Politics

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, yesterday approved a bill on third reading that will allow the authorities to compile a website blacklist, fuelling concern about Internet filtering and censorship. The bill will have to be passed by the upper house and ratified by President Vladimir Putin before it takes effect.

We reproduce here part of an investigation carried out by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism [BIJ](http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/07/11/inside-the-citys-best-connected-lobby-group/) on the workings of the City of London, the Financial District at the centre of a system that affects every aspect of ordinary people’s lives.

Although the elections and the political reforms are needed in the wake of the Arab Spring, premature elections could usher in a period of continued political instability punctuated by violence, or introduce new totalitarian regimes that would assume power under the pretext of maintaining order and also keeping stability.

Seemingly unconnected events like the unfolding civil war in Syria and a President deposed by his Parliament in Paraguay are in fact remarkably similar in their ultimate goals, if not in their methods. As the International Financial Empire fears losing its hegemony we witness its attempts to discipline dissenting voices.

The last ten days of May, and the first twenty of June, 2012, proved difficult ones for Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The conflict between the two countries, which has gone on for over two decades, has led to numerous deaths. And in spite of the fact that a truce has by and large held between the two nations, people continue to die on the line of contact.

The video present somes issue discussed at the city hall last the spring. The municipal regulation has similar effect on civil rights than the outrageous Bill 78 that the Québec Government passed in May. The municipal regulation is now applied by the montreal police forces whenever there is an «illegal protest» to avoid dealing with the unpopular bill 78.

The online whistleblower WikiLeaks continues to release documents from the Syria Files, more than 2 million emails said to be from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies over a 6 year period ending earlier this year. WikiLeaks spokesperson Sarah Harrison said the files would embarrass not only the Syrian government but many of its political foes.

3 top figures from Argentina’s former ruling junta have been sentenced to additional time behind bars for the deliberate theft of babies from political prisoners. Former dictators Jorge Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, as well as former navy officer Jorge Acosta, were found guilty of a systematic plan to take the babies of dissidents and adopt them into military families.

Around three years ago, the U.S-born world financial crisis forced five European Union member countries to receive a really little honorable “title” — the PIGS. These were Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. With Ireland added to the group, the acronym became PIIGS. More recently came Cyprus, the current EU president.

Southeast Asian states should collectively negotiate with powerful China to resolve territory disputes. 04 Jul 2012 China’s claim to a disputed island in the South China Sea has angered many in the Philippines. No one will believe that the stand-off between the Philippines and China over a disputed island in the South China Sea is a straightforward bilateral issue.