A R A B I C A ارابيكا THE BLOGGER & THE ARMY*A new Google forum tweeted out by Wael Ghonim asks Egyptians to take part in a dialogue with the country’s ruling military council, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The discussion forum “is a democratic way to raise questions about the council, […]
Month: May 2011
Editorial: In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the phase-out of nuclear energy in Germany has been decided so quickly, and with so little thought, that it skirts the edges of democratic legitimacy.
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Silvio Berlusconi: The Magic Is Gone
Editorial: The drubbing suffered in local elections shows Silvio Berlusconi increasingly obsessed with his own personal and judicial woes — and losing touch with the sentiments of everyday Italians. La Stampa editor Mario Calabresi weighs in.
Editorial: There’s nothing that the Chinese people hate more than a corrupted official. But the government should do more to root out corruption than play to the public’s basest instincts for revenge. Still, don’t expect China&a
A controversial Turkish-born preacher, who never appears live in public, is spreading a Koran-inspired defense of creationism. For some young French Muslims, this frontal attack on Darwin rings true.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا DRIVING DEBAUCHERY*The campaign against women driving in Saudi Arabia continues to grow, as a “Saudi religious figure named Mohammed al-Manjad said he considers a woman driving a car sexually immoral because if she gets behind the wheel of a car, she is surely practicing other forms of […]
Switzerland’s largest city is hoping to get a better handle on its growing sex worker population. Under proposed regulations, prostitution would remain legal, but only in designated areas — including one equipped with new stalls for taking care
Human rights violations committed during Uruguay’s 1970s and 1980s-era military regimes have come back to haunt the South American country, where the legislature’s recent failure to revoke a stubborn amnesty law has sparked a major political crisis.
The deadline for evacuation zones will interrupt centuries of farming in the region near the damaged nuclear plant. Some livestock will be sold, others will be slaughtered, adding to the animal death toll in the wake of the March earthquake and tsunami.
An overview of the Libyan sovereign wealth fund’s bad moves, including investments in some of Italy’s top firms such as energy giant ENI and industrialist Finmeccanica
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Are Immigrants Bad For The Environment?
A controversial new initiative launched by a Swiss population control organization suggests that immigration – already blamed for the country’s crime, unemployment and even traffic – is also damaging for the environment.
French authorities recently launched a campaign aimed not at the causes of cancer, but at one of its more debilitating effects: the social stigma that still persists.
Europe has been clamoring for one of their own to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and keep the continent’s lock on the key post. For the sake of democracy and development, that’s a bad idea, says Xu Guoping of South Centre agency.
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Was The Spanish Civil War A Holocaust?
In an ambitious new book called The Spanish Holocaust, British historian Paul Preston shines a light onto the darkest chapters of Spain’s Civil War, uncovering macabre details of cold-blooded cruelties – on both sides.
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Meet Claude Monet’s Master Gardener
Gilbert Vahé has devoted much of his life to the picturesque Claude Monet gardens in Giverny, a living legacy he not only preserved, but helped recreate.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا TRUTH AND/OR BETRAYAL*Omar Suleiman, the man who headed Egypt’s feared intelligence services for 20 years, and who announced President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation on live television in February, testified in front of a criminal court that the former president had “full knowledge of every bullet fired into Tahrir […]
In recent years, authorities in Thailand have increasingly applied an antiquated lèse-majesté law to silence critics of authorities. On Friday, a dual U.S./Thai citizen became the latest person arrested for allegedly insulting the country’s ailing king.
The arrest of war criminal Ratko Mladic demonstrates how the EU can be a force for stability, especially when it holds out the possibility of membership.
Three months after Mubarak’s ouster, foreign investors and tourists have deserted the country, while the Arab spring has raised people’s expectations higher than ever.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا YEMEN*Al Jazeera reports that hundreds of Yemenis are packing and leaving Sanaa as gun battles continue throughout the city between supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and a powerful tribal chief who defected and joined the opposition. Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar is the head of a tribal federation […]
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 In Bolo creek, the villagers are bunkering the oil from Shell facilities and refining it to sell it on the black market. Around 30 to 40 illegal refineries can be found all over the creek. The strong presence of the militants is keeping away the army and the police […]
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 In Niger delta, oil is everywhere in the soil. But even though the locals are walking on it, they do not get any benefit out of this black gold.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 Pipelines are going through the Okrika village. The old pipelines are leaking and sometimes bursting like two months ago, torching down nearby habitations.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 In Okugaju, the local population stays very poor despite the oil they are sitting on. The villagers want their share of their country welfare. For them, no electricity, no tap water, no road, just a highly polluted water where they cannot fish anymore because of the oil spills etc. […]
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 The king Chukumela Nnam Obi II, is very angry at the oil companies (Total, Shell, Agip) who are polluting his kingdom Ogbaland without compensating its people. In the same time, he is taking from the money from them and doing so, encouraging the corruption.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 In Bolo Creek there are around 40 illegal refineries.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 A man is refining crude oil in an illegal refinery in Bolo Creek.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 In Bono, the local population, angry because of the many oil spills and other pollutions, fight for Shell (the oil company) to leave their territory. After two years of fighting, Shell left and the villagers are using its installations to take out some crude oil and sell it to […]
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 In Bolo creek, the villagers are bunkering the oil from Shell facilities and refining it to sell it on the black market.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 A boy is taking away some barrels of crude oil to the place where it will be refined. Around 30 to 40 illegal refineries can be found all over the creek.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 Atteke Tom boys are arriving to Camp 9, hidden in of the mangroves.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 Atteke Tom, the big chief of the MEND, with his boys, in one of the eleven camps he rules in the mangrove of the Niger delta.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 MEND fighters under Atteke Tom in the mangrove in the Niger Delta.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 The time can be long in the mangrove for the Mend fighters, one of them adopted a monkey to play with.
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NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA | JULY 2009 Atteke Tom boys are arriving to the camp 9 hidden in the mangrove.
After European campuses open in China and India, a top French business school has set up shop on the North Carolina State University campus to give its students a shot at American jobs. Other European institutions hope to follow.
The alleged victim is an immigrant from northern Guinea, and her ethnicity is Fulani, who are known as pious, hardworking Muslims
A R A B I C A ارابيكا PROPAGANDA MACHINEState media coverage in the Arab world shares a number of traits. Whether its urgent, front-page coverage for various leaders sending and receiving cables of condolence and congratulations, or “news’ reports that raise more questions then they answer, state media is largely an anachronistic propaganda conglomerate […]
Top French brands L’Oréal and Christian Dior are leading the hunt for fashion “ambassadors” who have a story, and substance, behind the pretty face.
A report by a pair of German academics accuses the Left Party of becoming increasingly anti-Semitic. While the party’s top leadership dismisses the yet-unpublished study as “nonsense,” others within the Left say there may be some truth to the allegations.