reading The executive-judiciary tussle

Babar Ayaz Many analysts and rightist politicians scoff at the idea of a secular state. They have failed to understand that mixing of religion with politics has brought us today to the most violent juncture of our history. It gives enough space to the fundamentalists to operate in the country with impunity The Iranian constitution provides for an institution of the ‘Religious Guardianship’ (Velayat Faqiye). This ‘Guardianship of the Just Man of Religious Law’ (Fiqiyeh-e-Adl) is on “the basis of the continuous Guardianship and leadership (Imamate)…under all conditions…” According to my limited knowledge, there is no precedent for such an … Continue reading Amendments for a secular constitution in Pakistan

Syed Mohammad Ali Before becoming overly complacent, lulled by projections made by entities whose own existence is assured by lending money to poor and developing countries, it should be noted that IMF estimates would change drastically if underlying assumptions for economic growth, interest rate and external trade are not fulfilled While external debt is a common phenomenon across the world, when such debt begins to grow large enough to begin dominating the major proportion of a nation’s income, it becomes a telling sign of what is termed as an unsustainable debt burden. Pakistan’s total external debt, which is more than … Continue reading Pakistan’s further shackling by debt chains