Islam Khalil was abducted by security forces and tortured for months. More than 200 days later, he is still behind bars pending trial for a crime without a trace. This is his story.
Author: Patrick Randall
THIAROYE — Sitting on the corner of his bed, behind the curtains drawn to hide the blazing sun, Saada Ndiaye is waiting for the moment to come. That moment is his would-be departure to Spain, via a clandestine and uncertain path from this small town in Senegal, and onward through Morocco. Ndiaye, who introduces himself […]
People these days demand trails that are easily mappable online, and don’t want to have to wait for optimal conditions. No time left in modern life for venturing into the unknown?
The Somali community has solid roots in and around Minneapolis. But young people have increasingly been lured by jihadists.
PARIS — The French National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, failed to win a single region in the second round of regional elections Sunday despite leading in six of the country’s 13 regions a week earlier in the first round. The center-right coalition led by Former President Nicolas Sarkozy won in seven regions, while […]
Heaps of flowers, candles and other memorials to the Paris attack victims still remain on sidewalks and in front of businesses where tragedy struck Nov. 13. Locals understand the desire to pay homage, but say limits are needed on visible reminders of the
As boundaries between work and private life fall away, telecommuting has been a rising trend in recent years. But some now have begun to opt for living at work.
PECS — When they first took the plunge two years ago, farmers around Pécs may have only seen it as a way to improve profit margins. Certainly nothing wrong with that. But as time went by, their foray into alternative energy production turned out to be much for this group of 50 pioneers, who live […]
A return to national borders, a fight against radical Islam, a rejection of the EU and its asylum policies. France’s Far-Right National Front leader Marine Le Pen answers questions in the wake of the Paris attacks, and ahead of Sunday’s re
NAUBISE — In the village of Naubise, about 90-minute drive from the capital Kathmandu, farmer Nirbhaya Sapkota is experimenting with crop rotation, mixed cropping and even intercropping — anything to maintain soil fertility and moisture. Sapkota, 45, and others this area are contending first-hand with the effects of climate change, which is particularly hard-hitting in Nepal because of its high poverty rates and low adaptive capacity. The major earthquake that struck in April has complicated matters even more. But in this community, at least, Sapkota and other smallholder farmers refuse to go down without a fight. With the help of […]
To both improve cities and conquer markets, companies are turning to urban simulators with the interactive power and graphics of video games.
PARIS — France, the host of the COP21, has in its hands the most vital mission it has ever been entrusted with: spare humanity the irreversible disaster that would come from a two-degree rise of the globe’s average temperature by this century’s end, compared to the pre-industrial era. There will be no second chance. We […]
Inside the de-radicalization program that began last year in France to undo the indoctrination that pushed young Muslims toward extremism.
Since Turkey shot down a Russian military jet, discord between the two sides has escalated. The upshot could be unfreezing a war between Azerbaijan and an Armenian minority who have occupied its territories.
BUENOS AIRES — Mauricio Macri’s victory in Argentina’s presidential election puts an “end to 12 consecutive years of Kirchner government,” the Buenos Aires-based daily La Nacion wrote in its Monday edition. On Sunday, Macri, the 56-year-old mayor of Buenos Aires, defeated his rival Daniel Scioli by some 51.5% to 48.5% in the second-round runoff. Scioli, […]
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Runners Of The World, Get Lost!
A feet-up mini manifesto deploring the modern (and very public) obsession with the sport of running. I’ll walk, thank you…
PARIS — The number of young French people applying to join the army since the Nov. 13 attacks has tripled. After first refraining from making these figures public during the three-day period of national mourning, the French Defense Ministry told Le Monde Thursday it had received 1,500 applications per day since Friday, compared to 500 […]
PARIS — The French government has authorized the country’s hospitals to be equipped with atropine sulfate, the only antidote available to certain toxic gas attacks, the daily Le Parisien reports Tuesday. The decision was made Sunday, two days after the deadly attack in Paris that killed at least 129 people. Authorities had already been considering […]
French President Francois Hollande has declared that his nation is at war against jihadist terrorism. But how do those words translate into action?
Faced with enormous challenges both at home and abroad, China reveals itself as a land of double standards and growing uncertainty.
