I. Using ‘Human Rights’ to Squelch Free Speech
In the June issue of Reason Magazine, Ezra Levant details his long and unnecessary struggle with Canadian human rights watchdogs over charges that he insulted a Muslim extremist, who claimed to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. "The investigation vividly illustrated how Canada’s provincial and national human rights commissions (HRCs), created in the 1970s to police discrimination in employment, housing, and the provision of goods and services, have been hijacked as weapons against speech that offends members of minority groups."
II. Armenia pulls out of NATO war games in Georgia
"In the current situation the representatives of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia will not participate in the NATO Partnership for Peace exercises," the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement, without elaborating. Former Soviet Kazakhstan and Serbia have also pulled out of the exercises.
III. Georgia accuses Russia of supporting coup attempt
The alleged conspiracy began with an uprising at the Mukhrovani military base, 25 miles north-east of the capital, Tbilisi, where officers in charge of a tank battalion stationed there led their men in an apparently non-violent mutiny. Government officials were quick to claim that the rebellion was part of a broader plot, planned with the connivance of Moscow, to seize control of the pro-western government and kill the president.
IV. Negotiations will continue: Dimitris Christofias
The negotiations will continue, said President of the Republic of Cyprus Dimitris Christofias after his meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
V. Condoleezza Rice talks to Phila. students
Rice told the students that her life changed the day when she walked into a course on international politics taught by Joseph Korbel, a specialist on the Soviet Union. "He just opened up this world to me ... of Russia and the Soviet Union, and international history, and I had found my passion," she said. "Now, people asked all the time, 'What in the world is a young black girl from Birmingham, Ala., doing studying Russian and the Soviet Union?' And I couldn't explain why it was. ... It was like love."
VI. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek answered your questions in the chat
Continuously and repeatedly, I have been mentioning that Vaclav Klaus is a professional politician who will have no problem to moderate a discussion on the level of a summit. His personal opinions do not play any role in it. By demonizing Klaus you have created your own problem, not ours. I believe that some EU politicians are more controversial than him.
VII. Cyprus Archbishop in Syria - meets Assad
Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus Chrysostomos II, accompanied by the Patriarch of Antioch and All The East Ignatios was received by Syrian President Bushar Al Assad.