Putin party suffers blow in Russia polls

MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin s ruling party Monday barely won half the vote in legislative polls marred by claims of dir

Britain vote reform referendum on May 5

LONDON: Britain will hold a referendum on May 5 on changing the electoral system after the government overcame stiff resistance in parliament to pass legislation authorising the vote. The centrist Liberal Democrat party demanded the referendum as a key condition for joining a coalition with the centre-right Conservatives after the Tories failed to win a clear general election victory in May 2010. But the two sides hold sharply different views on electoral reform, meaning Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will campaign against each other ahead of the vote. “This is a real milestone in restoring trust in our political system and making our democracy fairer,” said Clegg, who cancelled a trip to South America to try to resolve a parliamentary stand-off over the issue. “For the first time, through a referendum, voters will have a say in the system they use to elect their MPs.” A group of peers from the House of Lords, the upper chamber of parliament, had tried to derail the legislation by insisting on a minimum turnout of 40 percent in the referendum, but the government defeated their moves late Wednesday. The bill had to be approved by Thursday for the vote to take place in May as the House of Lords was about to go into recess. The Conservatives want to stick with the current first-past-the-post voting system, in which the constituency candidate who wins the most number of votes wins outright. This is also used in countries including the United States, India and Canada and tends to favour a two-party system. The Liberal Democrats, traditionally the third largest party, see electoral reform as a touchstone policy and will support a switch to the Alternative Vote (AV) system, as used in Australia, in the referendum. This allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, although does not go as far on electoral reform as the party would eventually like. (AFP)

3-MQM conventions nothing more than ‘political circus’ …..

To a question on whether the MQM had chances to dent the vote bank of other political parties in the province, Rashid said, “There is a clear difference between a festival and circus. Festivals invo…

The Buzz: The long arm of the IPL?

Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections were held on Thursday but one rookie candidate was allowed to cast his vote a day early. Sanath Jayasuriya – a candidate of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance – cast his vote on Wednesday, to allow him to rejoin the Mumbai Indians for their game on Friday against Kings XI Punjab. They will welcome him back after the shock loss to Chennai on Tuesday and it’s a good opportunity for Jayasuriya, if he plays, to get among the runs. Which leaves one question: Was…

Islam wrongly linked with terrorism: UN

GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution condemning Islamaphobic behaviour, including Switzerland’’s minaret building ban, despite some states” major reservations. The resolution, which was criticised by the United States as “an instrument of division”, “strongly condemns… the ban on the construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures.” In a November referendum Swiss citizens voted to ban the construction of new minarets, a move that drew criticisms worldwide. These measures “are manifestations of Islamophobia that stand in sharp contradiction to international human rights obligations concerning freedoms of religions,” said the resolution. Such acts would “fuel discrimination, extremism and misperception leading to polarization and fragmentation with dangerous unintended and unforeseen consequences,” it charged. Some 20 countries voted in favour of the resolution entitled “combating defamation of religions”, 17 voted against and eight abstained. The resolution also “expresses deep concern … that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.” It “regrets the laws or administrative measures specifically designed to control and monitor Muslim minorities, thereby stigmatising them and legitimising the discrimination they experience.” Putting forward the resolution on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Pakistan’’s ambassador Zamir Akram said that the specific references to Islam, the only religion mentioned in the text, “reflect the existing regrettable situation in some parts of the world where Muslims are being targeted.” Babacar Ba, who represents the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, also told reporters that the resolution was a “way to reaffirm once again our condemnation of the decision to ban construction of minarets in Switzerland.” “This initiative that breaches religious freedom and rights of Muslims to build their places of worship as they wish to,” he added. However, the European Union pointed out that the concept of defamation should not fall under the remit of human rights because it conflicted with the right to freedom of expression, while the United States said free speech could be hindered by the resolution. “The European Union believes that reconciling the notion of defamation with discrimination is a problematic endeavour,” French ambassador Jean-Baptiste Matte said on behalf of the bloc. Eleven Danaher, US ambassador to the UN also slammed the resolution as an “ineffective way to address” concerns about discrimination. “We cannot agree that prohibiting speech is the way to promote tolerance, and because we continue to see the ”defamation of religions” concept used to justify censorship, criminalisation, and in some cases violent assaults and deaths of political, racial, and religious minorities around the world,” she said. “Contrary to the intentions of most member states, governments are likely to abuse the rights of individuals in the name of this resolution, and in the name of the Human Rights Council,” added the US envoy.

Obama’s health bill moved back to House

WASHINGTON: Historic US health care reform legislation will have to return to the House of Representatives for a new vote after the Senate parliamentarian struck two minor provisions. The decision came as the US Senate met in a middle-of-the-night session to try to finish the bill, which would put the finishing touches on the sweeping healthcare overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin upheld two Republican challenges on points of order under budget reconciliation rules, Senate Democratic aides said, requiring another vote by the House. The points of order involved the revamp of the student loan program included in the package, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. Under the reconciliation rules, each provision in the package must have a budgetary impact. The decision could set up another politically difficult vote in the House, which narrowly passed the overhaul and the companion bill of final changes to cap a year-long political struggle. “We are confident the House will quickly pass the bill with these minor changes,” said Kate Cyrul, a spokeswoman for Tom Harkin, Democratic chairman of the Senate Health Committee. The ruling came after Senate Democrats had managed to fend off 30 Republican amendments designed to derail the bill. The Senate’’s approval of even one of the amendments also would have sent the entire package back to the House for another vote, and Democratic senators vowed to prevent that. Republicans had met with the parliamentarian through the evening on Wednesday in hopes of finding language in the bill that could be challenged under budget reconciliation rules that require every provision have a budgetary impact. Those rules allow passage by a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than the 60 needed to overcome procedural hurdles. The ruling means 16 lines will be stricken from the bill, but that is enough to require House action once again. The overhaul signed by Mr Obama represents the biggest changes to the US health system in four decades. It expands insurance coverage to 32 million Americans and imposes new regulations such as barring insurance companies from refusing to cover patients with pre-existing medical conditions.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s Fan Box reached 100,000+ members on Facebook

Congratulations to General Pervez Musharraf, as he got 100,000+ fans on facebook, i think its a symbolic effort of pakistans to show their regard to our ex-president. The one who was the best leader of pakistan in pakistan’s history after Quaid-e-Azam R.A – (We are not comparing musharraf with quaid , no way)
Though there were [...]

Sugar Mafia accepts their crime

Greed of pakistani sugar mill owner forced them to commit crime of  “Illegally storing sugar to create artificial shortage” and this is a bigger crime where victims are millions of poor pakistanis. I just want to see where is Chief Justice of Pakistan now. After so long struggle of lawyers and common people, Ch. Iftikhar [...]

Should there be New provices in pakistan

Actually , its not a new term, there have been quite an efforts in the past to create new provinces, but it was not in this intensity as it is now. Question is simple , Should it there be more provinces in Pakistan
answers lies in YES/NO
Why there should be more provinces ( ADVANTAGES )

There is [...]

North Korea planning to test another nuclear missile in few days

Well, What a bravery north korea is showing, a recent news predicts that North korea is testing another
long range nuclear missile test in this week. North korea tested a very long range nuclear missile a couple of weeks ago giving no notice to Japan, America, united nations , russia , UK, France and germany’s warning. [...]