Berlusconi speaks with La Stampa’s editor, confirming his plans to resign, but insisting that new elections must be called, even if he will no longer be a candidate. He also compares himself to Mussolini and lashes out at those who “betrayed” him.
Category: Geopolitics
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 […]
The latest survey found support fading for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev after they announced plans to “swap” top positions in upcoming elections. Though the poll is not expected to unseat their Uni
Serbia has positioned itself as one of the next countries likely to join the European Union. Still, a simmering conflict along the border with its old nemesis Kosovo — plus deepening unemployment — put the candidacy at risk.
Analysis: after a turbulent weekend in Athens, all eyes turn to the new Greek government of national unity, charged with the Herculean task of fixing the country’s finances and maintaining social order.
Analysis: Two elections decided Sunday in Central America produced winners – Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Otto Pérez in Guatemala – who couldn’t be more different. But the victories both show how troubled the isthmus’ democratic institutions really are.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie CALLING MOMTweeters in Saudi Arabia are launching a new campaign to break the taboo of a wife and a mother’s name being mentioned in public. Hashtag IsmOmi (Arabic for “my mother’s name”) calls on Saudis to mention their mother’s names. *Najla Fahad tweets: “My […]
Economic growth and discretionary funds funneled from Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez have helped position Nicaragua leader Daniel Ortega as the frontrunner for Sunday’s presidential election. Critics say Ortega is defying term limits and building a corrupt
In Rio de Janeiro, militias – often involving corrupt police – have taken control of the notorious favelas and worked their way into local politics. Judge Patricia Acioli was one of the few people brave enough to go after them. She paid with her life.
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 […]
Essay: After its first free election, Tunisia is not without its challenges. Still, the “post-revolution” situation there is already starkly more hopeful than in Egypt where the military continues to exert control in absence of a politic
Editorial: after its latest edition poked fun at the Muslim prophet, the offices of French satirical weekly ‘Charlie Hebdo’ was firebombed and its website hacked. Like ongoing fundamentalist Christian attacks on a local theater troop, the incident is a th
Analysis: The pause for air after last week’s EU summit has abruptly ended with the Greek government’s announcement of plans to hold a referendum on the debt bailout. This view from Germany says all bets are off. Again.
A confidant of Yasser Arafat, al-Masri made billions in oil and gas. But unlike some other super-rich Palestinians, he chose to remain close to his roots in Nablus, where he built a true palace and meets with Hamas and Fatah leaders alike in search of rec
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 […]
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
Op-Ed: Literally laughed (or at least chuckled) at by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, Italy is at a new low point. Embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may have to choose between saving his political future, or risking the economic collapse not o
As Tunisians head to the polls for the first free vote after the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ and fall of the Ben Ali regime, tribal infighting, strikes and protests are multiplying. The region of Gafsa, the hotbed of a 2008 uprising, is on the verge of chaos.
Months of protest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh have sparked a heated information war in Yemen. State media blames terrorist forces for driving the country toward chaos. But the opposition has a voice too: a television station called Suhail that&am
Once bustling with tourists, the port city of Veracruz has become a new battleground for drug cartels. The arrival of the mysterious Mata-Zetas (Zeta Killers) has left hundreds dead, scared off visitors and raised questions about just how much the local g
Analysis: A violent military demise was fitting for Gaddafi who ruled that way for four decades. But the war to oust him has decimated the nation, and divisions among Gaddafi opponents create uncertainty both for Libya’s new leaders and Western p
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie A DEATH IN LIBYA Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what appears to be a deceased Muammar Gaddafi, naked to the waist and lying in his own blood in the middle of a street in Sirte as the mosques issued the call to prayer in […]
Op-Ed: A series of attacks by banned Kurdish separatist outfit PKK has left 29 Turkish security personnel dead, opening grave questions for Turkey’s future.