ONCE AGAIN a poorly run election in a volatile African country threatens an explosion of bloodshed. The setting this time is particularly concerning: Congo, a country nearly the size of Western Europe, with a population of more than 70 million — and a history of civil war that killed millions between 1997 and 2002. An election Nov. 28 pitted the incumbent president, Joseph Kabila, against a 78-year-old populist icon, Étienne Tshisekedi. Poor organization, violence and attempts at manipulation made both the vote and the subsequent count a mess. On Friday, Mr. Kabila was declared the winner , but Mr. Tshisekedi refused to accept the result, and some of his supporters clashed with security forces in the capital, Kinshasa. Though an uneasy calm prevailed Sunday, Congo’s neighbors, the United Nations and outside parties such as the United States will have to keep working to prevent a crisis. Read full article > >

Excerpt from:
Editorial Board:
Congo at risk

Mr. Kameny transformed his 1957 arrest as a “sex pervert” and his subsequent firing from the Army Map Service into a powerful animating spark of the gay rights movement.

Here is the original post:
Franklin Kameny, Gay Rights Pioneer, Dies at 86

On the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, despite months of spin both for and against, public opinion of the law has barely changed. It’s been about evenly split along partisan lines since around the summer of 2009. The bill’s passage and the subsequent year of fights over implementation have had barely any effect.

Here is the original post:
The health care stalemate

On the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, despite months of spin both for and against, public opinion of the law has barely changed. It’s been about evenly split along partisan lines since around the summer of 2009. The bill’s passage and the subsequent year of fights over implementation have had barely any effect.

Read more here:
The health care stalemate

The former British prime minister Tony Blair appeared before an inquiry into the Iraq war, and invoked the attacks of Sept. 11 as the source of his subsequent policies towards Iraq.

Here is the original post:
Blair Testifies Before British Inquiry Into Iraq War

A Canadian who helped make the bomb that destroyed an Air India jet in 1985 is convicted of committing perjury at the subsequent trial.

Go here to see the original:
Air India bomb plotter convicted