Yemen’s Renewed “War on Terror” By Ramzy Baroud Columnist and the Editor of Palestine Chronicle. Monday, 28 May 2012 00:00 Yemeni forces continue to push against Islamic fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda. Their major victories come on the heels of the inauguration of Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi, who is now entrusted with the task of [...]
Justice Corona denounced the case against him, saying it was not backed by evidence [Reuters] Philippine senators have voted overwhelmingly to convict the country’s top judge for failing to declare $2.4m in bank accounts after a trial that lasted five months. The politically charged trial has reinvigorated President Benigno Aquino III‘s campaign to clean up government. Al [...]
Photo: EPA One afternoon in May, Al Jazeera accompanied police sergeant Joseph Paul on patrol in San Jose, California, a city of just under a million people. As Paul wheeled his cruiser down the highways and streets of his city, he said his daily routine is full of potential dangers. “On patrol you have absolutely no [...]
‘Goodbye to China, country of contradictions’ Melissa Chan, China correspondent since 2007, filed nearly 400 reports during her five years in the country Earlier this week, I left China after five years as an Al Jazeera English correspondent following the decision by the government to revoke my press credentials. At a subsequent Foreign Ministry press briefing, [...]
The election is likely to return the SPD-Greens coalition to power with a stronger mandate [Reuters] Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s conservatives have suffered a crushing defeat in an election in Germany‘s most populous state, exit polls showed, a result which could embolden the left opposition to step up attacks on her European austerity policies. The election on [...]
President Obama has said he wants to ‘finish the job we started in Afghanistan’ [GALLO/GETTY] President Obama has been of two minds towards Afghanistan since the outset of his presidency. In December 2009, en route to tripling the US military presence there, he declared that US military forces would begin to withdraw from the country in 18 [...]
Israeli politics have shifted far to the right over the past six decades [GALLO/GETTY]Be’er-Sheva, Israel - Not long after Israel celebrated its 64th Independence Day on April 26, a friend prepared a quiz of sorts. She read out loud political quotes to about ten guests who were having dinner at my house, and asked us to [...]
Australia ‘world’s worst’ for online bullying Study places Australia as the world’s worst country for bullying on social networking sites. Social network sites can leave one vulnerable to being humiliated in a public sphere by people unknown to the user. For cyber bullies, it is a bit [...]
Britain ‘Does’ Austerity So The US Doesn’t Have To The country’s experiment in austerity has provided the US with valuable information: it doesn’t work. By Dean Baker May 01, 2012 “Al Jazeera” — Washington, DC – A little less than two years ago, the people of the United Kingdom made [...]
Few men have spent more time at the intersection of nuclear weapons and international politics than Swedish diplomat Hans Blix. As the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and then chief United Nations weapons inspector, Blix was at the centre of events when he publicly contradicted claims from the administration of former US [...]
Ghanem, 69, served under Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi as head of the country’s national oil company [Reuters] Austrian police say former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem was found dead in the Danube river near Vienna. Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger told Al Jazeera his corpse was found on Sunday morning floating in the river and [...]
There has been a great deal of sheer nonsense put about in the so called debate on man made climate change. The first question is whether there has been climate change or not. It perhaps does not really matter how that question is framed because climate change is not simply a matter [...]
The Grand Prix, Western Hypocrisy and the Gulf States By Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey April 21, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Let us be perfectly clear. Qatar has emerged as the main western puppet State in the Gulf, while Bahrain receives favoured treatment despite a despotic crackdown on activists and Saudi Arabia, despite having a [...]
Sarkozy, who trailed behind Hollande by at least three points, challenged him to three televised debates [Reuters] Socialist challenger Francois Hollande has won the first round of the French presidential vote, setting himself up for a May 6 runoff with right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. Estimates of the result broadcast on Sunday as polls closed gave [...]
Yusuf is currently working on a musical featuring songs he wrote as Cat Stevens [GALLO/GETTY] The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens is starting a new chapter – one that has been in the making since the day he first picked up a microphone.Rock icon Yusuf Islam – who goes by the single name Yusuf [...]
Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common, with BP oil pollution believed to be the likely cause. Dahr Jamail New Orleans, LA - “The fishermen have never seen anything like this,” Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. “And in my 20 years working [...]
Ex-military ruler is jailed on return from France after being extradited to serve sentences for corruption and murder. Manuel Noriega, Panama’s jailed former military ruler, has arrived back in his home country, where he has been jailed following extradition from France, after receiving final medical clearance. His plane touched down [...]
Burping cows have become the comic relief of the global warming debate, but livestock emissions are no laughing matter. Every year, the world’s 1.2 billion ruminants produce 80 million tonnes of methane, or 28 per cent of global methane emissions. Just one grazing dairy cow belches around 600 litres per day. Methane [...]
