A R A B I C A ارابيكا TERMS OF SANCTUARYCNN Arabic is reporting that fleeing Gaddafi family members agreed to certain conditions by the Algerian government before being given sanctuary in that country. A Libyan convoy of seven cars carrying 31 people, including Gaddafi family members, arrived at the Algerian border at 8:45 Monday […]
Month: August 2011
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The Secret Of Israel’s High-Tech Success
Technion in Haifa turns out 75% of Israel’s engineers and 70% of its start-up founders. The 100-year-old university is a source of both newfound entrepreneurial energy and the intellectual hardware for the country’s national security arsenal.
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Ai Weiwei Has The Last Word. For Now
Since his release from detention, Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei has been forbidden to make any political statements, but he can’t help himself. Communicating via social networks, and now a magazine essay, appear to be a matter of inner n
Getting a massage at this women’s prison in Northern Thailand has become a tourist attraction. One reporter undergoes the not-so-tender treatment – always under the watchful eye of prison guards.
At a makeshift prison outside of Tripoli, foreign soldiers – as young as 14 – await an uncertain fate. The Libyan rebel army colonel overseeing the inmates tells an Italian reporter that human rights will be respected. The prisoners don’t seem to believe
The French President’s office vehemently denies the allegations, to be published in a new book, that he was directly involved in a corruption scandal that shook his party last year. The case comes as Sarkozy prepares for his reelection bid next year.
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Who Is The Real Christine Lagarde?
Op-Ed: Is the former French Finance Minister and current head of the IMF a Euro-booster or Euro-skeptic? The truth is that the question is misplaced. Lagarde’s recent alarmist speech about European banks is a reminder that her first objective should be so
For many Africans khat is a stimulant drug that also stills hunger pangs. But the world’s biggest seller of khat doesn’t fit the typical profile of a drug dealer. Indeed, throughout much of the continent it is legal.
Commentary: The “stiffs” in the government have banned songs from an array of popular singers, though the reasons for the are anything but clear. The only thing we know is that the black list is a nice round number.
Already locally regulated, Bonn’s street walkers will now be taxed on a per-night basis. Well-organized as ever, the German city has built a handy automatic dispenser where prostitutes can purchase a 6-euro ticket per night.
Abdel Hakim Belhadj, who leads the rebel forces in Tripoli, was a founder of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and is believed to have been close to bloodthirsty head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا ACROSS THE BORDERMuammar Gaddafi’s wife, daughter Aisha and sons Mohammed and Hannibal have fled to Algeria. The Foreign Ministry of Algeria officially confirmed the Gaddafi family members are on Algerian soil following reports over the weekend that a convoy of six armored vehicles crossed the Libyan desert […]
Last week’s crash of Russian space supply ship Progress is the fourth Russian launch failure in nine months. With NASA’s Space Shuttle now decommissioned, there are concerns over whether Russia can be relied on to deliver supplies to the Internat
Companies are increasingly turning to specialized video games to train their employees on how to sell, manage and lead. It is largely taking the place of now outdated “e-learning”
Commentary: China is busy with some serious self-examination about the national “condition” after the tale of a near disaster above Shanghai Airport when a Chinese pilot was determined – at all costs — to land first.
Social media sites are a double-edged sword in the battle between criminals and law enforcement. In this case, the cops were able to exploit the growing habit of wanting to share all your latest personal news with your friends and family.
Nine girls and young women reportedly committed suicide over a 10-day period this month in Batman Province, Turkey. Women’s rights activists believe some victims may have been murdered.
Op-Ed: Conservatism is on the rise in Europe as once popular social democratic parties fail again and again to energize voters. The left has only itself to blame, having jumped blindly on the free-market bandwagon and abandoned its traditional working-cla
With the price of gold climbing throughout the financial crisis, a Canadian group grows more eager to mine a huge quantity of gold discovered in the Romanian village of Rosia Montana in the region of Transylvania. But local opponents refuse to given up th
A top tourist destination for the wine and rolling landscapes of the surrounding countryside, Bordeaux also attracts its fair share of international film and television producers, who are drawn by the French city’s special mix of modern and medieval. Amon
The Arab spring hit its zenith in Tahrir Square in Cairo, but the next challenge is just as important, if not quite as glamorous: bringing real democracy to local politics, from trash collection to schools to health care.
