Journalism Awards: Reporters Without Borders honors journalists who fear for their lives

Three female journalists, from Malta, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam have received this year's press freedom prizes awarded by the NGO Reporters Without Borders. Two were not allowed to travel to collect their award.

Only Caroline Muscat was able to appear in person to collect her "Prize for Independence." Vietnamese blogger Pham Doan Trang, who won the "Prize for Impact," and Saudi Arabian women's rights activist Eman al-Nafjan, winner of the "Prize for Courage," both remain barred from leaving their countries, their websites blocked, and under constant threat of detention and harassment.

Read more at: Reporters Without Borders honors journalists who fear for their lives | News | DW | 12.09.2019

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America’s big blunders: Has everyone forgotten that the Vietnam and Iraq wars were unnecessary, stupid and destructive? - by David Masciotra

tt is always equally nauseating and amusing to see America, an individualistic country, get in touch with its inner Marx and transform into a nation of collectivists whenever discussion of war rises to the level of unavoidable noise pollution. “The pursuit of happiness” mutates into “give your life for your country” with little scrutiny of the nobility or necessity of the military misadventure at hand.

Ever since Donald Trump, in an act of stupidity and indecency now becoming characteristic, spoke ill of the Khan family, whose son died in the Army during the Iraq War, the entire country has communicated a pro-military mindset that papers over the truth regarding America’s foolish and lethal wars in Vietnam and Iraq.

It is basic courtesy and kindness to express sympathy for anyone who has to bury a child, and to demonstrate respect for anyone who suffers injury or dies in war, but in an understandable and natural urge to honor the grief of the Khans, the Democratic Party, major media figures and Republicans desperately trying to distance themselves from the traveling disaster of Donald Trump have dragged out the big, rancid words “service” and “sacrifice.” These words act as censors against honest evaluation of American foreign policy. Throughout the rush to give the Khan family the regard they deserve and that Trump could not offer, it is disturbing to see almost no acknowledgement of the reality that their son, along with 4,485 other Americans, died in a war that should have never taken place. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis also died, and many more sustained life-altering wounds and trauma, but Americans are never much for counting the casualties their country creates, rather than endures.

As much as Trump should apologize to the Khan family for his rude and thoughtless remarks, shouldn’t the architects and administrators of the war that killed Humayun Khan also apologize?

The failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the lack of any operative connection between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda, and the creation of a terrorist playground in place of a once stable, albeit oppressive and miserable, country has led the overwhelming majority of Americans to view the war as a “mistake” and “not worth it.” The Iraq War, like the Vietnam War before it, was unnecessary, stupid and destructive. A rational observer who just awoke from a coma the week before the Democratic Convention would have little awareness of the blunder and crime of the Bush administration, given that for the past week, the entire country has spoken about the optional failure of policy as if it was World War II.

When the words “serve” and “sacrifice” populate political dialogue, it becomes crucial to ask, serve what and sacrifice for what?

Read more: America’s great mistakes: Has everyone forgotten that the Vietnam and Iraq wars were unnecessary, stupid and destructive? - Salon.com

Insurance Industry - SURE: International Insurance Highlights With A Special Focus On Europe

Check out the Spring 2015 edition of Sure!   

Sure! is a compilation of press reports as well as market research conducted by Koster Verzekeringen BV, in order to gain more insight into the developments concerning the insurance industry as it relates to the overall global economic climate, social structure and the political environment.

In the Spring 2015 edition of Sure! Solvency II remains on top, as more and more effects of it's impact are felt around the European Union, radically changing the way insurance companies used to conduct their business. The objective of Solvency II, as aspired by the European Commission, is to create additional transparency and a more harmonized insurance industry throughout the European Union.

The Spring 2015 edition of Sure! also provides insight on how some specific EU member states are being affected by Solvency II , including France, Germany, Italy, Britain, in addition to recent developments in Greece and the Netherlands related to the insurance industry.

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