Abdel Hakim Belhaj, centre, has said he was tortured after being arrested in 2004 [EPA] The British government approved the rendition of Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a prominent fighter during the recent Libyan uprising, to the former regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2004, according to reports in the British media. Documents said to be found in the abandoned offices [...]
In the court’s first conviction, the ICC recently found Thomas Lubanga guilty of war crimes [Al Jazeera] Cambridge, MA - When the Lubanga verdict was handed down at the International Criminal Court, rather than a chorus of celebration, there was qualified applause from pundits and publicists. Almost all the opinion pieces that examined the potential impact [...]
The unrest spread to several London boroughs over five nights of rioting [Al Jazeera] London, United Kingdom - Daniel, an 18-year-old from Newham, in London’s east end, has one regret.“I wish there was more time. More time to have shown them what I really could do.” I asked him: “And what exactly did you do?” [...]
Omar al-Bashir had agreed to meet with his southern counterpart in order to ease tensions between the two [Reuters] Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has suspended an April summit with his southern counterpart following renewed clashes between the two armies on the border.”The government announced that it suspended Bashir’s visit to Juba after the South [...]
An investgation last year found that both Pakistan and the US bore responsibility for the incident [GALLO/GETTY] The US military does not intend to charge or discipline its officers who were involved in a deadly NATO airstrike on a Pakistani border post last November, a newspaper report from the US suggests. The New York Times reported on Sunday [...]
With few prospects and no housing, many Afghan asylum seekers gather and sleep in parks [Basir Ahang/Al Jazeera] As Afghanistan’s army was beginning to assume a more active combat role in 2007 – and as suicide bombings and opium production hit record highs - Omar thought a move to Europe would make his life safer. Instead, as with [...]
They Had Names by Abby Zimet In the wake of the massacre in Afghanistan, there has been much media coverage of the shooter, and almost none of the victims. Al-Jazeera‘s Qais Azimy rescues them from anonymity, giving them, at least, their names: “In the days following the rogue US soldier’s shooting spree in Kandahar, most of the media, [...]
Around four million poor people in Indonesia do not receive any government support because they lack proper identification papers. The Indonesian government calls them “invisible people”. link to the video report http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia-pacific/2012/03/201231716011912589.html Many are poor farmers who migrate to the cities in search of a better living. Without a proper address or formal job, however, [...]
Gaza. Everything as usual. (Al Jazeera) By Uri Avnery ‘What have you learned in school today, my son?’ ‘There was no school today. There is an emergency!’ ‘And what have you learned from that, my son?’ Actually, quite a lot. This week’s “round”, as the army likes to call it, followed a well-established pattern, as [...]
Jason Russell’s campaign aims to build an online movement dedicated to the arrest of LRA leader Joseph Kony [AP] On Thursday March 8, internet users around the globe woke up to a rebel African leader named Joseph Kony pasted across their facebook walls, tilting the trends on Twitter and kicking up a virtual activist storm [...]
Amnesty International has accused Sri Lanka of illegally holding hundreds of detainees who are vulnerable to torture and execution and urged the UN to investigate allegations of serious abuses during and after the country’s 26-year civil war. In a new report entitled “Locked away: Sri Lanka’s security detainees”, the rights group also said [...]
A year on, frustration dominates in Fukushima Those living closest to damaged nuclear plant deal with daily uncertainty, a year on from the earthquake and tsunami. D. Parvaz Last Modified: 11 Mar 2012 14:36 Email Print Share Send Feedback Fukushima City, Japan - In Fukushima Prefecture, home to the nuclear plant damaged in the March [...]
Some of the bodies of the victims were badly burned, but it remains unclear whether the fire in this Kandahar home was set deliberately or caused by the shooting itself [AFP] In Australia after a few words of condolence and the very insincere sounding efforts of Gillard the unelected PM it is full speed ahead to complete [...]
Female journalists have made huge strides in recent years, but continue to face gender-specific risks [EPA] London, UK - Our job as journalists carries with it an inherent risk that affects us all, irrespective of our gender or ethnic background, because we go to places and events that people are trying to get away from: disaster [...]
Muneo Kano has gone from fretting over his organic crops to studying patterns of radiation [D. Parvaz/ Al Jazeera] Iitate Village, Japan - Second-generation farmer Muneo Kano has not been able to tend to his cattle or grow crops since the Daiichi nuclear power plant contaminated land, air and sea after being damaged by last year’s [...]
Fukushima City, Japan - In Fukushima Prefecture, home to the nuclear plant damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, spirits are low a year after the disasters struck. “People aren’t genki,” said Jun Kitsunai, a community volunteer, using a Japanese term for being happy or upbeat. The 30-year-old who owns [...]
