أخبار

– Alray RT – The first-ever Palestinian embassy in Western Europe has opened in Sweden on Tuesday evening, the Swedish prime minister’s press service said. President Mahmoud Abbas has arrived in Stockholm for the event. “Your recognition…should push forward negotiations in the peace process,” Abbas said. Prime Minister Lofven has vowed aid to Palestine, but has also called on reforms. …

By Murray Dobbin Imagine for a moment two societies living side by side. One has discovered the wheel and uses it. The wheel makes life easier for workers and boosts the economy for everyone. Prosperity reigns. The society next door is well aware of the wheel and watches as its neighbours move inexorably ahead, becoming wealthier, more efficient and healthier …

An Iranian-born gunman and two hostages were killed as heavily armed Australian police ended the day-long hostage situation created by the gunman on Tuesday. The man, described by Australian media as a “self-styled sheikh”, took 17 people hostage at a central Sydney café before he was taken down by the police. Police hurled percussion grenades before opening fire, after several …

Since May, over 22 people have left Switzerland to fight abroad as foreign militants, including eight in the past two weeks, Switzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), said on Monday. According to the agency, 61 Swiss nationals have left to fight overseas since 2001, including 37 who left to Iraq and Syria, and 25 to Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The …

Critics and defenders of a US senate report on CIA “torture” programs took turns to tear each other apart over the report’s findings on the “war on terror”, opening fresh political wounds. On Sunday, former US vice president Dick Cheney vehemently defended the CIA program and lauded CIA operatives as heroes. “I’m perfectly comfortable that they should be praised, they …

December 10th is International Human Rights Day. The UN General Assembly proclaimed that date to focus attention on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard for all peoples and all nations. While Canadians like to believe that our country is a positive model for the rest of the world, the continued incarceration of Omar Khadr is a …

Kansas City Police on Saturday said that the car use by a man to kill a Muslim teen in a Kansas City hit-and-run case had an anti-Islam sticker glued to its rear window. The SUV used by 34-year-old Ahmed H. Aden when he rammed down 15-year-old Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein had a sticker that read “Islam is worse than Ebola”. The police …

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new guidelines recommending circumcision for male infants, suggesting that the benefits of circumcision far outweigh the risks. It suggested that parents should consider the procedure for their sons, and that they should pay for it using insurance money. The CDC released its draft guidelines for circumcision on Tuesday, opening …

French lawmakers on Tuesday voted in favor of recognizing the state of Palestine, following similar moves made by Spanish and British parliaments, as European nations try and restart the stalled peace process in the Middle East. The vote in the lower house of France’s national assembly is a non-binding resolution and can’t effect French government policy, but is likely to …

A recent survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute suggests that almost 80% of Canadians support training mental health workers to spot signs of radicalization and prevent home-grown terrorism. Additionally, four in five Canadians support deportation, and blocking internet websites related to radicalization. The survey, which polled 1,609 Canadians, also found that two-third of them favored indefinite imprisonment. “What stands …