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| Barack Obama, the US president, has addressed the British parliament, saying that Western influence remains strong in the world, despite emerging world powers such as China, India and Brazil. In a speech to both houses of parliament on Wednesday, Obama said that Western powers still had a responsibility to uphold "universal rights", but stressed that this work must be done through multilateral forums like the G20. "We do this knowing the West must overcome mistrust and suspicion from many," he told the assembled British legislators, in a reference to Western support for recent pro-democracy uprisings in many countries in North Africa and the Middle East. "Ultimately freedom must be won by the people themselves, not imposed from without." Obama's speech to both houses of parliament on Wednesday was historic as it marks the first time a US president has been afforded that opportunity. |
Source: Al Jazeera |
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris rejected “colonial” criticism Tuesday of a government-appointed civil war probe, after foreign rights groups snubbed an invitation to attend. New York-based Human Rights Watch, London-based Amnesty International and Brussels-based International Crisis Group last week accused the panel of a cover-up and refused an offer from Colombo to appear before it. Peiris said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading think-tank based in London, that the rights groups had displayed a “most unattractive attitude.” “It smacks of an attitude that is almost colonial, patronising and condescending, the assumption being that other people must step in because Sri Lankans are unable to chart a course for their own future,” he said. Peiris, who is in London for talks with the British government, said the LLRC was based on similar reconciliation commissions in countries such as South Africa. He urged rights groups and
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