A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie YEMEN: OPEN WARA series of explosions shook Sanaa International airport overnight following clashes between supporters of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and forces loyal to dissident general and tribal leader Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar. Sources told Al Jazeera that the airport would be closed “for […]
Month: October 2011
After the third such case in recent years, where health officials cite “risks” of gays giving blood, Italian gay rights activists say it’s time to explicitly guarantee the right for people of all sexual orientations to donate bl
Essay: Recent charges that Gucci China workers faced sweatshop-like conditions expose bigger questions about Chinese society. The pursuit of luxury in itself is not a problem, but its side-effects can be.
Op-Ed: With newly constructed apartments reduced to rubble and the death toll nearing 600, Turkey must demand the truth about how unsafe buildings were allowed to rise.
Often white and well-trained, South Africans are leaving their adoptive homes in the “developed world” to return to their native land where the cost of living is lower and jobs are more plentiful. Some whites, though, complain they are s
Italians have ancient claims on the origins of the ever more global holiday of Halloween. In Mantua, where Jack-O-Lanterns — called “lumere” — light the roads to cemeteries, others may be more interested in the delicious dishes made wi
As evidenced by new car sales, consumers in Chile and Argentina and out-buying their counterparts in some much larger countries, including Brazil and China, members of the much talked about BRICS club.
Analysis: The democratic wave sweeping North Africa is moving in a decidedly Islamic direction, with the Ennahda party’s election victory in Tunisia and Libya’s new leaders vowing Sharia law. Is it just a necessary phase toward pluralism
Weltbild, one of Germany’s largest publishing companies, happens to be owned and operated by the Catholic Church. But that has not stopped it from publishing books that many of the faithful find offensive.
Linguists from the University of Lyon in France looked at seven widely spoken languages to see how they rank in terms of efficiency. Which mother tongue works best at imparting information? A clue: it’s not French.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie FULL CIRCLEThe head of the Ennahda party in Tunisia, Rachid Ghannouchi, is calling for calm in the town of Sidi Bouzid, the site of violent protests since the Islamist party’s victory was announced on Thursday, Almoslem.net reported. Supporters of the People’s Party began rioting […]
Russia has explicitly stated it wants to begin exploration for minerals and hydrocarbons in and around the White Continent. But others, from China to Australia, have already given (and planted) signs that show they will not sit idly by.
In storms that have killed at least nine, scenic villages in Liguria and Tuscany have been decimated by floods and mud. A visit to the coastal town of Monterosso, where tourists are trapped with locals — and anger is growing.
An exclusive interview with Rached Ghannouchi, whose Islamist party Ennahda was the big winner in Tunisia’s recent landmark election. He vows to work with secularist rivals, promote women’s rights and let far more radical Islamists have their say
Op-Ed: Rescue plans were the focus of this week’s high-stakes EU summit in Brussels. But anyone really wanting to know how Europe is doing should stop looking to its leaders, and talk instead with the region’s struggling business owners and unemployed wor
For generations, two families in Mallorca have laid competing claims to the legacy of Frédéric Chopin. Starting in 1838, the Polish composer lived in a room on the island with his mistress, and composed some of his great works. But which room was it? And
Ramzan Kadyrov has absolute power over Chechnya. He controls everything from the reconstruction of the capital Grozny to what women are allowed to wear. Behind the pomp, Vladimir Putin’s spiritual heir is “normalizing” the country through terror.
New Chinese regulations limiting entertainment shows on regional television channels may be an attempt to halt the declining ratings of the CCTV state-controlled network. But with the growth of the Internet, and other new freedoms, it may not work this ti
Op-Ed: Germany’s relative economic strength and Angela Merkel’s steady leadership on the debt crisis are being lauded around the world. Now it’s time that Merkel gets some overdue respect from her own citizens.
With world food demand expected to jump 70% and rising production of biofuels, international investors are gobbling up agricultural land in developing world. But what happens to the rights of local farmers?
