OP-ED
Drone strikes: Who's on the 'kill list'
Congress should restore the system of checks and balances by using the War Powers Resolution.
By Tom Campbell
Who decides who will be killed by U.S. drone attacks? Protectors of civil liberties have expressed dissatisfaction with the present system of unreviewed presidential discretion, whether in the hands of George W. Bush orBarack Obama.
Must an individual have attacked America or Americans to make the "kill list"? Are the standards higher if the target is a U.S. citizen? How much "collateral damage" is acceptable? And, above all, how comfortable are we with one person, albeit the commander in chief, making these decisions?
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has suggested that a judicial panel might be added to the process. Other suggestions include using the intelligence committees of both houses of Congress.
LATIN AMERICA
Runaway leader Correa claims Ecuadorean presidential win
President Rafael Correa has claimed victory and a third term as president in the country's elections. Results are not yet final, but partial tallies indicate an insurmountable advantage for the left-leaning incumbent.
Rafael Correa proclaimed outright victory in the first round of Ecuador's presidential election late on Sunday, predicting that there would be no need for a runoff vote.
"The victory belongs to each one of you," Correa said from the balcony of the presidential palace in the capital Quito. "Nobody can stop this revolution."
Partial official results gave Correa 56.7 percent of the vote compared to 24.7 percent for Guillermo Lasso. Moments after these early results were released, Lasso conceded defeat and congratulated Correa on winning re-election.
After the Arab Spring: Al-Jazeera Losing Battle for Independence
By Alexander Kühn, Christoph Reuter and Gregor Peter Schmitz
For over a decade, the Arab television broadcaster Al-Jazeera was widely respected for providing an independent voice from the Middle East. Recently, however, several top journalists have left, saying the station has developed a clear political agenda.
Aktham Suliman's wristwatch was always ahead. Although he lived in Berlin, it always showed him the time in Doha, the capital of the emirate of Qatar -- which is also the home of Al-Jazeera, the television news network that had been employing Suliman, born in Damascus, as a correspondent for Germany since 2002.
One and a half years ago, Suliman, 42, re-set his watch to German time, having become disenchanted with Al-Jazeera. And it wasn't just because the broadcaster seemed less interested in reports from Europe. Rather, Suliman had the feeling that he was no longer being allowed to work as an independent journalist.
Darfur needs $6bn for economic recovery, says top official
The economic recovery of Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur needs about 6-billion dollars, a top official has said, appealing for international support.
Eltigani Seisi made the comments on Sunday in an interview with AFP ahead of an April 7-8 donors' conference in Qatar.
Analysts are sceptical that major funds will be forthcoming.
"If the international community refrains from providing support then how could we be able to stabilise the situation on the ground?" Seisi said.
"And how could the people of Darfur have dividends for peace?"
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon reported in January that a 2011 armistice deal, signed in Doha, has yet to bring "concrete peace dividends" for Darfur's neediest.
18 February 2013 Last updated at 06:57 GMT
Russia to open posthumous Sergei Magnitsky trial
The late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky is to go on trial in Moscow in a highly unusual criminal case brought against a dead defendant.
Mr Magnitsky, an auditor at a law firm, was arrested in 2008 after accusing officials of a huge tax fraud, but was later himself accused of those crimes.
He died in custody a year later at the age of 37.
His death sparked a fierce row between Russia and the United States over alleged prison abuses and corruption.
Last year the US passed the Magnitsky Act, which blacklists Russian officials accused of human rights violations.
In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a Russian lawbarring Americans from adopting Russian orphans.
Lebanese women take on Muslim judges who call rape a 'marital right'
February 18, 2013 -- Updated 0235 GMT (1035 HKT)
Lebanese women are taking to the streets to demand that the government takes domestic violence seriously, by introducing laws to protect women from abusive partners.
Nadine Mouwad, a founder of feminist collective Nasawiya, says the prevalence of unveiled, glamorous women in Beirut can create the impression that Lebanon is more liberated from patriarchal cultural attitudes than neighboring countries.
But that's merely an illusion, she says.
"The problem is that we are sold a lot of fake freedoms that raise Lebanese women under the impression that they have freedom to go anywhere, freedom to dress the way they want to," she said.
For the past year and a half, Mouwad and fellow feminist activists have been demanding that politicians ignore the objections of Muslim religious authorities and pass a stalled law protecting women from domestic violence.
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