The Skeptic الشكاك

262 Ten-Minute Review

• Always, Egypt first: The Sept. 12 Al-Misri al-Youm reports on Muslim Brotherhood MPs’ proposals for amending the Constitution. They suggest that presidents should only be allowed to serve for two five-year terms, that Parliament should have more oversight of ministerial appointments and the budget, and that the legislative branch should have other checks on the executive. Alas, Nahdat Misr reports that they also continue to complain about the film adaptation of The Yacoubian Building and to complain that the government’s decision to raise the age at which girls may marry from 16 to 18 runs contrary to Sharia law.
• Al-Ahram reports that Interior Minister Habib al-Adli told Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan that the Emergency Law would be lifted when the Anti-Terrorism Law was approved. No news there.
• Khan also visited the Arab League and told delegates that Arabs need to do more on Darfur.
• Elsewhere, at a summit in Cuba, members of the Non-Aligned Movement condemned terrorism and Israel’s actions in Lebanon. Participants also defended the movement’s relevance.
• British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for an end to sanctions against the Palestinian government. One of his Cabinet ministers told Parliament that the settlements are a barrier to peace. As-Safir reported that the World Bank has certified that Palestinian incomes are at their lowest levels in 25 years. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised to pay his employees in the beginning of Ramadan, that is, in a little more than 10 days. Hamas said it was open to talks with Israel and that it expected to form a unity government within days.
• Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, who led Israel’s northern command during the 34-day offensive, resigned. An IDF commander who fired cluster munitions said these attacks had been “crazy and monstrous.” A leftover cluster bomblet exploded and injured two people in Bazouriya, a small town near Tyre.
• The Lebanese army deployed to the eastern part of southern Lebanon. For the moment, Israel will maintain its control of Ghajar, a town that previously straddled the Lebanese-Israeli border.
• Human Rights Watch issued a report documenting abuse of migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees in Libya.
• Tunisia held a conference to discuss means of combatting illegal immigration (presumably to Europe, since you rarely see people scaling prison walls from the outside).
• Moroccan judicial officials postponed the trial of 56 people detained as terrorists to an unspecified date after the investigating judge failed to turn up to their hearing. His assistant said the judge was too tied-up with meetings to attend.

[tags]Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, cluster-bombs, Hamas[/tags]

6 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

1. Thanks for the round-up Elijah, very useful. I also read today that Amnesty had accused HA of war crimes in targeting Israeli civilians.
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5343188.stm

   And of course the Israelis are arresting and shooting a few Palestinians here and there, and no-one is invading their country in outrage. Hmm.

   Ayy rayyak on the new Palestinian unity govt?

   Comment by SP — September 14, 2006 #

2. Wonder if there’ll be an article in a month headlined “How Amnesty Lost It’s Way in Lebanon.”

   On the “unity gov”: It’s taken too long. I never would have thought it would have taken 9 months for the fallout from the Palestinian elections to settle.

   Comment by Administrator — September 14, 2006 #

3. Yay, the guy is back!!!!!

   Comment by L — September 15, 2006 #

4. you can actually choose now 😉

   Comment by Administrator — September 15, 2006 #

5. a nice, clean design.

   Comment by issandr — September 15, 2006 #

6. Thanks, Issandr. My favorite so far, too.

   Comment by Administrator — September 15, 2006 #

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

I'm Reading: