Shalit: from Hamas captive to sports columnist
Thursday, 18 October 2012
A year after emerging from Hamas captivity in Gaza, Gilad Shalit has hung up his gun and picked up a pen as the former captive soldier takes up a new life as a sports columnist for an Israeli newspaper. But in stark contrast with the five years he spent in captivity in Gaza, when the young soldier’s profile was ... Read More
Yemeni debate over drones emerges after Saleh’s fall
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Yemen’s interim president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, has won U.S. praise for cooperating in a war on al-Qaeda, but his recent public support for drone strikes that sometimes kill civilians could undermine his domestic popularity and stir sympathy for militants. Yemen, an Arabian Peninsula country where al-Qaeda militants ... Read More
Libya revolutionaries: yesterday’s heroes, today’s headache
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
The citizen soldiers who became heroes for toppling Libyan leader Muammer Qaddafi last year are now being widely blamed for the country’s woes, refusing to disarm and snubbing the new authorities. Libya’s new rulers have struggled to stamp their authority on brigades made up of ex-rebels, some of whom believe ... Read More
Relations between Arab Islamists, Christians in post-revolution era tackled in Jordan
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
The Jordanian Middle East Studies Center and the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies organized a seminar in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday under the title “Arab Islamists and Christians.” The event tackled the relationship between post-revolution Islamist regimes and Christian minorities in the Arab ... Read More
More freedom in Libya universities but little change
Monday, 15 October 2012
Portraits of toppled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi may no longer adorn the walls of Tripoli University, but it is likely to be a long time before new values and higher standards become entrenched there. The signature red, black and green of the 2011 revolt that put an end to 42 years of stifling dictatorship ... Read More
Latest victim in war: Syrian museum of mosaics
Monday, 15 October 2012
The fortress-like Alma Arra museum in northern Syria, famous for its mosaics, may have escaped the looting common in wartime but it is starting to suffer from daily bombings. And although information boards guiding visitors to the museum’s treasures from an ancient era are everywhere to be seen, the tourists ... Read More
Palestinian women look to Bethlehem to boost their role
Sunday, 14 October 2012
“Many people still believe the post of mayor is exclusively for men,” says Vera Baboun, aiming to become the first female mayor of the Palestinian town of Bethlehem, and in the process shake up a society where men still make the laws and do the deals. The university lecturer has a good chance of achieving the first goal in ... Read More
Afghan students pray for schoolgirl, Malala, shot in the head by Taliban
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Schools in Afghanistan opened Saturday with special prayers for the quick recovery of a Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by Taliban, in a move officials said was to show solidarity with her. The Pakistani Taliban shot Malala Yousafzai, a teenage children’s rights activist, in the head on her school bus ... Read More
Hospital in Syrian city barely copes with wounded
Saturday, 13 October 2012
The injured arrive at the hospital in taxis or in the back of pickup trucks, to the blare of car horns and shouts of “Help!” Sometimes, they are battle-hardened rebels with gaping wounds. Sometimes, they are children, peppered with shrapnel and screaming in pain. Those who die are left on the ... Read More
Palestinians seek work in Israel as crisis deepens
Saturday, 13 October 2012
In response to the growing economic crisis in the West Bank, Israel has increased the number of permits for Palestinians to work in Israel. This has drawn large crowds of desperate men to the gray edifice each morning in chaotic scenes of long lines, frustrated faces and heated arguments as they try to secure a coveted permit. ... Read More
Breast cancer in Middle East: a pink spotlight on the UAE
Saturday, 13 October 2012
The UAE is going pretty in pink this month. Although the color is usually seen as fun and girlish, it is also commonly associated with breast cancer awareness campaigns, an issue of serious concern for the Emirates. The disease is the 2nd most common cause of death amongst women and the most common form of cancer in the ... Read More
Jeddah shisha smokers forced out of the Saudi city’s cafes
Friday, 12 October 2012
Smokers of the hubble-bubble water pipe have until Saturday (October 13) to indulge their fondness for sweet flavored tobacco in Jeddah’s cafes as the Saudi city prepares to enforce a public ban on the habit. A law against smoking the pipes, known in Arabic as shisha, in public places has been in place for years in some ... Read More
EU Nobel Peace Award sparks fiery online backlash
Friday, 12 October 2012
The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the crisis-torn EU on Friday sparked a stunned Twitter backlash, many reacting with derision and anger, although some netizens came to its defense. “Let’s forget about #Malala & peers, brave community workers, prisoners of conscience, & give the Nobel Peace ... Read More
Arabic used for first time at Pope Benedict’s weekly Vatican address
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Arabic made its debut as one of the official languages at Pope Benedict’s weekly general audiences on Wednesday as part of a Vatican attempt to reach out more to Christians and Muslims in the Middle East. The Vatican is concerned about the exodus from the Middle East of Christians, many of whom leave because they fear ... Read More
Islam’s inroads in land of Voodoo and Christianity
Thursday, 11 October 2012
School teacher Darlene Derosier lost her home in the 2010 earthquake that devastated her country. Her husband died a month later after suffering what she said was emotional trauma from the quake. She and her two daughters now live in tents outside the capital of Port-au-Prince, surrounded by thousands of others made homeless ... Read More
More Arab females join women’s rights movement to demand equality
Tuesday, 09 October 2012
More Arab women are joining a women’s rights movement group to demand change and equality. While revolutions swept through some Arab countries and toppled dictators in all of Tunisia and Egypt, women were still mistreated by both the revolutionists who promised fundamental change as well as regime supporters. Four ... Read More
Syrian businessmen flee with their money to Egypt, Gulf
Tuesday, 09 October 2012
With the escalation of violence and no imminent resolution to the crisis, Syrian businessmen have started fleeing with their money and investing in other Arab countries, mainly the Gulf region and Egypt, the Anatolia News Agency reported. Ahmed Ghannam, member of the Chamber of Industry in Damascus and a refugee in Egypt, ... Read More
Numbers of global hungry down but fight flowing: U.N.
Tuesday, 09 October 2012
The U.N.’s food agency revised down the number of the world’s hungry on Tuesday to just under 870 million but slammed the figure as “unacceptable” and warned that the fight against hunger was slowing down. “With almost 870 million people chronically undernourished in 2010-2012, the number of hungry people in ... Read More
Crops damaged by fuel shortages despite Mursi’s promises, say Egypt farmers
Monday, 08 October 2012
As Egypt’s president marks his first 100 days in office, struggling farmers say Mohammed Mursi has failed to deliver on one of his key promises: to resolve the country’s fuel shortages. The farmers say they were neglected under the former government of Hosni Mubarak and had hoped for a better future under the new order. ... Read More
Israeli barrier threatens unique Palestinian village: locals
Monday, 08 October 2012
Palestinians living in the West Bank’s Batir village say Israel’s plan to construct its security barrier across its lands threatens the ancient system of agriculture traditionally practiced by the farmers of the area. The route of the barrier is still to be finalized, but if it is built along the valley floor, parallel to ... Read More