OPED: Will the Upcoming Election Bring Islamic Legitimacy to Pakistan?

It is almost universally acknowledged that Pakistan emerged a separate state in 1947 primarily on the basis of religion.  Yes, an Islamic state, but isn’t history rather murky on the question of legitimacy in Islam?  There are monarchies and then there are dictators/despots, followed by pseudo democracies, and finally normal democracies, all claiming to be legitimate Islamic states.  What makes a state truly an Islamic state?

The West Disappoints Azerbaijan Government Critics

(EurasiaNet) - Democratisation activists in Azerbaijan are increasingly pessimistic about what they describe as the West’s lack of support for reform and the protection of basic rights in the energy-rich South Caucasus country.

Providing Safety, Combating Impunity on World Press Freedom Day

Securing the safety of journalists and media workers is an urgent matter. More than 600 journalists and media workers have been killed in the last ten years. In other words, every week a journalist loses his or her life while bringing news and information to the public. These statistics highlight the relevance of the World Press Freedom (WPF) Day, which remains the fundamental principles of press freedom.

Rohingyas At Home and Nowhere

Rendered the nowhere people in their own homeland, thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are fleeing inhuman living conditions, lack of humanitarian aid and rising sectarian tensions in their country. And the very state that is supposed to protect them now stands accused of ‘ethnic cleansing’.

Hamas ‘Talibanising’ Gaza

The Islamist resistance group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is being accused by its Palestinian Authority (PA) rivals in the West Bank of Talibanising Gaza and turning the coastal territory into a new Muslim Brotherhood neighbourhood.

Preserving the Soil and Reaping Greater Harvests

Smallholder farmer Peter Mcharo, from Morogoro Region in eastern Tanzania, has a reason to smile. His fields are full of green, healthy maize plants, he has richer soil and he spends less time farming now than he did two years ago.

U.S. Links Pesticides to Honey Bee Deaths, but Resists Ban

A major study by the U.S. government’s environment and agriculture agencies has suggested a strong link between the use of certain pesticides and the widespread deaths that have afflicted honey bee populations around the world in recent years.

Azerbaijan’s Israel Diplomatic Trip Tweaks Tehran

Azerbaijan in late April crossed a self-imposed “red line” in its relations with southern neighbour Iran by dispatching Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on a visit to Israel, Tehran’s arch-foe. Reasons for the timing of the move are not clear, but, so far, Tehran appears to be biding its time with a response.

Imminent Outbreak of Violence on Brazilian Amazon Estate

A fresh outbreak of violence between large landowners and landless peasants is looming in the Amazonian state of Pará, in northern Brazil.

Waste Pickers in Colombia Earn Formal Recognition

Nora Padilla, one of the six winners of this year’s Goldman environmental prize, dedicates her days to organising informal recyclers in the Colombian capital, where the city’s eight million inhabitants are just now reluctantly starting to classify their garbage at source.

U.N. Says Somalia Famine Killed Nearly 260,000

Almost 260,000 people, half of them young children, died of hunger during the last famine in Somalia, according to a U.N. report that admits the world body should have done more to prevent the tragedy.

Iranian Diplomat Confirmed Arrested in Tehran

More than seven weeks after the secretive arrest of prominent Iranian diplomat Bagher Asadi, an Iranian official confirmed his detention Thursday, although he declined to provide further details.

Not Safe for Rwandan Refugees to Return

The Congolese government is demanding a comprehensive strategy for a lasting solution for the repatriation of 127,537 Rwandan refugees estimated to be in the country.

Ecuador’s Indigenous People Still Waiting to Be Consulted

The Constitution of Ecuador adopted in 2008 establishes a broad range of rights for indigenous peoples and nationalities, including the right to prior consultation, which gives them the opportunity to influence decisions that affect their lives.

May Day Marchers Spread Their Wings

More than 1,000 people marched under the brilliant San Francisco sun on May Day. Their signs, such as “Work in America/Live in America/Dream in America. Immigration reform now,” their songs, chants and speeches wove together the twin themes of the day: worker justice and immigrant justice.

U.N. Says Somalia Famine Killed Nearly 260,000

(Al Jazeera) - Almost 260,000 people, half of them young children, died of hunger during the last famine in Somalia, according to a U.N. report that admits the world body should have done more to prevent the tragedy.

Google, Alliance of Civilizations & World Bank Organize Unique Digital Journalism Training

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and Google, in partnership with the World Bank, organized a two-day Digital Training programme for 25 top social media editors and web journalists from 11 countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Syria, Libya among others. The primary focus was on web tools for better newsgathering and reporting across cultures.

Migrants Tune in to Community Support

At the age of 23, Gao travelled to Thailand to escape intense fighting in his native Shan State in the east of Myanmar (Burma) and possible recruitment into the Shah army.

Asylum Seekers Housed Where Eagles Dare

Struggling to accommodate all its asylum seekers, Swiss authorities have turned to unused army quarters. Some of these lie on mountain passes, far away from inhabited areas.

From Rags to Penury

India’s planners worry about ‘jobless growth’, but perhaps nothing illustrates this phenomenon better than a policy of handing over the collection and disposal of the capital’s refuse to large private corporations, leaving close to 50,000 ragpickers unemployed.

Giving Women in Zimbabwe’s Informal Sector Rights

Mollin Siyanda, 46, a single mother of three from Harare’s low-income suburb of Hatcliffe, is scared of being arrested by the council police as she sells fruit, vegetables and second-hand clothes on the pavement of the city centre without a permit.