World features

In Lebanon, Syrian uprising shakes social fault lines

A Sunni gunman fires his weapon during a clashes, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, 13 May 2012. Gunfire broke out in the city Saturday and continued through the night primarily between a neighborhood populated by Sunni Muslims who hate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and another area with many Assad backers from his Alawite sect. Lebanon's national news agency NNA said one soldier was shot dead by a sniper in the city early Sunday. Another man was found dead on the side of a road while a third died after a shell landed in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
10 Jun 2012
BEIRUT — Deeply tucked into the barren hills of Lebanon’s northeastern region of Hermel, the isolated town of Ursal has become a household name in Lebanon thanks to the Syrian uprising. Like many other towns and villages...
Yes

UAE squeezes Islamist group on Arab Spring fringe

07 May 2012
RAS AL-KHAIMAH, United Arab Emirates — Morning prayers had just ended. Worshippers streamed out, squinting into the rising sun and paying no attention to the knot of men wearing the traditional white robes of the Gulf standing nearby...
Yes

Pakistan army uses bullets, and classrooms to fight militancy

Two members of the Taliban stand on a hill in Wardak, West of Kabul, 2008.
25 Apr 2012
GULIBAGH, Pakistan - Hazrat Gul spent two years in detention for allegedly aiding the Pakistani Taliban when they publicly flogged and beheaded people during a reign of terror in the scenic Swat Valley. Now he wiles away his time in...
Yes

Tunisia’s quiet counterrevolution

A child wrapped in the Tunisian flag sits on the shoulders of a demonstrator who with hundreds of Tunisians turned out to demand jobs and dignity as the north African country marks a year to the day since its despot Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled into exile, Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tunis, January 14, 2012. Some demonstrators, wearing the red and white of the national flag, called for recognition of the "martyrs" killed during the weeks of unrest before Ben Ali was toppled.
14 Apr 2012
More than one year after Tunisia’s uprising against the rule of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and almost six months since the country’s first democratic elections, the specter of the old regime still haunts Tunisia’s...
Yes

New clashes mar leadup to Bahrain Grand Prix

11 Apr 2012
Bahrainis wielding knives and sticks attacked Shia villagers overnight, witnesses said Wednesday, as pressure grew for this month's Formula One race in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state to be cancelled over the unrest. Washington said it was...
Yes

Young Syrian activists put life on hold in revolt

A kid wears the Syrian flag during a march from Assad Bin Furat Mosque to Syrian embassy in Cairo, October 28,2011, condemning massacres committed by Syrian army, and demanding regime of Bashar al-Assad to be toppled.
30 Mar 2012
TRIPOLI, Lebanon— Last year, Khalid was a 19-year-old Syrian university student whose modest dreams were to land a job and earn enough to marry his girlfriend — not simple tasks given Syria's weak economy and his lack of...
Yes

Baghdad marketplace oasis holds 'Iraq of dreams'

Iraqis look at dispalyed books outside bookshops in Baghdad's al-Mutanabi street. After a recent wave of attacks in Baghdad, urbane intellectuals sought refuge, as they have for years, in a storied market-place that has been their oasis in the capital's chaos: Mutanabi Street. (AFP Photo/Ali al-Saadi)
16 Mar 2012
After a recent wave of attacks in Baghdad, urbane intellectuals sought refuge, as they have for years, in a storied market-place that has been their oasis in the capital's chaos: Mutanabi Street. It comes alive on Fridays, when its...
Yes

Jordan king pardons political activist who burned his picture

King Abdullah of Jordan
29 Feb 2012
Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday pardoned a political activist who was jailed last month for setting fire to a picture of the monarch. “His Majesty King Abdullah II on Wednesday instructed the government to proceed with a...
Yes

Dissent in Italian border town reveals 'demonization' of protest, activists say

28 Feb 2012
“The TAV high-speed train won’t take us to Lyon in three hours, but to Athens in five minutes.” This slogan appeared at the Val di Susa “NOTAV” protest last Saturday in the valley of Italy’s Piedmont...
Yes

A sacrificed generation?

14 Feb 2012
ATHENS — In the shadow of the crisis that plunged Greece into a critical economic situation, young Athenians are concerned about their future. Together, they perceive themselves a sacrificed generation. As the streets of different...
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