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie WE ARE ALL…Two police officers were convicted of torturing and killing the young Egyptian activist Khalid Said, 28, who was arrested while at an Internet café in Alexandria last July. Pictures of Said’s tortured body post-mortem circulated on the web and inspired Wael Ghonim, […]
Russia’s leadership position in Indian markets appears to be at risk after several high-profile military bids were rejected, and a joint nuclear power plant delayed by local protesters.
The continent’s leaders managed to save both the monetary and political union. For now. But the lack of a long-range vision for the future leaves the European Union vulnerable to slow erosion.
This coming winter may become a test for Europe’s energy supply. For European countries that have counted on importing energy from German nuclear reactors, which are now slated for closure following the Fukushima disaster, Russian gas imports gro
Analysis: A year ago President Piñera enjoyed international ‘hero’ status thanks to Chile’s widely-covered mine rescue. Major student protests now have him on the rocks. By continuing to ignore their demands, Piñera may be digging himself a deeper hole st
German automakers already use trains to roll their products to market thousands of miles away in China. Europe’s economic storm clouds are compelling other German producers to follow suit. The German National Railways is making plans for a surge in train
Munich police have raided several “studios” where prostitutes are believed to have administered powerful painkillers before performing intense sadomasochistic services. The studio cost one client 70,000 euros a year, after he became more hooked on the dru
A leading Republican presidential candidate, Perry boasts about a “Texas miracle” with the economy. A trip to the state finds some strident Democratic critics of his education policy, which they say is victim of his presidential campaign’s boasts
Categories
Welcome To Anthropocene, Earth’s New Era
Goodbye Holocene, hello Anthropocene! The new word, used to reflect the modern age, is becoming more and more popular among the scientific community and may eventually become part of official nomenclature.
Exclusive: Pharmaceutical firm Roche offers hospitals a contract for Avastin cancer treatment where the hospital makes money whenever patients get worse. Critics warn that business models based on a medicine’s effectiveness create perilous confli
As industrial development booms along the northeast coast, stretches of waterways are being destroyed by massive pollution. Attempts to cover up the damage in Bohai Gulf failed, and both local fishermen and environmental activists are demanding better pro
So far, people in debt-laden Portugal seem to grudgingly accept austerity measures imposed by the government. That could change. Two of the country’s leading labor groups have joined forces and called for a Nov. 24 general strike. Is Portugal ready to go
Categories
Europe Has One Last Chance
Analysis: The whole world is watching. As European leaders gather to search for a way out of the single currency zone’s debt crisis, the Old Continent risks pulling the world into recession, as a relatively strong Germany must find common ground
A R A B I C A ارابيكا SCHOOL PRAYERSFive million Saudi schoolchildren gathered to pray for the soul of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, who died over the weekend at a New York hospital. Saudi media praised the crown prince, who was also the country’s defense minister. Sultan was believed to be […]
On the scene after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Eastern Turkey on Sunday left more than 300 dead. But some are already wondering why newer, multi-story buildings collapsed, while one-and-two-story adobe structures showed no signs of damage at all.
So far this year, some 550 cars have been torched in Berlin. Police suspect left-wing political extremists for some of the attacks. But about 100 of the damaged cars may have been set off by a single down-and-out (and envious) man, who authorities call An
Russian intelligence is again being accused of using outdated Cold War-era tactics. First it was Anna Chapman, the red-headed Russian arrested last year in the United States. This time the alleged spies are a middle-aged couple operating for the past 20 y
In early 2006, Israel’s then-prime minister, Ariel Sharon, suffered a devastating stroke that ended his political career but not, as it turns out, his life. All but forgotten, Sharon is nevertheless alive, thanks to a life support system that costs the fa
Over the past few weeks, the Occupy Wall Street movement has moved to center stage in the United States, where media outlets are now swarming to the story and dissecting its every detail. But France’s Le Monde wonders whether it’s all an
In its thirst for foreign markets, Japanese brewer Kirin recently purchased a controlling share in Brazil’s second-largest beer producer. But not only did Kirin “overpay,” it also stepped unwittingly into the middle of a long-simmering family feud.