Egypt clears ‘virginity test‘ military doctor Military court denies humiliating tests even took place, despite a ruling by another court and admissions by generals. A military court in Egypt has acquitted a doctor who had been accused of forcing female protesters to undergo virginity tests.Ahmed Adel was cleared because the [...]
Pu Zhiqiang, well-known Chinese rights attorney The final version of China‘s new Criminal Procedure Law was released to the public on Thursday, due for passage on the closing day of the National People’s Congress in a few days. It is one of the most high-profile pieces of legislation at the annual session of China’s legislative [...]
Weiss: Zionism has created ‘rivers of blood’ Rabbi Yisrael Dovid Weiss explains why he believes that Israel as a state is not legitimate. When Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, visited Washington last week on the eve of the Purim holiday, he gave Barack Obama, the US president, what he considered a symbolic gift [...]
Armed rebels were driven out of Homs but hold other parts of the country [REUTERS] Kofi Annan, the Arab-UN envoy tasked with finding a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Syria, has warned against military intervention in the country, saying it risks making the conflict worse. Speaking to reporters at the Arab League in Cairo [...]
The United Nations’ humanitarian affairs chief has visited the battered Syrian opposition neighbourhood of Bab Amr, in Homs, finding it largely deserted of inhabitants, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who arranged the visit, has told Al Jazeera.Valerie Amos followed a delegation from the Syrian Arab Crescent into the district, after [...]
Palestinian villages in the northern West Bank have witnessed an increase in arson attacks on their fields [EPA] Fadi Quran is little different from any other Palestinian living in the West Bank, where violence from Israeli settlers is part of daily life. Hailing from the town of Al-Bireh, less than one kilometre from the settlement [...]
Navi Pillay The UN’s human rights commissioner explains why she believes arming the Syrian opposition will escalate the violence. During one of the most difficult recent days in the Syrian city of Homs, when the government assault on the opposition was especially intense, a person in the beleaguered city was quoted [...]
/Peter Greste / Al JazeeraA refugee boy whiles away the time by his family’s shelter on the outskirts of the Dagahaley sub-camp in Dadaab. The main camp is full, so new arrivals have been forced to settle illegally on its fringes. Peter Greste The medical aid agency Medicins Sans Frontiers has warned that the humanitarian crisis in the Dadaab refugee [...]
Vladimir Putin shed tears after his victory in Russia’s presidential election [Al Jazeera] Bangkok, Thailand - He even shed tears – an unlikely remake of “From Russia with Love”. The Russian Orthodox Church- which steadfastly supported his campaign – was more than pleased. The tears of the Czarwere, in theory, in honour of the citizens of [...]
A retired career physicist with NASA, Bonny Schumaker, now the owner and pilot of On Wings of Care, has logged more than 500 hours surveying the area of the seep in question [Erika Blumenfeld/Al Jazeera] New Orleans, LA - As BP settles out of court for the first phase of thousands of lawsuits that could [...]
In addition to approving parliamentary candidates, the Guardian Council also selects presidential candidates [Reuters] Iran‘s March 2 parliamentary elections will mark the first time the country has gone to the polls since the disputed 2009 presidential elections in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won his second term. There are 290 parliament seats up for grabs and the [...]
Thies, Senegal - Pronounced as “chess” and known as “the city of the train”, Thies, with no more than 400,000 people is not your average sleepy hollow. The town, considered Senegal’s second city, and a mere 60km from the capital, sits in an area considered to be among the most developed in the country, and is [...]
Oil and sheen have been visible in recent months due to seepage near BP’s Macondo well [Erika Blumenfeld/Al Jazeera] New Orleans, LA - It was the largest marine oil disaster in the United States, and now BP’s trial is the largest and most complex environmental lawsuit in US history.In what is being called by many “The [...]
After his release on compassionate grounds in 2009, the terminally sick Megrahi returned to Libya [EPA] Fresh scientific evidence unearthed by a Scottish legal review undermines the case against the man convicted of being responsible for the Lockerbie aircraft bombing, an investigation for Al Jazeera has found. The Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission (SCCRC) report [...]
Inaki Urdangarin, son-in-law of Spain‘s King Juan Carlos, is being investigated in a case from 2004 to 2006 [Reuters] The Spanish king’s son-in-law has been jeered by hundreds of protesters as he arrived at a court to answer questions about suspected fraudulent deals. Inaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma, was questioned on Saturday about whether he used his [...]
Silvio Berlusconi resigned as prime minister in November after dominating Italian politics for 17 years [AFP] An Italian court has ended a corruption trial of Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister, without a verdict, saying that the statute of limitations on the bribery charges has run out. Judge Francesca Vitale ruled on Saturday that the case was no longer valid, after defence lawyers [...]
