No Easy Route if Assad Opts to Go, or to Stay, in Syria
By ANNE BARNARD and HWAIDA SAAD
Published: December 24, 2012
Explosions bloom over the Damascus suburbs. His country is plunging deeper into chaos. The United Nations’ top envoy for the Syrian crisis,Lakhdar Brahimi, met with Mr. Assad in the palace on Monday in an urgent effort to resolve the nearly two-year-old conflict.
How Mr. Assad might respond to Mr. Brahimi’s entreaty depends on his psychology, shaped by a strong sense of mission inherited from his iron-fisted father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad; his closest advisers, whom supporters describe as a hard-line politburo of his father’s gray-haired security men; and Mr. Assad’s assessment, known only to himself, about what awaits him if he stays — victory, or death at the hands of his people.
India gang rape protests: Manmohan Singh appeals for calm
A day after police quell rising anger with teargas and water cannons, PM calls for calm and promises justice for victim
The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, called for calm on Monday in a televised public address a day after police used baton charges, water cannons and teargas to disperse crowds of demonstrators calling for stronger measures to combat the wave of sexual violence towards women in the country.
The brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old in the capital, Delhi, has provoked widespread anger, focused largely on the police, politicians and senior officials, and has dominated news bulletins since the attack eight days ago.
The victim, a physiotherapy student who was returning home with a friend from a film in the south of the capital, is still in a critical condition. Six men have been arrested and face life imprisonment if convicted of any role in the assault, which took place over an hour on a bus travelling on main roads in the capital.
ISRAEL
Palestinian Christmas in Israel festive, yet restive
Christian Palestinians in Israel are a minority among a minority. In the Arab city of Maghar, Muslims, Druze and Christians co-exist in fragile peace as the Christian community prepares for its biggest day of the year.
Only a few kilometers off Lake Genezareth and the cities Tiberias and Kapernaum, Christmas preparations are in full swing. The streets of the Christian area in the town of Maghar are decorated with lights, the shop windows are offering Christmas decorations, young girls are wearing Christmas dresses to school.
The community has put particular effort into decorating the town's single church. "If I look at the illuminated church, I'm overwhelmed by a festive feeling," says Naim Artoul. The 24-year-old studies medicine in Germany, and has come back home just for Christmas.
Who Is François Hollande?Crisis Will Reveal French President's True Contours
By Mathieu von Rohr in Paris
Is French President François Hollande a reformer or a traditional leftist? He's a man who enjoys his role as France's leader, but many voters are asking themselves who it is they elected. He's a staunch opponent of Angela Merkel's austerity measures and has made combatting them a priority. His true political agenda may only become apparent as the euro crisis continues.
François Hollande has been speaking for two hours and 37 minutes, from his place at the podium in the grand ballroom of the Elysée Palace. It is mid-November, and this is the French president's first press conference since taking office. He hasn't yet even broken a sweat.
Egypt's president summons Parliament chamber
Mohammed Morsi has ordered Parliament's upper chamber to convene after the release of results of a referendum that gives it temporary powers.
Egypt's president ordered Parliament's upper chamber to convene after the release of official results of a referendum on an Islamist-backed Constitution that gives temporary legislative powers to the traditionally toothless chamber.
The results had been expected on Monday but were not released and the electoral commission has not yet set a date to announce them. The Muslim Brotherhood, the main group that backed the charter, said it passed with 64% of the vote – a result likely to be confirmed by the official result.
Parliament's upper house, the Shura Council, cannot convene before the official word that the Constitution has passed.
Could the US learn from Australia's gun-control laws?
As the US debates its gun laws in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting, some Australians are urging the US to consider modeling its laws after Australia's.
By Helen Clark, Contributor
Almost two weeks after a shooting spree stunned Australia in 1996, leaving 35 people dead at thePort Arthur tourist spot in Tasmania, the government issued sweeping reforms of the country’s gun laws.
There hasn’t been a mass shooting since.
Now, after the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Australia’s National Firearm Agreement (NFA), which saw hundreds of thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons bought back then destroyed, is being examined as a possible example for the US, to mixed reaction in Australia.
There hasn’t been a mass shooting since.
Now, after the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Australia’s National Firearm Agreement (NFA), which saw hundreds of thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons bought back then destroyed, is being examined as a possible example for the US, to mixed reaction in Australia.
Australians have been following the Connecticut tragedy closely, and many say the US solution lies in following Australia’s path, or at least reforming current laws. But a small but vocal number of Australia’s gun supporters are urging caution.
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