A narrow majority of voters in Switzerland approved proposals on Sunday that would reintroduce restrictions on the number of foreigners who are allowed to live and work in the country, a move that could have far-reaching implications for Switzerland’s relations with the European Union.

If Brazil is not for beginners, as the saying goes, then Venezuela isn't, either. But as far as the two countries' recent protest experiences go, they have a few interesting elements in common. At first glance, the countries seem quite different: Venezuela is deeply and bitterly politically polarized, with shortages of basic food staples and goods, rising inflation, spiraling crime rates, and what some say is a breakdown of institutions.

Canada’s rush to support democracy in Ukraine has echoes of an earlier time. In 1991, as the Soviet Union was collapsing, Canada was the first country to recognize Ukraine, following a national referendum in which more than 90 per cent of the country voted for independence. 

In 2012, after having been sentenced to 11 years in prison for "terrorism" for illegally entering Ethiopia from Somalia in the presence of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye took the advice of their legal council, confessed to their "crimes" and requested an official pardon. It was a pragmatic move - both journalists vehemently denied the charges and considered any confession to be a charade - taken to save their own skins.

The protesters who have overturned the politics of Ukraine have many aspirations for their country. Their placards called for closer relations with the European Union (EU), an end to Russian intervention in Ukraine’s politics and the establishment of a clean government to replace the kleptocracy of President Viktor Yanukovych.

Late President Hugo Chavez used to call it “la revolucion bonita” (the pretty revolution), but the world looked at Venezuela last week and saw only ugliness. Protesters gunned down in the streets, barricades in flames, chaos. One of the dead was a 22-year-old beauty queen shot in the head. With the government censoring and cowing TV reports, many of the images came from smartphones, grainy and jerky snippets filled with smoke and shouts.

The adoption of Tunisia’s new constitution should set in motion a wide-ranging overhaul of laws and public institutions, Al Bawsala, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch said today. The constitution, which guarantees many fundamental rights and freedoms, should be implemented in a way that will provide the highest degree of protection of Tunisians’ human rights.

The optimism of the Arab Spring seems to have evaporated in the past three years. Just look at Syria and its brutal civil war. Or Egypt, where the third anniversary of the revolution was marked by more violence, and where a new military strong man seems to be gaining the upper hand. But then there's Tunisia, the nation where the Arab Spring began.