Judicial

Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to experience "limited separation of powers, abuse of state resources for electoral purposes, opaque political party financing, and conflicts of interest," anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International says in its latest annual report.The 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report, published on January 23, ranks 180 nations based on aggregated survey and assessment data from 13 different global institutions.Denmark and New Zealand retained their place at the top of the index.It says that the Eastern Europe and Central Asia remains the second-lowest performing region on the CPI, with an average score of 35 on its 0-100 scale. The lower the number, the more corrupt a country is perceived to be.More than two-thirds of countries a...

Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to experience "limited separation of powers, abuse of state resources for electoral purposes, opaque political party financing, and conflicts of interest," anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International says in its latest annual report.The 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report, published on January 23, ranks 180 nations based on aggregated survey and assessment data from 13 different global institutions.Denmark and New Zealand retained their place at the top of the index.It says that the Eastern Europe and Central Asia remains the second-lowest performing region on the CPI, with an average score of 35 on its 0-100 scale. The lower the number, the more corrupt a country is perceived to be.More than two-thirds of countries a...

An Iranian student returning to university in Boston was denied entry to the United States and sent out of the country, immigration lawyers said.Mohammad Shahab Dehghani Hossein, a 24-year-old undergraduate student at Northeastern University, arrived on a flight into Boston International Logan Airport on Monday with a valid student visa, but was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).Lawyers filed an emergency petition Monday night to allow him re-entry to attend college, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts. The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts issued an order allowing Dehghani to stay in the U.S. until a hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.But CBP put him on a flight out of the U.S. Monday night.Kerry Doyle, one of Dehghani's lawyers, sa...

An Iranian student returning to university in Boston was denied entry to the United States and sent out of the country, immigration lawyers said.Mohammad Shahab Dehghani Hossein, a 24-year-old undergraduate student at Northeastern University, arrived on a flight into Boston International Logan Airport on Monday with a valid student visa, but was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).Lawyers filed an emergency petition Monday night to allow him re-entry to attend college, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts. The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts issued an order allowing Dehghani to stay in the U.S. until a hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.But CBP put him on a flight out of the U.S. Monday night.Kerry Doyle, one of Dehghani's lawyers, sa...

Damascus, Syria reaffirmed that it will continue carrying out its legal and constitutional duty of fighting terrorism and protecting Syrians from the criminal practices of armed terrorist groups.In two identical letters sent by the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry to the UN Secretary-General and the head of the Security Council on Saturday, Syria said that whenever the Syrian Arab Army makes progress in fighting terrorism, the states which sponsor terrorism always launch fervent media misdirection campaigns.The letters pointed out to the suffering of civilians due to the practices of terrorist groups which have been spreading death and destruction for nine years wherever they go, using civilians as human shields, turning hospitals and schools to military centers, and firing shells and rock...

Damascus, Syria reaffirmed that it will continue carrying out its legal and constitutional duty of fighting terrorism and protecting Syrians from the criminal practices of armed terrorist groups.In two identical letters sent by the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry to the UN Secretary-General and the head of the Security Council on Saturday, Syria said that whenever the Syrian Arab Army makes progress in fighting terrorism, the states which sponsor terrorism always launch fervent media misdirection campaigns.The letters pointed out to the suffering of civilians due to the practices of terrorist groups which have been spreading death and destruction for nine years wherever they go, using civilians as human shields, turning hospitals and schools to military centers, and firing shells and rock...

IRBIL, IRAQ - Turkish airstrikes inside Iraq targeting members of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group have killed at least four minority Yazidi fighters allied with the rebels, an Iraqi army official said Thursday.The strikes, which took place on Wednesday, hit a military pickup truck in the northern town of Sinjar in Nineveh province, said the army official, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations.The pickup was carrying members of the Iraqi Yazidi militia known as the Shingal Resistance Units, affiliated with the Kurdistan Worker's Party, or PKK, which is fighting an insurgency in Turkey and has been outlawed by Ankara.Kurdish television channels in northern Iraq reported that Yazidi commander Zardasht Shingali was among the dead and that another five fighters were wounded in th...

Mount Lebanon Appeal Court Judge, Ghada Aoun, on Wednesday launched proceedings against dentist Fady Hachem, the spouse of Lebanese singer, Nancy Ajram, for having shot at point-blank range a burglar who broke into his villa, in Kesrouane. The judge relied on articles 229 and 547 of the Lebanese penal code to initiate her prosecution. Article 229 generally provides for the possibility of not imposing a sentence if the act committed is substantial for self-protection. Article 547 provides that whoever intentionally kills another will be punished with forced labor for fifteen to twenty years.Source: National News Agency

In his four-hour, stage-managed year-end news conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin went out of his way to back U.S. President Donald Trump in the impeachment saga unfolding in Washington.Lambasting American Democrats for what he termed "made-up reasons" to impeach Trump, a Republican, the Russian leader accused them of nursing a grudge over losing the 2016 presidential elections.The impeachment is "just the continuation of the domestic political strife," Putin said. "Your members of Congress should know better."Putin added there's little chance the Republican-controlled Senate will remove Trump from office. He disputed a key article of impeachment against the U.S. president: that Trump pressured Ukraine's president to investigate a political rival, former U.S. Vice Preside...

In his four-hour, stage-managed year-end news conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin went out of his way to back U.S. President Donald Trump in the impeachment saga unfolding in Washington.Lambasting American Democrats for what he termed "made-up reasons" to impeach Trump, a Republican, the Russian leader accused them of nursing a grudge over losing the 2016 presidential elections.The impeachment is "just the continuation of the domestic political strife," Putin said. "Your members of Congress should know better."Putin added there's little chance the Republican-controlled Senate will remove Trump from office. He disputed a key article of impeachment against the U.S. president: that Trump pressured Ukraine's president to investigate a political rival, former U.S. Vice Preside...