Field Notes FEBRUARY 19, 2016 | STRATFOR.COM By Jasmin Mahmoud There are no perfect measures of the toll the Gaza blockade is taking on the 1.9 million residents locked inside, but those that give a glimpse tend to be pretty macabre. The number of suicide attempts handled by Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, […]
By SPIEGEL Staff DER SPIEGEL The New Germany: Within only 12 months, over 1 million people moved to Germany. How will they integrate? More than a million refugees are now living in Germany. The next task is to integrate them. SPIEGEL spoke with dozens of experts and people working in […]
Photo: Christophe G Published: 23 Feb 2016 More and more foreigners in Switzerland are seeking Swiss citizenship according to official figures, reversing a downward trend over the previous 10 years. Figures from the Swiss immigration office show that the number of naturalizations rose by around 20 percent in 2015, with […]
SCHOOL DRESSCODE FEB 22, 2016 – 20:54 Two young women studying in Zurich (Keystone) With an eye on Muslim hijab, Swiss People’s Party members in canton Valais have collected more than 4,000 signatures calling for a ban on headgear in public schools – despite a recent federal court decision rejecting […]
SAAD AL-DOSARI Published — Tuesday 23 February 2016 As the world governments and security agencies are stepping up their efforts to fight online terrorism, terrorist groups are actively changing and upgrading their tactics. Social media platforms have become their open playgrounds they use to recruit fighters, to communicate between cells, […]
By AFP – Feb 20,2016 – JORDAN TIMES Members of Iraqi security forces are deployed at the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday (Reuters photo) BAGHDAD — Iraqi tribesmen battled Daesh militants inside their Fallujah stronghold for a second day Saturday, a significant challenge to long-standing extremist control […]
By Omar Obeidat – Feb 22,2016 – JORDAN TIMES Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour speaks at a ceremony in Amman on Monday to announce the preliminary findings of the 2015 population census (Petra photo) AMMAN — Jordan’s population increased by nearly 87 per cent over a decade, with the number […]
Feb 22,2016 -JORDAN TIMES EDITORIAL UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura made a surprise visit to Damascus last week for urgent talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, in a bid to secure the delivery of humanitarian aid to areas besieged by the Syrian army. Damascus agreed, or […]
Villages that remained loyal to the Syrian regime have paid a steep price Robert Fisk Nubl, Northern Syria @indyvoices 55 comments This is the untold story of the three-and-a-half-year siege of two small Shia Muslim villages in northern Syria. Although their recapture by the Syrian army – and by Iranian Revolutionary Guards […]
Torture Is a Crime Source: Huffington Post By Curt Goering; Executive Director, The Center for Victims of Torture The subject of U.S. policies on torture is back in the news again. With […]
Source: Huffington Post By Muhammad Abdul Bari: Educationalist, community activist, author and parenting consultant Ignorance of others in a pluralist democracy is a big enemy. In recent decades the lack of […]
Anuja Jaiswal, Times of India Notwithstanding the call for withdrawal of Jat reservation agitation in Haryana, traffic, both rail and bus, remained affected from UP for the second consecutive day, as nearly 300 trains, passing through Western UP, and hundreds of buses were cancelled, stranding thousands of passengers. Services to […]
Source: BBC Fernando Cardenal, a Nicaraguan priest who defied Vatican orders to leave the revolutionary Sandinista government in the 1980s, has died aged 82. Father Cardenal was one of several […]
Source: Los Angeles Times Three months ago, most Canadians had never heard of Harjit Singh Sajjan. But after newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tapped him to be defense minister […]
Source: Yahoo News Bangladesh police have arrested three local Islamists over the decapitation of a top Hindu priest, the latest attack targeting religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation, officers said […]
Source: Reuters The leader of a group that successfully sued Kentucky to get tax incentives for a Noah’s Ark-themed attraction said on Saturday that the religious organization may hire individuals […]
Source: Maryland Reporter By Alessia Grunberger In an emotionally charged, eight-hour hearing Friday, more than 30 advocates made heartfelt pleas to lawmakers in an effort to make Maryland the sixth […]
Source: CNN (CNN)After lengthy debate, Georgia’s state Senate passed an amended version of a religious freedom bill Friday, sending it back to the House and infuriating critics who slam the revised measure as anti-gay and lesbian. If the Republican-led House agrees with the Senate version, it will go to Gov. […]
Source: Time The gunman who killed at least six people Saturday during a random shooting spree in Kalamazoo, Mich. was a driver for Uber, the company said. Jason Dalton, 45, […]
Source: Daily Times By Saad Hafiz Asking for the repeal of the blasphemy laws is not about wishing to deny people the right to feel offended or to defend their beliefs; these rights should be available for the religious and the non-believer alike. And this is what it finally comes […]