Worldcrunch
KENYA IN SHOCK AFTER MASSACRE“Terrorists make the earth shake again,” reads the front page of Kenya’s Swahili-language newspaper Taifa Leo after yesterday’s attack on Garissa University College in eastern Kenya. At least 147 people were killed and 79 were wounded when gunmen claiming to belong to the Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab stormed Garissa University College […]
Egypt’s participation in the military operation “Decisive Storm” against the Houthis in Yemen is a question of interests, alliances and cold, hard cash.
FINAL MOMENTS FOR NUCLEAR DEALIran and six world powers (United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China) are trying to overcome their remaining differences and agree to a framework deal on Iran’s nuclear program. They are gathered in Lausanne, where their self-imposed deadline will come tonight. AIRSTRIKES IN YEMEN CONTINUEA Saudi-led coalition carried out airstrikes […]
ALLIES CONSIDER GROUND TROOPS IN YEMENAirstrikes against Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen from a Saudi Arabia-led coalition have continued for a second day. At least 39 civilians have been killed in the strikes, according to AFP. Yesterday, Egypt said it was ready to send its navy and ground troops to Yemen to fight the Houthi […]
Shia militiamen, Sunni clans, al-Qaida, Iran and Saudi Arabia all have their hands in the rapidly shifting sands of the poorest state in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is everybody’s business.
SAUDI KING ABDULLAH DIES“The Good King Leaves, Salman Becomes Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat writes on its front page after Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud died early Friday at age 90, three weeks after being hospitalized for pneumonia. Abdullah is succeeded by his 79-year-old half-brother Salman […]
Old regime elements and al-Qaeda are both interested in fostering violence and widening instability as the Middle Eastern nation tries to stay on path to democracy.
A small dog on an airport runway last month reportedly caused quite a problem for a Yemeni plane attempting to land at Ta’izz airport, near the Red Sea in the Yemeni Highlands. While preparing to land, the Yemeni Airways pilot suddenly spotted the small dog walking along the runway. He immediately decided to divert the […]
The Yemeni television channel Azal has posted a bizarre video online of a young girl crying small, dark stones. With her condition labeled a medical mystery, 12-year-old Saadiya Saleh has been a source of unease for her village, where some wonder if she is possessed by the devil or ill with an unknown contagious disease.
Because of outdated tradition and economics, 14% of Yemeni girls are married off before their 15th birthday. But since the Arab spring, a movement is growing to stop this.
Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
SANA’A — Antar Al-Aldharij pins his opponent down on the mat without using a dagger or a rifle. Yemen“s national judo champion, who trains every afternoon in a gym just outside of the capital, Sana’a, just needs the strength of his arms and bare hands. Al-Aldharij and his teamates share the small room of just […]
ISIS CONTROLS ONE-THIRD OF KOBANIDespite airstrikes targeting ISIS fighters in and around the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, the jihadist group has seized more than one-third of the city, Reuters quotes the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying. While Turkey’s inaction as the battle unfolds on its border has been heavily criticized, Turkish Foreign […]
Sept. 11, 2014 OBAMA OUTLINES ANTI-ISIS STRATEGYOn the eve of today’s 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks, President Barack Obama vowed to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Mideast’s ISIS terror group, also known as ISIL. Saying he had authorized air strikes against the jihadist group in Syria and the deployment […]
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch SANA’A – Yemen said on Wednesday it had foiled an al-Qaeda plot to blow up oil pipelines and seize some of the country’s main ports. Security remains tight – and hundreds of armoured vehicles have been deployed to protect key targets. Both the U.S. and UK have withdrawn diplomatic staff from […]
CNN Worldcrunch SANAA – A pair of U.S. drone strikes in Yemen on Tuesday killed four al-Qaeda militants, security sources said. It is unclear whether the strikes were related to the heightened security alert in the country after U.S. officials intercepted a message from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to operatives in Yemen telling them to […]
It’s her eyes that are so arresting. Big brown eyes looking at the camera. Nada Al-Ahdal holds that serious, penetrating, almost unwavering look the whole time – just under three minutes – she addresses viewers. Nada is 11 years old. If her parents had had their way, she would be married by now — married […]
CNN Worldcrunch Al Qaeda’s No. 2 man in Yemen, Said al-Shihri, once emerged from the aftermath of drone strikes in the past to lambast the CIA for trying to kill him. Now, it has been confirmed, US forces have finally struck their target. A message on jihadi websites announced al-Shihri’s death Tuesday. It was purportedly […]
YEMEN OBSERVER (Yemen), REUTERS Worldcrunch SANA’A – A U.S. Embassy employee was assassinated on his way to work in the Yemeni capital Thursday. Yemen Observer reports that Qassem Aqlan, a Yemeni senior security officer working at the U.S. Embassy, was shot dead by masked gunmen on a motorcycle around 10 am Thursday. Gunmen opened fire […]
BBC, REUTERS (UK), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), CNN (US) Protestors enraged by an anti-Islam film have stormed the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, following similar rounds of violence in Libya and Egypt that had left four American diplomats dead in the Libyan city of Benghazi. The BBC reported Thursday morning that protesters have stormed the embassy’s security […]
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 […]
Tawakkul Karman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in the Yemeni uprising that toppled President Saleh after 33 years in power. But this global face of the Arab Spring still has plenty of work to do in her native land.
As embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh looks to be finally relinquishing power, the nation must struggle to avoid the longstanding tribal and regional divisions. For charismatic opposition leader Yassin Said Numan, it has been his life’
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie YEMEN SHELLING*Nine civilians, including at least one child, were killed on Friday in Yemen’s second-largest city after President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s forces shelled the neighborhood where protesters are gathered, Al Jazeera reported. The shelling continued into the early morning, where undeterred demonstrators held a […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie SYRIA’S WAR MACHINEAl Hayat reports that Syrian forces entered the Bab al-Amr neighborhood of Homs after six straight days of shelling with heavy artillery. Activists say at least 110 people have been killed in the past week in Homs alone. The opposition Syrian National […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie SYRIAN DIPLOMACYSyria is expected to respond to an Arab League proposal to end the country’s crisis, Al Jazeera reported. The Syrian opposition maintains that the regime is stalling for time and has no intention of reforming — and called on the Arab League to […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie SYRIA SCHOOLING*It was back-to-school week in Syria for 5.6 million students, and pro-democracy activists called for a school boycott until President Bashar al-Assad resigns. CNN Arabic reports that protesters are urging parents to keep their children home from school. In a statement, a group […]
Reports say Yemeni government forces have killed more than 50 people in two days of oppression on anti-government protestors. As violence further escalates, Yemen has been plunged in the country’s bloodiest clashes for months.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie YEMEN: TAKING STOCK, COUNTING DEADProtests in Yemen have been ongoing for more than eight months, with the epicenter of the uprising at a square near the University of Sanaa. Protesters have been camped out, and despite periodic attempts by security forces to forcefully break […]
Since the beginning of protests in Yemen, women there have not only been taking off their veils, they’ve been giving speeches and confronting Islamists.
Half-brother of Yemen’s wounded president, General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar has sided with the protesters, calling for regime change. But he insists that he will find the power to do it peacefully.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا YEMENI ATTACK*As Yemeni state television aired a photo montage of President Ali Abdullah Saleh accompanied by background music, the crawl beneath reads: “President Saleh, may God protect him, is in good health and reports of his death are untrue.” Al Arabiya and other news outlets reported that […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا DRIVING DEBAUCHERY*The campaign against women driving in Saudi Arabia continues to grow, as a “Saudi religious figure named Mohammed al-Manjad said he considers a woman driving a car sexually immoral because if she gets behind the wheel of a car, she is surely practicing other forms of […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا YEMEN*Al Jazeera reports that hundreds of Yemenis are packing and leaving Sanaa as gun battles continue throughout the city between supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and a powerful tribal chief who defected and joined the opposition. Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar is the head of a tribal federation […]
Anti-government protestors in the southern city of Aden, are not just calling for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign, they also want to separate from the north. Chronicle of a divided revolution.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا CAMERAS ROLLING *Video of a night rally in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo showed protesters chanting “freedom” …. “one hand” … “unity” as the popular challenge to the reign of President Bashar al-Assad continues to gain momentum. Comments on the video included: “The regime is going […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا YEMEN IMPLODING *The respected opposition news website YemenPortal, run by a Yemeni dissident based in Sweden, is monitoring blow-by-blow the rapidly breaking news of mass defections from the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. *Meanwhile, the official Saba news agency features an announcement by the military, which […]
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s hold on power may be crumbling faster than his better-known counterpart over in Libya, and the pressure is starting to show. A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie YEMEN VIA TWITTER Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s hold on power may be crumbling faster than his better-known […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا Your daily shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing, sharing By Kristen Gillespie TWITTERING: Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour, head of the Al-Ghad party and who was imprisoned for four years after challenging Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 presidential election, fired off this tweet: “I […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا Your daily shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing, sharing By Kristen Gillespie TWITTERING: Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour, head of the Al-Ghad party and who was imprisoned for four years after challenging Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 presidential election, fired off this tweet: “I […]