Headlines:

• Same-Sex Marriage: US Supreme Court Gives Gay Marriage Historic Boost
• Activists say Syrian Death Toll Tops 100,000
• Afghan Revelations: Pakistan-US Secret Diplomacy Created Doha Roadmap
• Myanmar Gives Official Blessing to Anti-Muslim Monks

Details:

Same-Sex Marriage: US Supreme Court Gives Gay Marriage Historic Boost:

For gay rights, the Supreme Court gave the nation's legally married gay couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans on Wednesday and also cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. Gay-rights supporters cheered and hugged outside the court. Opponents said they mourned the rulings and vowed to keep up their fight. In the first of the narrow rulings in its final session of the term, the court wiped away part of a federal anti-gay marriage law, the Defense of Marriage Act that has kept legally married same-sex couples from receiving tax, health and pension benefits that are otherwise available to married couples. Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by the four liberal justices, said the purpose of the law was to impose a disadvantage and "a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex marriages made lawful by the unquestioned authority of the states." President Barack Obama praised the court's ruling against the federal marriage act, labeling the law "discrimination enshrined in law." "It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people," Obama said in a statement. "The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it." (Source: Associated Press)

Activists say Syrian Death Toll Tops 100,000:

Syrian activists say more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced its latest count Wednesday, saying the figure included 18,000 rebels and about 40,000 pro-Assad fighters. The United Nations said earlier this month nearly 93,000 people were confirmed dead, but that the actual number is probably much higher. (Source: Voice of America)

 

Afghan Revelations: Pakistan-US Secret Diplomacy Created Doha Roadmap:

Months-long painstaking and secret negotiations involving Islamabad and Washington have yielded a detailed roadmap for steering negotiations with the Afghan Taliban which will start to unfold with the release of five Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and the return of the captured US soldier PFC Bowe Bergdahl, at present in Taliban custody. While the opening of the Taliban office in Doha, Qatar, has captured headlines across the world, wide-ranging interviews with highly-placed diplomatic, military and foreign office sources reveal that this office is but one of the many elements of a complex process, the ultimate aim of which is for all stakeholders in Afghanistan to share power through an inclusive election process under a possibly modified Afghanistan constitution. "The journey begins now and if all goes well should co-terminate with the exit of the American combat troops and holding of elections in Afghanistan that brings everyone onboard," says a diplomatic source who has been involved in this process. Other elements of this process are complete reconciliation with the Taliban led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, multiple-level dialogue between the Taliban and non- Pashtoon groups, agreement on the constitutional framework to govern Afghanistan after safe and trouble-free exit of the US forces from the Afghan soil, gradual cessation of kinetic operations and crucially, dispensing with Hamid Karzai in the political sense in case he tries to subvert peace efforts. There is little doubt in anyone's mind that this road is slippery and with no guaranteed success. However, a near-complete and rare alignment of views between the US administration and Pakistan's policymakers achieved through a robust and out-of-media-glare talks has created space for ‘pulling this one off', says the source. "There has been some direct dialling between Pakistan and John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, working under clear guidelines from president Obama," says one of Pakistan's top negotiators.(Source: The Express Tribune)

Myanmar Gives Official Blessing to Anti-Muslim Monks:

The Buddhist extremist movement in Myanmar, known as 969, portrays itself as a grassroots creed. Its chief proponent, a monk named Wirathu, was once jailed by the former military junta for anti-Muslim violence and once called himself the "Burmese bin Laden." But a Reuters examination traces 969's origins to an official in the dictatorship that once ran Myanmar, and which is the direct predecessor of today's reformist government. The 969 movement now enjoys support from senior government officials, establishment monks and even some members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the political party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Wirathu urges Buddhists to boycott Muslim shops and shun interfaith marriages. He calls mosques "enemy bases." Among his admirers: Myanmar's Minister of Religious Affairs."Wirathu's sermons are about promoting love and understanding between religions," Sann Sint, minister of religious affairs, told Reuters in his first interview with the international media. "It is impossible he is inciting religious violence." Sann Sint, a former lieutenant general in Myanmar's army, also sees nothing wrong with the boycott of Muslim businesses being led by the 969 monks. "We are now practicing market economics," he said. "Nobody can stop that. It is up to the consumers." President Thein Sein is signaling a benign view of 969, too. His office declined to comment for this story. But in response to growing controversy over the movement, it issued a statement Sunday, saying 969 "is just a symbol of peace" and Wirathu is "a son of Lord Buddha." Wirathu and other monks have been closely linked to the sectarian violence spreading across Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Anti-Muslim unrest simmered under the junta that ran the country for nearly half a century. But the worst fighting has occurred since the quasi-civilian government took power in March 2011.(Source: Reuters)

 

Abu Hashim