Worldcrunch
Updated Nov. 15, 2023 at 11:50 a.m. On this day in 2012, Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, on his way to becoming the most powerful leader in China since Mao Zedong. How has Xi Jinping led China? Since taking office, Xi Jinping has removed political opponents from China’s government […]
Iran’s revolutionary regime insists it wants Israel destroyed and has threatened a regional war, but its actions are ambivalent, suggesting it may fear a regional war that would hasten its demise. As a result, it may decide to stop supporting Hamas in Gaza.
Updated Nov. 14, 2023 at 11:30 Ruby Bridges walked into the first desegrated school on this day 63 years ago. Her story later became the subject of a famous Norman Rockwell painting, titled “The Problem We All Live With”. Who was Ruby Bridges? Ruby Bridges became a hero of the U.S. Civil Rights movement on […]
After last Thursday’s announcement of daily, four-hour humanitarian pauses in the northern part of Gaza, masses of Palestinians fled southward. But the journey is anything but safe and easy.
Angered at the return of the Islamist rule of the Taliban, many Afghan women are refusing to keep quiet, covered and at home as they did in the 1990s.
In the deadliest attack on France since World War II, 131 people were killed in a series of shootings and suicide bombings across Paris by Islamist terrorists. Who was responsible for the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris? Nine members of the Islamic State (ISIS), based mostly in Brussels, carried out the coordinated attacks at the […]
The health situation in Gaza is becoming more and more dire as Israel continues to bomb the enclave. Egyptian media Mada Masr takes a look at the history of the Palestinian health care system.
Updated Nov 12, 2023 at 12 p.m Romania’s Nadia Comăneci is credited with popularizing the sport of gymnastics worldwide, getting her successful start at a very young age. Who is Nadia Comăneci? Born November 12, 1961, the Romanian gymnast became a household name after a successful career, winning five Olympic gold medals all in individual […]
November 13 – November 19, 2023
Updated Nov. 10, 2023 at 12:25p.m. On this day, Microsoft founder Bill Gates (then just 28 years old!) unveiled the original Windows operating system, a piece of software whose name and window-pane logo have become synonymous with modern computing. How did Windows come to be? In the early 1980s, the competition was ripe in the […]
Updated Nov. 9, 2023 at 12:45 The beginning of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which allowed East Germans to cross into the West, marked a new epoch in world history. Amid revolutions that led to the collapse of the Soviet-led communist bloc, the tearing down the wall on Nov. 9, 1989, is considered the […]
Updated Nov. 8, 2023 at 12 p.m. One of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, Typhoon Haiyan devastated parts of southeast Asia in 2013 and mainly landed in the Philippines, killing more than 6,000 people. Why was Haiyan so devastating? It is the second deadliest typhoon– after 1881’s Haiphong claimed around 20,000 lives – […]
Shortages of water, which have ultimately long been controlled by Israel, have long been a brutal reality for the Palestinians of Gaza. Now with the ongoing bombing and siege campaign, the daily search for water has become central to the struggle to survive.
Recovering from the shock of Iran’s 2022 mass protests, the clerical regime has vigorously resumed its campaign to enforce Islamic hijab rules. But it is also pushing for gender segregation in other important ways across society
Updated Nov. 7, 2023 at 2 p.m. He may be the most well-known DJ of our time: David Guetta’s songs have garnered over 10 billion online streams. His music has become culturally universal and is played on the radio and at parties and clubs around the world, but most know little about the man behind […]
At the height of the Syrian Civil War, a group of forces came together to reclaim the northern region of Raqqa from the Islamic State. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who were largely comprised of Kurdish fighters, led the offensive. What was the Northern Raqqa Offensive? On November 6, the SDF captured six small villages: […]
Updated Nov. 5, 2023 at 12:35 p.m. It was 55 years ago today. Some say this was the day the 1960s ended (or really began…)? The man who would eventually bring shame on the White House, resigning after the Watergate scandal, was already dividing opinion when he ran for President for the second time in […]
Twenty years ago today this image of shame was taken. The prisoners at Abu Graib, many of whom were civilians, were subject to torture, rape, sodomy, and other forms of physical and mental abuse at the hands of members of the U.S. Army and the CIA. The world may have never known if photographs, taken […]
Whom should we blame for the death and destruction in Gaza: terrorists, Israel or ‘warmongers’ beyond them, notably the Tehran regime that envisaged, decades ago, a regional war as the prelude to spreading its “Islamic revolution.”
