China rejects sanctions as Syria solution. And an Ex-Mubarak official Shafiq is cleared for presidential run. I’m Frances Alonzo reporting from Washington.
China says it does not approve of using sanctions to address the crisis in Syria. The comments come a day after France’s foreign minister discussed possible measures to enforce a faltering ceasefire plan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday his country objected to using (pressure), and instead backed the efforts of international envoy Kofi Annan. Russia has also been opposed to Western and Arab efforts to impose U.N. sanctions on Syria’s government. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday defended his country’s arms sales to Syria, saying they do not violate international law.
Meanwhile, tempers are flaring in Cairo, where the country’s constitutional court has cleared former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq to contest this weekend’s presidential run-off (election). Crowds gathered outside the courthouse chanting, demanding the fall of military regime. Shafiq placed second to the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohamed Morsi, in the first round of voting in late May. But many people aligned with the Islamist group had argued that Shafiq’s ties to former President Hosni Mubarak should preclude him from running. The ruling now sets the stage for runoff election between Morsi and Shafiq set for Saturday and Sunday.
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for international aid and investment that will help promote further democratic reform in Burma, as she kicked off her landmark (European) tour in Geneva. The newly elected lawmaker said in an address Thursday to the International Labor Organization that she would like to see the Burmese government make additional reforms to protect the rights of workers in the once isolated country.
During the past three years, financial institutions around the world have invested more than $40 billion in producers of banned cluster munitions, according to a report published Thursday. The (investors) include Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and China Merchants Bank. Selah Hennessy reports for VOA from London.
According to the research paper, 137 private and public institutions have been investing in manufacturing companies that produce cluster munitions. Report co-author Roos Boer says making those investments is counterproductive.
“If you want to rid the world of cluster munitions, it makes no sense to continue to invest in those weapons.”
Boer is a policy analyst for the Netherlands-based campaign group IKV Pax Christi, which published the report along with the Belgium-based group FairFin. Selah Hennessy for VOA News, London.
Eleven countries of Africa’s Great Lakes region have set up a new mechanism for sharing information on security threats. For VOA, Nick Long reports from Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Intelligence chiefs from the eleven countries attended an opening ceremony this week for the new Center for Intelligence Sharing for the Great Lakes Countries here in Goma. The executive secretary of the new center, Professor Ntumba Luaba, a former minister in the DRC government, said the Great Lakes (countries) had decided to locate the center in Goma, because there were a number of armed groups near the town and several of the regions recent wars had started near here. The launch of this initiative comes at a time of tense relations between the DRC and Rwanda, after a mutiny among Congolese army units, which the DRC says was instigated from Rwanda. Nick Long for VOA News, Goma.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says international partners are cooperating to help his country fight terrorism and radicalism as well as bring peace and economic progress to the (region). President Karzai spoke Thursday at a one-day conference in Kabul. That’s where officials were discussing the future of Afghanistan after foreign troops withdraw in 2014.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has gone before a media ethics panel to testify about his relationship with media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Cameron told the government-funded, independent panel that politicians and the media have had a too close relationship for the past two decades.
U.S. President Barack Obama has presented Israeli President Shimon Peres with the Medal of Freedom. That’s America’s highest civilian honor. It happened during a formal dinner at the White House.
You could read more details on this and more, 24 hours a day at voanews.com. I’m Frances Alonzo, VOA News.