Eye on Indonesia’s Art Ambassadors

Indonesia is making big in-roads into the international art scene. The value of pieces by Indonesian artists has been steadily increasing — a piece by S. Sudjojono sold for $385,000 at an auction in April, while a painting by Balinese artist Lee Man, “Bali Life,” was sold for $3.24 million […]

Land of ups and downs: Armenia

Capital city Yerevan with Mount Arafat in the background At Eastertide we usually go to unusual places in the pursuit of archaeology. This year it was the turn of Armenia, an unusual place perched in the Caucasus. It is slightly smaller than Belgium, with a population of around three million. […]

Arabs should defeat Israeli plans

Israel is involved in a massive propaganda drive to counter Palestinians’ UN bid (winning recognition for their state). It is reported that secret cables have been sent to all Israeli embassies to exert maximum pressure on the countries they are in to thwart the international recognition of Palestinian state. Envoys […]

This is the year of the sinners

Does one sin in the eyes of God or just those of the Maltese Church? That’s the million dollar question the majority of the Maltese people answered on May 28. Now that the referendum frenzy is over and the result has clearly shown that the feeling of the Maltese people […]

How new is Egypt’s ‘new’ foreign policy?

In the months since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, his successors have signalled a shift in foreign policy by reaching out to former adversaries. Egypt’s government has welcomed Iranian diplomats and embraced the Palestinian group Hamas. Many interpret such moves as clear evidence of Egypt’s desire for a diplomacy that […]

4,600 Syrians flee to Turkey to escape turmoil

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Harrowing eyewitness accounts mounted on Saturday after Syrian forces backed by helicopter gunships killed at least 25 protesters, prompting the US to toughen its stance on President Bashar Assad. As the turmoil neared the three-month mark, the international outcry grew over Assad’s use of deadly force against […]

US mission in Iraq (a view from Jordan)

By Musa Keilani Tareq Al Hashemi, vice-president of Iraq,left Jordan after a three-day stay during which he shared with some media people his ideas about the future of his country, as well as his interpretation of the general pulse of the man in the Baghdad street. Hashemi’s Islamic background gave […]

Flower power

The Live Flowers Museum opened to the public yester­-­day with more than 170 flower species on display at a traditional farm in the municipality of San Cristobal, Antioquia department, Colombia. The orchid has been Colombia’s national flower since 1834 and, more precisely, the variety known as catleya trinae, named after […]

Ahmadis fair game for TTP kidnappers

ISLAMABAD: Majid* was fortunate enough to see his family. But others from the Ahmadiyya community abducted by the Taliban are not. Majid was in militants’ captivity for over six months at an unknown location in Miramshah tribal area. He was abducted from Sihala in December last year while on his […]

If Einstein met Confucius

An exhibition about the life and work of Einstein will no longer appear in Shanghai following a fracas between Chinese and Swiss museums. The exhibition has been touring China as part of a celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and China. According to the Associated Press, the […]