Worldcrunch
Nearly 70 years after WWII, have Germans finally come in from the cold? A recent BBC poll found that “friendly” Germany has the world’s best international image – for the third year in a row.
Essay: Who says that all revolutionaries should be grim and gloomy? It certainly wasn’t the case in Tunisia, where humor has always been used as a political weapon.
The revolutionary wave has not reached Riyadh. The Saudi authorities are getting ready for only the second elections in the Kingdom’s history, and women are still shut out.
Frederic Monneyron, fashion sociologist, explains how Gaddafi uses his extravagant style as political propaganda.
While John Paul II relied on Polish nuns, Benedict XVI has turned to members of a Catholic lay association to maintain the papal apartment. His personal secretary Mons. Georg Ganswein keeps up his daily schedule. And when it’s lunchtime, they all
Editorial: China is failing its “most disadvantaged,” argues economic historian Qin Hui, who likens Chinese slum demolition to the white South African government’s handling of shantytowns during apartheid.
Initial signs point to Islamist terror groups as culprits in the attack that killed 17 in Marrakech. What does it mean for the reform promises from King Mohammed VI?
Israel is avoiding official comment over the recent events in Syria, where the regime is a longstanding enemy neighbor. But the enemy you don’t know can always be worse.
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 POPULAR THREAT The Facebook page of the “Syrian Revolution 2011” currently features a menacing message promising surprises for the Syrian regime. The message reads: ”On this day, Tuesday, April 5, 2011, and after putting our faith in God, we shall surprise the oppressive and terrorist police state […]
Essay: Marine Le Pen in France is the latest face of European neo-populism, which mixes ideals of freedom and feminism, with open hostility toward Islam.
Some 30 people are missing, 20 arrested and more than 200 placed under interrogation, as the pro-democracy uprising in the Arab creates a quiet panic within the Chinese regime.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا VIDEO LETTER *Social media gives Arab citizens a way to communicate with their leadership directly, bypassing the heavily censored traditional media, and shattering taboos in the process with what has become stunning frequency. In Jordan, a “Letter to Jordan’s King Abdullah from a young man” was posted […]
Concerns are growing for the health of the some 600 people, so-called liquidators, struggling to stop deadly radiation leaking from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Many are resigned to the fact they could be dead within weeks.
Fares al-Fayez accuses the King’s inner circle of corruption, and “his wife” of spending lavishly and favoring Palestinians. The focus, he says, should be on a common enemy: Israel.
Essay: Who says that all revolutionaries should be grim and gloomy? It certainly wasn’t the case in Tunisia, where humor has always been used as a political weapon.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا YEMEN, IN THE CAPITAL *As hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into Yemen’s streets on Friday demanding, as they have for weeks, that President Ali Abdullah Saleh resign immediately, regime supporters came out in droves to demand that he stay. As Yemen crumbles around him – amidst […]
Essay: Syrian-born filmmaker Charif Kiwan provides a Mediterranean history lesson and salutes those daring to defy the regime of Bashar Al-Assad. But he knows the dictator will not cede power easily.
For now, the Western coalition has focused on air support for Libyan rebels rather than arms supplies. So beleaguered anti-Gaddafi forces have resorted to constructing their own weapons. Here’s how.
A recent report by France’s national audit office has concluded that the country’s top art museums are costing too much, as others are busy trying to cut public spending.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad finally addressed the nation in a televised speech. As with recent pronouncements from Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Bahrain’s King Hamad Al Khalifa, Assad’s performance contained all the classic elements of the time-tested Arab strongman’s harangue A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen […]
Air support from Western powers has helped the Libyan rebels, but they are outgunned by Gaddafi’s forces along a complicated political and tribal landscape.
Hans-Peter Friedrich has upset Muslims before with his historical views. Now, critics say, he hit more bad notes during the annual Islamic Conference, where he invited Muslim participants to form a “security partnership.”
As Shiite-led protests against the Sunni royal family are met with a violent crackdown, some in the Shiite majority have started to lash out at Pakistani immigrants, who are Sunni.
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 […]
Towards the end of World War II, the German Luftwaffe airforce resorted to a series of deadly suicide missions. Die Welt journalist and historian Sven Felix Kellerhoff examines a little documented chapter in Germany’s military history.
The worst nuclear accident in history is frozen in time in this Ukrainian city. Is this the fate that awaits the Japanese towns near the Fukushima plant?
A R A B I C A ارابيكا SIZING UP SYRIA *Pan-Arab news website Elaph.com reports witnesses in Daraa as saying that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are part of the 5,000-strong troop contingent surrounding the southern Syrian city. There are also reports of “Hezbollah elements’ in both Daraa and the northern city of […]
Migrants fleeing Tunisia and Libya cross the dangerous Strait of Sicily to the island of Lampedusa and other landing spots in Italy. Eventually, many amass in Ventimiglia, an upscale Italian border town and resort in the north that is the gateway to Franc
According to a recent BBC poll, Germany is the best country in the world — for the third year running. Do we really deserve it? BERLIN – The 2009 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has a “red list” of threatened species, which includes 17,291 species in danger of extinction. But there’s one endangered […]
Veteran Turkish war correspondent Cengiz Candar, who covered the aftermath of an ill-fated uprising in Syria in 1982 which left thousands dead, tries to predict where the country’s current popular rebellion will lead.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is stuck with an approval rating below 30 percent. Will his weekly lunches with the cream of Paris “civil society” help change his image?
In the town where Syria’s popular revolt began a week ago, and where dozens or more were reportedly shot dead by government troops, there is no sign protesters are ready to surrender. Protesters disperse after police open fire in Daraa (Youtube) DARAA – The capital, Damascus, may be staunchly behind Syrian President Bashar Assad, as […]
The U.S. President finds himself trapped in a war he didn’t want to fight, with the 2012 elections already on the horizon. A European perspective on fast-moving events in Washington, and beyond.
After its diplomats abstained in opposition to last week’s UN Security Council resolution on Libya response, China state media and bloggers take up debate over Western policy. A U.S. F-16 pilot returns from mission over Libya (dvidshub) BEIJING – If one was to believe China’s official press and its television and radio outlets, the war […]
Editorial: In Germany, the clamor for a rapid end to nuclear power ignores a long list of consequences, from wind turbines in forests and to slowing down on the autobahn. Anti-nuclear protesters in Germany (2e14) Germany’s energy policy has three objectives: security, efficiency and environmental protection. This is law, enshrined in the preamble to the […]
Proud of their quickly constructed but costly welfare state, the Portuguese have always wanted to play in Europe’s big league. Now that it’s time to pay the bill, they may have to reconsider.
Despite the unfolding crises in Libya and Japan, U.S. President Barack Obama stuck to his Latin America agenda with stopovers in Brazil, Chile and El Salvador. Obama wined and dined in Santiago with Chilean President Sebastian Piñera (Gobierno de Chile) EYES INSIDE – LATIN AMERICA Perhaps the biggest news from U.S. President Barack Obama’s first […]
In the small town of Taro, as elsewhere along the coast, the massive anti-tsunami wall could not withstand the violence of the wave that destroyed all in its path.
Prostitution is on the rise in Paris. The number of streetwalkers on the outer northern boulevards of the city has increased, as authorities debate so-called “passive solicitation,” and look for new ways to crack down on the sex trade.