Lebanese creators of video game want to give peace a chance
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Most of us are told life is full of different obstacles which we will need to overcome; however, for Salim – an Arab fictional video-game character, these obstacles also include flying hooka pipes and hovering hummus plates! His creators, a development studio in Beirut by the name “Game Cooks,” have also burdened Salim ... Read More
Sheffield film festival shines spotlight on Middle East
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
A large collection of films from the Middle East were showcased at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the world’s leading non-fiction film and television events. Films from Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Egypt and the Palestinian territories were just some of the participants at the five-day event in Britain which ended on Sunday. ... Read More
Alawite fortress and Sunni wasteland in Syria’s Homs
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
The view from the rooftops makes the balance of power clear. In some neighborhoods, cars and people scurry about. In others, only the scarred shells of empty homes remain. After months of fierce military assaults and rebel ambushes in Homs, the center of Syria’s 15-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has ... Read More
Syrian Kurds find refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Syrian Kurds of all persuasions, from soldiers who did not want to kill their own countrymen to those seeking to escape the violence, have found refuge across the border in Kurdistan in north Iraq. Most had to be smuggled across the border, avoiding Syrian security forces, after facing what they said was ... Read More
Debt-ridden Jordan eager for Libya to pay bills
Monday, 18 June 2012
After the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime in Libya’s conflict, tens of thousands of Libyans were flown for hospital treatment in Jordan. Now the cash-strapped kingdom is desperate for their bills to be paid. Jordan, which touts itself as a top destination in the Arab world for medical care, is demanding ... Read More
Two months later, massacre haunts Syrian town
Monday, 18 June 2012
The main street of this once-bustling Syrian farm town now stands eerily quiet, its shops charred black from arson, its shoppers replaced by cats roaming the rubble of homes destroyed by tank fire. At dawn on April 3, Syrian forces shelled the town in the first volley of what residents say was a massive assault ... Read More
Sudanese battle price hikes as economic crisis bites
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Iman is grateful at least that she is healthy. But the Sudanese mother of two says she struggles to feed her family and fears for the future, as an economic crisis bites and food prices soar. “Last year we used to buy meat three or four times a month. Now we buy meat just once per month, and sometimes we go ... Read More
The ‘vanishing ink’ plot in Egypt vote
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Rumor had it a devious conspiracy was afoot: Egyptians voting for a new president Saturday were being tricked into using pens with disappearing ink so their choice on the ballot would vanish before it was counted. “Is this the right pen?” an old man in a traditional galabeya robe shouted, holding one up to the ... Read More
An eclectic rally crowd hails Greece’s neo-Nazi party
Saturday, 16 June 2012
A spokesman for Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, Ilias Kasidiaris, rises to the podium in front of a few hundred cheering supporters at a final rally in an Athens suburb ahead of Sunday’s elections. A surprisingly mixed crowd of skinheads, women and students applaud the elected ex-soldier who slapped a ... Read More
Egypt’s presidential runners: Mohammed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq
Saturday, 16 June 2012
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi, who faces ex-premier Ahmed Shafiq in a two-day presidential run-off, has pledged that Egypt under his leadership will be inclusive, courting secular and Christian voters. A retiring individual, bearded and bespectacled, Mursi vows to uphold the goals of last year's ... Read More
Toulouse’s killer: a gifted student with a disturbed childhood
Friday, 15 June 2012
A police probe revealed that the al-Qaeda-inspired gunman Mohamed Merah, who killed seven people in the French city of Toulouse, was a gifted student who had a difficult childhood and showed early signs of a violent streak, the French daily Le Monde reported this week. Merah was shot dead by the police on ... Read More
Pilgrims flock to Baghdad shrine despite attacks
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Thousands of Shiite pilgrims headed on foot to a north Baghdad shrine on Thursday to commemorate the death of a revered Shiite imam, undaunted by waves of attacks that killed 72 people a day earlier. Routes leading to Kadhimiyah neighborhood, site of the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 Shiite ... Read More
Internet led to global ‘explosion’ of fake drugs
Thursday, 14 June 2012
The rapid growth of Internet commerce has led to an explosion of counterfeit drugs sold around the world, with China the biggest source of fake medicines, pharmaceutical experts said Thursday. The illicit trade is now believed to be worth around 75 billion dollars globally, with criminal gangs increasingly ... Read More
First ladies and the art of discretion
Thursday, 14 June 2012
A gaffe by France’s first lady has exposed the difficult tightrope that presidential spouses have to walk as they kiss goodbye to their private lives and follow their partners into the public glare. A tweet by Valerie Trierweiler wishing luck to an election opponent of Segolene Royal – the ex-partner of her ... Read More
U.N. report sheds light on tortured children in Syria
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Syria gained notoriety on Tuesday when it was inducted into the United Nation’s “list of shame” countries known for their physical and sexual abuse of children in armed conflicts. The new report, published on Monday, comprises 52 countries like Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo where children ... Read More
Hundreds sign petition asking Saudi king to lift ban on women driving
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Hundreds of people have petitioned Saudi King Abdullah to allow women to get behind the wheel on the first anniversary of the Women2Drive campaign launched in June 2011. The signatories, who numbered nearly 600 on Wednesday, are asking the king of the only country in the world that forbids women to drive to ... Read More
Tit-for-tat kidnappings in northern Lebanon as Syria conflict spills over
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Wadi Khaled celebrated on Tuesday Suleiman Khaled Ahmad’s release. Residents of Wadi Khaled fired shots into the air as they welcomed Suleiman back home in the afternoon. His friends and supporters carried him on their shoulders as he entered his hometown. Ahmad was detained by the Syrian army after being kidnapped on ... Read More
Palestinians released in Shalit prisoner swap face challenges
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
As soon as the doyen of Palestinian prisoners Nael al-Barghouti was set free by the Isreali authorities, he and a group of his single friends began to look for eligible spouses in an attempt to start leading a normal life spent after decades behind bars. “I spent 34 years in jail,” Barghouti told Al Arabiya. “I could have ... Read More
Revolt threatens Assad’s grip on Damascus
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Plain-clothed police stationed near the presidential palace, a grey marble Soviet style compound towering over Damascus, fire automatic rifles into the night as rebels encroach towards the seat of Bashar al-Assad’s power. Gunmen guarding the luxury apartment of an intelligence officer nearby monitor incoming traffic from ... Read More
Children at Gaza ‘jihad’ kindergartens trained to fight Zionists: report
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Children attending an Islamic jihad-run kindergarten in Gaza celebrated their graduation by dressing up in army uniforms, waving rifles and chanting anti-Israel slogans, an Israeli online daily reported late Tuesday. At a ceremony attended by the children’s parents and relatives, most of whom affiliate themselves to Islamic ... Read More