They look like a cross between a prison cell and an office container, but go by the fancy name of “Wies’n-Loft” — or “Field Loft.” They’re not cheap, but it’s better than nothing if you can’t get a hotel during Munich’s Oktoberfest.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا LIBYA TODAYLibyan rebels are launching an offensive in the western part of the country, as well as a push toward Muammar Gaddafi’s historical stronghold of Sirte. One rebel military official predicts, “God willing, we will finish soon.” LIBYA TOMORROWLibyan commentator Saleh al-Sanusi writes on Al Jazeera’s website […]
Among the documents found in the dead terrorist leader’s house in Pakistan was one that appears to have been destined for a terrorist operative in Düsseldorf who was planning an attack in Germany.
Hundreds of Austrian priests are challenging the standing leadership of Pope Benedict XVI and the local bishops, demanding modern-day answers to issues like communion for divorced people, women in the church hierarchy, and the taboo of priests who have a
A new report shows China sliding faster and faster into an “aging society,” which creates both economic and social pressures on the world’s most populous country.
Computers, cell phones and other electronic goods have notoriously short shelf lives. As a result they generate a tremendous amount of waste, much of it toxic. What happens to all that hazardous material? Much of it gets shipped overseas – to places like
Though charges of sexual assault were dropped this week in New York against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a political future in France is not guaranteed for the man once thought to be Nicolas Sarkozy’s strongest challenger. Still, France’s opp
As many as 40 million Pakistanis tune in every night for “Alif Laam Meem,” an Islamic version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” The trivia show’s popularity is just one example of how dominant a role religion now plays in Pakistan.
Western intelligence sources say that this past spring, North Korea passed a highly specialized computer program on to the Ministry of Defense in Tehran that could give Iran crucial know-how for making nuclear weapons.
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Libya: Nicolas Sarkozy’s War
From the outset, the French President saw the battle for Libya in very personal terms — as both a chance to make his mark in history, and rebound politically.
Amidst — and beyond — the rebel bombs and Gaddafi’s bunkers, the people of the Libyan capital finally feel free to speak out, and say what the upheaval means for them.
Op-Ed: A prominent French intellectual’s j’accuse against a nation that accepts lies to justify war, while extra-marital sex is the equivalent of “national betrayal.” Pascal Bruckner on America’s obsession with
A R A B I C A ارابيكا BATTLE OF TRIPOLIViolent clashes continued on Wednesday in Muammar Gaddafi’s last stronghold in the Libyan capital. Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tripoli reports that Gaddafi’s headquarters in the Bab al-Aziziya district was hit by mortar shells fired from a nearby neighborhood. “There are snipers on the buildings in […]
Another top official in a city north of Moscow was gunned down this week after he took on allegedly corrupt local forces. Some 40 top municipal officials have been targeted over the past decade.
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Where Is Muammar?
The longer the fight to gain control of Tripoli lasts, the more Muammar Gaddafi’s whereabouts become the central question. Has he left the country? Or is he hiding in a maze of tunnels beneath the capital city? Or an artificial underground river below the
Japan’s March 11 tsunami smashed head on into tiny Oshima Island. Five months later, recovery is slow, especially since Oshima – like many other isolated islets – has been left to fend for itself. One bright spot is a volunteer group calling itself the “k
As rebel troops launch what appears to be a final assault on the famously fortified compound on the outskirts of Tripoli, an Italian reporter recounts the legends and his own personal experience within the gates of Bab-el Aziza.
Following a similar proposal last week by American billionaire Warren Buffett, 16 of France’s wealthiest people sign a joint public statement calling on higher taxes for the super-rich to respond the the economic crisis.
As charges are dropped in New York against the former IMF chief, Le Monde blasts the American practice of the “perp walk,” which left Strauss-Kahn’s reputation in tatters. The French daily, however, reserves ultimate blame for a