In Syria, 'winning' is a relative term
News analysis
DAMASCUS, Syria – It's early Friday morning, a holy day in Syria's capital. But war is no respecter of dawn or devotion; dense smoke is rising from several suburbs and the birdsong is punctured by the thud of falling artillery shells.
This is Damascus today; a city filled with the noise of war. MiG warplanes swoop overhead en route to rebel targets, mortars land amid dense housing, tanks rumble through suburban streets and, now and again, suicide bombers detonate their vehicles in the hope of killing President Bashar Assad's men.
But there is a difference in the war here today, from when I last visited four months ago.
Germans blame poor Eurovision showing on Merkel and austerity
Pop act representing Germany failed to win any points from 34 of 39 countries voting
Germans lamented their unexpectedly poor showing at the Eurovision Song Contest, blaming chancellor Angela Merkel’s tough stance in the euro zone crisis for their failure to win any points from 34 of the 39 countries voting.
Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won the event, watched by around 125 million people across Europe, with 281 points while German act Cascada was 21st out of 26 countries, getting just 18 points from Austria, Israel, Spain, Albania and Switzerland.
“There’s obviously a political situation to keep in mind - I don’t want to say ‘this was 18 points for Angela Merkel’,” said Germany’s ARD TV network coordinator Thomas Schreiber.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Myanmar's president makes historic US visit
On Monday, US President Barack Obama will receive the president of Myanmar, Thein Sein, in Washington. The visit itself represents a symbolic victory in several ways, but disagreements remain between the two countries.
No head of state from Myanmar has visited the United States since 1966, making Barack Obama's Monday meeting (20.05.2013) with President Thein Sein a symbolically charged encounter.
"For Thein Sein, it represents official recognition that had long been denied him," says Asia expert Gerhard Will from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin (SWP)
China's rise fuels mistrust among many Indians
May 20, 2013 - 9:56AM
Matt Wade
Senior writer
The vast majority of Indians are worried about China's rise and consider it a security threat, an opinion poll has revealed, with the results exposing a serious trust deficit between the Asian giants.
The survey, conducted by the Lowy Institute for International Policy and the Australia India Institute, found 83 per cent of Indians considered China a security threat. A possible war with China was rated a "big threat" by almost three in four respondents.
Reasons included China's possession of nuclear weapons, competition for resources, and border disputes. Even though China was now India's largest trading partner, just 31 per cent of Indians agreed that China's rise had been good for India.
Lowy Institute analyst Rory Medcalf, the author of the India Poll 2013 report, said the level of mistrust was surprising and disturbing.
Egypt's Mursi rules out talks as hostage video appears
Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi ruled out negotiating with the kidnappers of three policemen and four soldiers who appeared to plead for their release in an online video.
The abductions on Thursday in the Sinai Peninsula prompted angry police to shut down border crossings with Gaza and Israel, piling the pressure on Mursi to secure the hostages' release.
"There are no negotiations with criminals and the awe of the state will be preserved," Mursi was cited as saying by the official MENA news agency.
A video posted on YouTube on Sunday appeared to show the seven hostages, blindfolded and with their hands on their heads, identifying themselves.
One of them is prodded by what appears to be a rifle held by an abductor off screen before another hostage says the kidnappers want the release of detained Bedouin "political activists".
South Korea: The little dynamo that sneaked up on the world
South Korea, long in the shadow of other Asian 'tiger economies,' is suddenly hip and enormously prosperous – so much so that it may have outgrown its thankless dream of reuniting with the North.
For months the young emperor to the north has been threatening to turn this thriving metropolis into a "sea of fire." But it's not easy to ruffle the jaunty vibe of 75-year-old Kim Chong-shik as he strolls among young couples and shoppers along the boutiques of the Gangnam District.
Living well, it's said, is the best revenge. "I never imagined it would be like this," he says, grinning, not far from a playfully misplaced sign on a coffeehouse: Beverly Hills City Limits.
The retired civil servant, who remembers the Korean War and its miserable aftermath, cuts a dapper figure against a springtime cold snap, a green silk scarf peeking out from his handsome wool overcoat.
Why so stylish? "Because I live here!"
No comments:
Post a Comment