News archive of July 2014

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France's controversial burqa ban, rejecting arguments that outlawing full-face veils breaches religious freedom.
      
In a case brought by a 24-year-old French woman with the support of a British legal team, the court ruled that France was justified in introducing the ban in the interests of social cohesion.
      

An Indian lawmaker faced calls to quit Tuesday after he was captured on video threatening the rape of his political rivals' relatives.
      
Amid widespread outrage in India over a series of recent high-profile rapes, the Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal could be clearly heard bragging of his ability to order attacks against his left-wing opponents.
      

Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) fined Microsoft Bulgaria with BGN 187 000, after a complaint by BMG OOD said the commission on its website. 

Hungary continues work on South Stream

BELGRADE -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that his country will continue works to build the South Stream natural gas pipeline.

Orban, who is visiting Belgrade, noted that "if someone wants to stop the project, they must propose an alternative."

Iraq’s Kurds will hold an independence referendum within months, their leader Masoud Barzani said July1.

Barzani said the time was right for a vote as Iraq was already effectively divided following the gains by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Greek Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Tuesday condemned the killing of three Israeli teenage boys who were abducted earlier this month in the West Bank and whose bodies were found near the town of Halhul, north of Hebron, on Monday.

U.S. pop singer Beyonce, basketball player LeBron James and record producer and rapper Dr. Dre headed Forbes' list of the world's most powerful celebrities released on Monday.
   

Afghanistan's presidential election result has been delayed for several days, officials said Tuesday, as a dispute over alleged fraud threatens to derail the country's first democratic transfer of power.
      

Abdulahim Maktouf, an Iraqi who fought alongside the Bosnian Army during the 1992-95 conflict, will be retried after the original verdict sentencing him to five years in jail was annulled.

BELGRADE - The Bar Association of Belgrade (AKB) has said that it will continue to strike until its demands are met, while lawyers in other parts of Serbia resumed work on Monday.

The AKB executive board said in a statement that the strike, which started on June 18, will continue due to the fact that the livelihood of most lawyers is under threat.