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ECOWAS Suspends Mali’s Membership Over Coup

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 8:15 pm (UTC-5)
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A West African regional group has suspended Mali’s membership and will send at least five heads of state to the country in response to a coup carried out by renegade soldiers last week. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, chair of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, called an emergency meeting Tuesday in […]

Tags: , , , Posted in Africa

Panetta: Polls Cannot Dictate Afghan War Strategy

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 8:15 pm (UTC-5)
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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the war in Afghanistan cannot be determined by opinion polls. Speaking to reporters in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, where he attended talks with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts on strengthening security ties, Panetta said “we cannot fight wars by polls… If we do that, we are in deep trouble.” […]

Tags: , , , Posted in South Asia

Syria Accepts Envoy Peace Plan But Fighting Persists

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 6:40 pm (UTC-5)
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Syria’s acceptance of a cease-fire drawn up by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan is being greeted with skepticism by Western diplomats and Syrian opposition figures as heavy fighting erupted between government soldiers and rebels near the Lebanese border. Opposition members accuse Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of agreeing to the plan to stall for time as his […]

Tags: , , , Posted in Middle East

UN: Afghans Top List of Asylum Seekers in 2011

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 6:20 pm (UTC-5)
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The United Nations refugee agency says Afghans topped the list of asylum-seekers to industrialized countries in 2011. A data analyst for the Geneva-based UNHCR, Tarek Abou Chabake, told VOA Afghanistan is the top source country, followed by China and Iraq. Chabake said that overall, asylum applications to the countries surveyed rose 20 percent in 2011, […]

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Obama Says Current Political Climate Not Good For Arms Control Talks

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 5:50 pm (UTC-5)
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U.S. President Barack Obama says the current volatile political environment is not conducive to sensitive negotiations between the United States and Russia on missile defense and arms control. Mr. Obama, in South Korea for a nuclear security summit, said Tuesday that the time is not right because the U.S. is in the middle of a […]

Tags: , , , , Posted in Europe

ECOWAS Suspends Mali’s Membership Over Coup

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 5:20 pm (UTC-5)
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A West African regional group has suspended Mali’s membership and will send a delegation to the country in response to a coup carried out by renegade soldiers last week. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, chair of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, called an emergency meeting Tuesday in Abidjan. Afterward, representatives of 15 […]

Tags: , , , Posted in Africa

Landmark US Health Care Law Faces Crucial Court Session

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 5:00 pm (UTC-5)
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The conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have questioned a key provision of the U.S. health care reform law, raising doubts about whether the government can require Americans to purchase insurance. The oral arguments Tuesday were the second of three days on President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy, the Affordable Care Act. Justice Antonin […]

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Russia Donates 41 Trucks of Food to Needy Afghans

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 4:40 pm (UTC-5)
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The World Food Program says Russia has donated 41 trucks to support food delivery operations in Afghanistan. They are valued at $2.7 million. WFP Afghanistan Director Louis Imbleau thanked the Russian government for such a generous donation, saying logistics is a key element in getting food to hungry people in the war-torn country. He added […]

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ECOWAS Suspends Mali’s Membership Over Coup

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 4:25 pm (UTC-5)
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A West African regional group has suspended Mali’s membership in response to a coup carried out by renegade soldiers last week. Representatives of 15 member states of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, held an emergency meeting Tuesday in Ivory Coast. President Alassane Ouattara, who chairs ECOWAS, told the representatives the group […]

Tags: , , , Posted in Africa

US Public Support for Afghan War Reaches New Low

Posted March 27th, 2012 at 3:45 pm (UTC-5)
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Latest U.S. opinion polls indicate that public support for the decade-long war in Afghanistan is diminishing and a growing number of people want President Barack Obama to speed up the pullout of combat troops from the war-torn country. And while anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan is on the rise following a period of turmoil in the […]

Tags: , Posted in South Asia