Region

*Nepal’s Maoists have relinquished control of their 19,000 fighters to government control. The young fighters wonder what’s next! The assimilation of the former fighters into society is viewed as a crucial step in Nepal’s peace process. Everyone applauds the move as constructive and the way forward. But the real work has only just begun.*

Turkish Nobel Literature Prize winner Mr. Orhan Pamuk and several other international top authors are boycotting Sri Lanka’s upcoming literary Galle Festival, following an appeal done by Reporters Without Borders. “Authors who are going would legitimize Sri Lanka’s very poor freedom of expression record,” the group says.

Iran continued on Saturday nuclear talks with six world powers in Turkey and said it hoped to have an acceptable result, but it refused to discuss uranium enrichment and called for cooperation from the West. Iranian sources said the talks show a positive development, while on the first day the agenda agreed in December to discuss only global issues was respected.

As the Middle East Quartet prepares to meet on February 5 in the southern German city of Munich to end the agonizing deadlock in Israeli-Palestine peace talks, a high-ranking United Nations official has expressed “an extreme concern” about the precarious situation in the tension-ridden and war-torn Middle East region.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has wrapped up a state visit to the U.S. were he delivered an address in which he renounced “hegemony” and “expansionism.”
Hu Jintao: “We will remain committed to the path of peaceful development, continue to strive for a peaceful international environment to develop ourselves and uphold and promote world peace through our own development”.

The protests that led to Ben Ali’s overthrow gained momentum after unemployed university graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire. He died earlier this month. Copycat self-immolations have followed in at least 4 other North African states. In Egypt, 52-year-old lawyer Mohamed Farouk Hassan became the latest Egyptian protester to set himself on fire following two others.

Akwaaba, which means “welcome,” was the first word I came across upon my arrival in Ghana. Many people identify Africa with words that have negative connotations, such as poverty, conflict or disease. However, there is much more to this vast continent than such associations. This is what I learn during my one-year visit to Ghana. I found so much hope and potential there.

As the latest development of the worldwide phenomenon of Parks of Study and Reflection, the Park at Narhi, Madhubani, Bihar, India, is also dedicated to studying and reflecting about the Human Being, the condition, and the evolutionary possibilities that allow general progress toward the establishment of a humanized non-violent world that is without discrimination of any kind.

Colombia, Egypt and Macedonia have withdrawn their objection to Bolivia’s request to end the prohibition of coca-chewing. US continues to support the racist ban on coca chewing. The pressure is now to make sure they are alone and particularly that the following nations: Russia, Japan, France, UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden don’t support the US and that they are left isolated.

It’s been 25 years since the advent of the computer virus, and a lot has changed. The first PC virus – known as ©Brain – was created by two Pakistani software developers to prevent people pirating their programmes. Now experts believe that cyberwarfare is the threat of the future. The Netherlands is at the center of the fight against cybercrime.