November 6 – November 12, 2023
Updated Nov. 1, 2023 at 12:50 p.m. Starting in 1954, the Algerian War was fought between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front, and ultimately led to Algeria winning its independence in 1962, ending more than a century of French colonial rule. What caused the Algerian war? The French invasion of Algiers in 1830 would […]
Journalist Noor Swirki writes about what its like for Palestinian journalists working from Gaza, with everything on the line, every night and day.
The kidnapping of more 200 Israelis by Hamas suggests that its patron, the Islamic Republic of Iran, is exporting its terrifying and lucrative methods at home to the rest of the Middle East.
Dubbed by some as the ‘Eiland plan,’ after a retired Israel general, Egypt is vehemently opposed to any attempt to transfer Palestinian refugees from Gaza, which could turn Sinai into a launch pad for operations against Israel, and ultimately redraw the map of the Middle East again.
Ten years after the publication of this award-winning photographic series of daily life in the Palestinian Territories, Tanya Habjouqa’s “Occupied Pleasures” is a poignant testimony to both the living and the dead.
October 30 – November 5, 2023
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidency in Brazil on this day in 2002. Who is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva? Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, is a Brazilian politician who first served as the 35th President of Brazil. He served two terms, from 2003 to 2010, and he was […]
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowned himself Emperor of Iran on this day in 1967. Who was Mohammed Reza Pahlavi? Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, also known as Mohammad Reza Shah, was the last Shah (monarch) of Iran. He ruled from 1941 until the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He was the second and last monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty. […]
Many Iranians fear unchecked immigration, mostly by Afghans but also Iraqis, will overwhelm a fragile economy that is weakened by the many qualified employees leaving Iran.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has raised numerous issues under international law, including Israel’s unlawful siege of Gaza and Hamas being a non-state actor.
October 23 – October 29, 2023
The Sydney Opera House opened on this day in 1973. Who designed the Sydney Opera House? The Sydney Opera House was designed by the renowned Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Its innovative and iconic design is internationally recognized and admired for its distinctive shell-like structures. It is considered one of the most iconic and significant architectural […]
Residents of Gaza City and other northern localities are discovering that the occupation’s order to evacuate the north is not a guarantee of the lives, but a form of psychological warfare intended to displace them.
The Battle of Pyongyang ended in a U.S.-led United Nations victory on this day in 1950. Hours later, the Chinese Army began crossing the border into Korea. What was the battle of Pyongyang? The Battle of Pyongyang was a significant military engagement during the Korean War. It took place from October 14 to October 19, […]
Although it emphasized the rights of India’s LGBTQ+ to live free of discrimination, India’s top court declined to legally recognize same-sex marriage, leaving the decision to Parliament. What does verdict mean in real terms for the people affected.
Hamas has shown callous disregard for the lives of Palestinians living in Gaza, but this was inevitable given its history and the inspiration of its patrons – Iran’s hangman regime.
Dozens of families from Gaza are now stranded in Egypt’s North Sinai, after they tried to cross into Egypt through the Rafah crossing. They tell Mada Masr about watching Israel’s brutal siege for afar — and their wish to go back home, in spite of the risks.
The closure of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egpty, and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, pose urgent and complex questions for decision-makers in Egypt. There are also wider regional questions that can no longer be swept aside.
Will the West stop coddling the Iranian regime now, or continue its mix of appeasement and a cat-and-mouse game that Tehran has deftly exploited to undermine peace in the Middle East?
October 16 – October 22, 2023