Who gets to define terrorism?

By Ethan Casey Source: dawn.com. My column last week on drone attacks so clearly struck a nerve that I intended to write a follow-up this week, addressing some of the many comments and responses. I did publish an interim statement on my own website, where I invite you to continue that […]

The tall tale of the bull

source. dawn.com One of my neighbors has gotten a bull. It is not just the usual run of the mill, medium-sized animal either, this one is big – bigger than I am and frolics in the area because after all it would be pretty cruel for the owners to keep […]

Colonising with impunity

There was hardly any international reaction, or an even Arab reaction for that matter, to the latest Israeli plan to build hundreds of housing units in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority did voice some concern but it was also muted. It is as if the world has become numb […]

Sex selection: The forgotten story

Source: BBC News A strong socio-cultural preference for boys in conservative Asian societies is blamed for most of the sex selection. In overwhelmingly patriarchal India, dowry makes daughters expensive. China’s one-child policy is thought to be a trigger as women abort girls to have a single boy. Amniocentesis tests and ultrasound scans have […]

Country profile: Iraq

Iraq, in an area once home to some of the earliest civilisations, became a battleground for competing forces after the US-led ousting of President Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Shia-led government struggled to restore order until a “surge” of US troops in late 2007 began to push insurgents and militias […]

Demolished Home Rebuilt in Al-Walajeh

Al-Walajeh – PNN – Palestine News Network – People gathered in Al-Walajeh village near Bethlehem Saturday night to celebrate the rebuilding of a family’s home that was destroyed by the Israeli army seven years ago. The family served coffee and thanked the crowd of around 60 people for coming. Sami […]

Famine and abundance rub shoulders in Ethiopia

by Philipp Hedemann in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Infosud/swissinfo.ch While millions of people in the Horn of Africa suffer a terrible drought, foreign investors are harvesting tonnes of cereals to be exported to Asia and the Gulf states. swissinfo.ch reports from western Ethiopia on farmland leased by an Indian entrepreneur, where […]

Norway Terrorist ‘has accomplices’

Norwegian police are investigating claims by Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted carrying out Friday’s twin attacks in Norway, that he has “two more cells” working with him. Mr Breivik made the claim as he attended his first court hearing following the bombing in Oslo and a massacre on an island […]