Two suicide bombings claimed by ISIS killed 43 people and at least 239 others Thursday evening in the Lebanese capital’s southern neighborhood of Bourj el-Barajneh, a busy commercial and residential and stronghold of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah. The Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour called the attack “unacceptable” on its front page Friday, which was decreed a […]
SYRIAN ARMY TAKES BACK KEY AIR BASE FROM ISIS The Syrian army has regained control of the Kwairis military airbase, near the northern city of Aleppo, ending a siege that started in April 2013 and was reinforced by ISIS in the spring of 2014, the Syrian Arab News Agency reports. According to experts quoted by […]
Thousands of Chinese are moving to Laos to benefit from an expatriation bonus. But their mass use of pesticides on banana plantations has created a serious health issue, and displacement of locals has fomented anti-Chinese sentiment.
A century from now, the global population will finally begin to decline. But before that, the world must deal with the waste created by an exploding overpopulation: How do we hold on until then?
Because of overscreening and the diagnosis of contrived or harmless ills, the so-called nocebo effect is wreaking havoc on otherwise healthy people.
Since the end of World War I, the United States has been methodically establishing a global state, in the same way European kings built power.
Ten years after the 2005 French riots, the anxious image of the country’s banlieues has changed. The fear is no longer about hooded youths armed with Molotov cocktails, but instead the suspected radical Islamist.
BEIJING — Throughout the world, people eat in one of three ways: with a knife and fork, with chopsticks, or with their hands. Though the knife-and-fork folk seem to be the most powerful and widespread group, those who use chopsticks most clearly reflects human wisdom when they eat. Nobody is sure when chopsticks were invented, […]
The top leaders of China’s Communist Party are gathering this week to develop the latest roadmap for the country, which could supercede the U.S. in economic and military might as soon as five years from now.
Hundreds of Syrian university degrees are reportedly being forged every day, putting the reputation of Syrian academics at serious risk. But counterfeiters say their only concern is helping their countrymen find a “safe way out.”
Yassine S. presented himself in Brussels as a Harvard-educated psychologist. Business was booming until his “mental manipulations” caught the attention of colleagues.
-Editorial- TOKYO — Both to deter North Korea’s military provocations and to ensure regional stability in Asia, it’s vital that the United States and South Korea maintain their solid alliance. South Korea should be mindful not to get too close to China, or risk weakening its collaboration with the United States. U.S. President Barack Obama […]
Hosting 30 million people in the world’s largest pilgrimage, Nashik is a temporary example of “extreme urbanism,” and researchers are studying what happens in the process.
Suspended for three months by FIFA’s Ethics Committee for a 2 million Swiss franc payment from Sepp Blatter, the former French soccer star denies any wrongdoing, and still says he’s the right man to be the next president of the global soccer org
BEIJING —Using technology to get the most out of your workers, it seems, is a goal shared by employers around the world. From Silcon Valley to Shanghai, punch cards and time clocks are being upgraded with biometric tracking, fingerprint recognition and facial scanning to avoid fraud such as so-called “buddy clocking.” But now, Bejing Daily […]
By announcing the end of its exploration campaign in the north of Alaska, Shell delighted environmental NGOs. But the self-imposed moratorium, to the degree it even exists, will not last.
A military court has convicted 26 military officers with conspiring to overthrow the current regime in collaboration with two prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders, according to a copy of the secret indictment obtained by Mada Masr.
TOKYO — It’s a bit further away from the bigger stores in Tokyo’s Ginza district. Between the sake bars, along the tall towers that watch day and night over the Sumida River, a quiet art gallery hosts large, abstract paintings. And across the street from a shop for urban bikes with monochromatic frames is a […]
China’s state-run People’s Daily has accused the United States and Russia of using the conflict in Syria as a proxy for reigniting a Cold War. In a commentary signed “Zhong Sheng” (“Voice of China”), the daily called for a peaceful diplomatic settlement to the crisis. “The United States and the Soviet Union employed a variety […]
Chile was struck last month by an 8.6-magnitude earthquake that killed 13 people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes. The tremor, followed by a tsunami, was the most powerful recorded since the beginning of the year in the world’s most earthquake-prone country. But what was perhaps most notable was the contrast between the quake’s […]