New Zealand Prime Minister John Key New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says the island country is set to hold a vote within the next three years on changing the design of the national flag. In a speech at Victoria University in the capital Wellington on Tuesday, Key announced plans to hold the referendum by 2017 on replacing the current flag with a new design. The New Zealand ensign features the Union... 

Russia has defended a decision by Ukraine’s Crimean authorities to hold a referendum as the standoff between Moscow and the West over the crisis-hit Eastern European country continues. Speaking by telephone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said steps taken by authorities in Crimea were “based on international... 

The parliament of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea has voted to hold a referendum to determine the region’s future amid ongoing crisis in the country. On Thursday, the regional parliament voted 61 to 64 in favor of holding the referendum on May 25, the date already set for snap presidential elections across Ukraine. The parliament said the referendum is about “improving the status of... 

Brussels has frozen research grants for Swiss universities worth hundreds of millions of euros in retaliation after Switzerland voted to cap the number of immigrants entering the country in a nationwide referendum. The retaliatory move by the EU comes just one day after Switzerland refused to sign a ‘freedom of movement’ agreement with Croatia, which would have given Croatians unrestricted access... 

Opponents of non-traditional sexual orientations during a rally of the Heterosexual Alliance for LGBT Rights in the Field of Mars dedicated to the International Day Against Homophobia. Vsevolod Chaplin maintains that gay relations between men pose a threat to the whole of society, but left it for the people to decide on the possible punishment for such actions. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s... 

An Egyptian committee tasked with drafting a new constitution has approved an article that forbids the formation of religious parties. Forty-eight members of the 50-member panel present on Saturday voted on the 247 articles of the new charter and approved more than half of the articles, Egypt’s state news agency MENA reported. Voting on the remaining articles will resume on Sunday afternoon.... 

A Muslim woman wearing a face veil distributes flyers against a cantonal vote on banning face-covering headgear in public places, in Lugano on September 18, 2013. Residents of Switzerland’s Italian-speaking region have voted to ban full-face veils, after similar laws against Muslims were enforced in France and Belgium. Results from a democratic referendum in the Swiss canton of Ticino on Sunday revealed... 

A “Yes to Scotland” rally has been held in the capital city of Edinburgh, bringing thousands of blue and white Scottish flags onto the streets demanding independence from the United Kingdom, media reports said. Pro-independence campaigners from across Scotland began their March on Saturday through Edinburgh’s High Street onto the city’s Calton Hill with the Scottish first minister telling... 

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says if the Labor Party is reelected, he will hold a referendum on the recognition of the country’s Aborigines in the constitution. On Wednesday, during the 50th anniversary of the indigenous land rights movement, Rudd said the recognition of the Aboriginal people as Australia’s first inhabitants was a key priority. “I therefore, as prime minister, want... 

The Obama administration has warned British officials that if the UK leaves Europe it will exclude itself from a US-EU trade and investment partnership potentially worth hundreds of billions of pounds a year, and that it was very unlikely that Washington would make a separate deal with Britain. The warning comes in the wake of David Cameron’s visit to Washington, which was primarily intended... 

Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman has once again called on British authorities to enter talks over the Malvinas Islands at the United Nations. The request came on Tuesday, after Timerman along with other South American ministers met with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said the UK has declined the Argentinean... 

94.5% said YES to Zimbabwe’s new constitution Zimbabwe’s official election body says 94.5 percent of Zimbabweans have supported a new constitution, which strengthens human rights and limits presidential powers. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission made the announcement in the capital Harare on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. Judge Rita Makarau, the chairwoman of the commission, stated... 

Argentinians gathered in capital Buenos Aires after a nationwide campaign was launched to collect one million signatures against a UK-backed referendum on the sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands, Press TV reports. People of all walks of life including war veterans, students, and artists gathered at the Obelisk monument to say that South Atlantic territories seized by the UK centuries ago, belong to... 

The residents on Falkland Islands are set to vote on March 10-11, 2013 Falkland Islanders are taking part in a controversial referendum, to decide whether or not the residents want to remain under Britain’s control, as Argentina dismisses the ballot as illegal. During two days, Sunday and Monday, the polling stations will be open for 1,672 eligible voters to cast their ballot. The vote is a yes or... 

US officials have repeatedly valued Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU), saying they do not want the UK to leave the 27-nation bloc. Last month, British Prime Minster David Cameron set a deadline to hold a national in-out referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union by the end of 2017. In his long-awaited speech on Europe in the City of London on January 23, Cameron...