Word: parliament
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...March 9, three terrorist suspects were killed by Indonesian police during a raid in Jakarta. Forensic experts carefully examined their bodies but kept their conclusions from the public until the following day, when, in a landmark address to the Australian parliament, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced that one of the dead was Dulmatin, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings. It was a matter close to his host's heart: The top bomb-technician, who had a $10 million bounty on his head, set off bombs that killed 202 people on the Indoneisan holiday isle, 88 of them...
...Yudhoyono's speech was greeted with applause from the audience in the Canberra government, and the office of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called Yudhoyono's address - he is the first Indonesian leader to speak before the Australian parliament in its 109-year history - a "milestone" for bilateral ties. But it was not the only grand gesture exchanged between the neighboring nations during his three-day visit to Australia this week. The Indonesian president was also awarded the Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest civilian honor in Australia, for encouraging democracy and economic ties between the two countries...
However, despite these benefits, the bill presents a much deeper problem than that of the vote manipulation. Some fear that it might distort the fragile equilibrium concerning the parliamentary representation of the different religious and ethnic groups that constitute Indian society. Former Member of Parliament Syed Shahabuddin argues that the quota bill might cut Muslim representation in half; if that is the case, the legislation might, in the long run, undermine the ethnic and religious stability of the county. The Indian Parliament should therefore consider refining some aspects of the bill to prevent against discrimination...
...country's democratic system may hamper efforts to build a strong government. Iraq's democracy is a parliamentary system based on the principle of proportional representation - voters all over the country simply choose a party or bloc, whose list of candidates is then allocated the number of seats in parliament proportional to its share of the total vote. The Prime Minister is chosen by a parliamentary majority. While the system may be designed to promote consensus, in the absence of consensus it can be a recipe for weak and unstable government. (Ironically, Israeli leaders can sympathize: their own proportional-representation...
...supporters of GMOs say these complaints have run thin. They point to the U.S., where more than 90% of all soya is now GM and no adverse effects have been found. "Opponents keep saying that GMOs might do this or could do that," says German Member of the European Parliament Britta Reimers, who is with the centrist, pro-business Free Democratic Party. "But after countless studies over the years, we have not seen a single verifiable piece of evidence that there are any health or environmental dangers in GMOs...