Word: ali
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Compassion, says the Oxford English Dictionary, means "suffering together." There has been plenty of that among politicians in London and Washington since Scotland's Justice Minister freed Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi on "compassionate grounds" Aug. 20, citing doctors' reports that he was dying of prostate cancer. Al-Megrahi, the sole person jailed for the deaths of 270 people in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, had served just eight years of a 27-year sentence. After all their grieving, the victims' loved ones had to watch al-Megrahi land in Tripoli, Libya...
...Both Turkey and Armenia have taken a brave and statesmanlike step," says Hugh Pope, analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. "Both will win if it succeeds." For landlocked Armenia, an open border could mean huge economic gains. Ali Guvensoy, head of the chamber of commerce of Kars in eastern Turkey, estimates the regional economy could grow by 20%, a boon for the impoverished area. Opening the border will also bolster Turkey's ambitions to become a political heavyweight in the region. "If successful, [the talks] could win back for Turkey much of its recently faded prestige as domestic...
...situation appeared to be calming on Friday, after unrest had erupted in Gabon's cities the previous afternoon with the announcement that Ali Ben Bongo had won the election to succeed his father Omar Bongo, who died in June after having ruled the nation with an iron fist for 41 years. On Thursday, opposition supporters clashed with security forces in the capital, Libreville, while others in the main economic city of Port-Gentil ransacked shops, set fire to the French consulate and attacked the compound of French oil giant Total. Their grievances were clear: after having helped Omar Bongo squash...
...fact that France has stayed silent in the face of loud claims in Gabon that Ali Ben Bongo's election victory, with 41.7% of the vote, was gained by fraud further suggests that Sarkozy is finding it easier to live with Françafrique than to end it. And he's not the only one. Just hours before the announcement of the election results on Thursday, French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner said he'd been in contact with Ali Ben Bongo and his two main rivals, all of whom were claiming victory. "I hope they will come...
...Activist Ona says the Bongo family fortune allowed Ali Ben to finance ubiquitous advertisements in a lavish campaign that his opponents could never have come close to matching. Meanwhile, Ona notes, local and international observers have marveled at how more than 800,000 names were registered on voter rolls in a nation of only 1.3 million people - an astonishing increase of more than 200,000 voters from the last election, in 2005. "That this election was unfair isn't even an issue, but there's so much suspicion of fraud that France should be voicing concern or protesting...