Worldcrunch
BIR JDID – The family dream was to move to a slum in Casablanca. Shantytowns are no longer as bad as they used to be, says the mother: “Everything there is well-planned nowadays.” She proudly lists out all the advantages of living there: “Electricity, sewage, waste collection, humanitarian organizations and even a mailman.” Every big […]
TUNIS – Overnight, the name of their organization, Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), became famous. They were brought into the spotlight after the deadly attacks on several U.S. embassies that they were accused of organizing after the broadcast of the Islamophobic movie “Innocence of Muslims.” In 2011, in the course of just a few […]
PARIS – If the images didn’t show a large scar on Ghazi Béji’s chest, the photo collection of his journey might pass for a mere holiday album. Yet the 28-year-old Tunisian has a very different tale to tell: in seven months, Béji traveled across seven countries in hiding, facing hunger, fear, cold and physical violence. […]
CAIRO – Mohamed Gad al-Rab, more commonly known as Sambo, was not a committed revolutionary. He did not participate in the 18-day uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak, nor the immediate events that followed it. Inadvertently, he became an icon in events after much of the history had been made, having been caught up in the […]
CAIRO – As Egypt struggles to emerge from a period of deep financial uncertainty; government officials are looking towards the country’s vital shipping artery — the Suez Canal — as a major source of revenue and jobs. Officials from several government ministries have announced massive public-private partnerships aimed at developing the region. The hope, they […]
AL WAFD, JANUARY 25TH PORTAL (Egypt), TWITTER, GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch CAIRO –Among the central demands of Egypt’s pro-democracy movement was for Mohamed Morsi to set free all those imprisoned during the many protests linked to the January 25th Revolution. Yet when reports that the new Egyptian president had marked his first 100 days in office […]
MEDIAPART (France), CORRIERE DELLA SERA (Italy) DREAM TV (Egypt) Worldcrunch PARIS – The former intelligence chief for Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) has alleged that a French secret agent working with the complicity of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi. NTC spy chief Rami el-Obeidi told Paris-based news website Mediapart on […]
AL MASRY AL YOUM, MASRAWY (Egypt) Worldcrunch CAIRO – Social networks bristled with rage last week when city workers in the capital began painting over graffiti near Tahrir Square, including some iconic images and writings commemorating the 2011 Revolution. Now Cairo’s mayor Osama Kamel has conceded that the clean-up of the walls of Mohamed Mahmoud […]
Essay: The fury of fundamentalist Muslims should not obscure efforts to consolidate democracy.
BBC NEWS, THE GUARDIAN (UK), WASHINGTON POST, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (US) Worldcrunch MANAMA – A Bahraini civilian court has upheld jail sentences against 20 leaders of last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations, including eight prominent activists facing life in prison, reports BBC News. Among those convicted to life were Abdulhadi al Khawaja, who went on a 110-day […]
TRIPOLI – Nafisa Muhammad knows all too well that vengeance is alive and well in post-revolution Libya. “One of my brothers was kidnapped by rebels from Misrata at Benghazi airport,” she says. “On his first day at a local detention center, he was beaten to death.” The 31-year-old woman now lives in a refugee camp […]
LE MONDE (France), TUNISIA IT (Tunisia) Worldcrunch A Tunisian television station stopped running a satirical puppet show that regularly mocked politicians and members of the ruling Ennahda party because of pressure from authorities, according to Mongi Khadraoui, secretary general of the National Tunisian Journalist Union (SNJT). The authorities appreciated neither the form nor content of […]
EGYPT INDEPENDENT, AL-AHRAM (Egypt), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch Egypt’s Salafi Nour Party has slammed the government’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund about a $4.8 billion rescue package, stating any potential loan that the government receives would be against sharia law. Younis Makhyoun, a member of the ultra-conservative Islamist party said: “Borrowing […]
For a long time, the only people interested in Yemen were Joseph Kessel and Al-Qaida. After the revolution that brought down 32 years of dictatorship, the interest of the West quickly waned, abandoning the country to its difficult political transition. It is an exhausted country, without a vision nor a hope of something better and […]