In a desert landscape teeming with the gilded novelties of imported Western culture, the gas-rich Gulf Arab nation of Qatar is staking its cultural reputation on a US film festival with a decidedly Middle Eastern spin.
Far from the glittering lights of Hollywood, California, international celebrities are flocking to Doha this we
“When I tell people I am from Afghanistan the first words out of their mouth are ‘Osama, Taliban, war’,” says Daoud Sediqi, former presenter of Afghan Star, his country’s version of the Pop Idol talent show.
The year 2009 has been momentous for Mr Sediqi.
In January, he attended the Sundance Film Festival in the US to [...]
A car bomb has exploded in a crowded market in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 80 people and wounding about 100, officials have said.
A huge blaze erupted after the explosion on Wednesday, which came just hours after Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, arrived in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, for talks with [...]
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON – Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book. Only one problem: It’s not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent [...]
Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says.
In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
It says that in Gaza, Israel’s blockade has pushed the already ailing water and sewage system to “crisis point”.
Israel says the [...]
Rising from the ashes of Somalia’s devastating civil war is an image so powerful, it could help provide a solution to the never ending devastation: educated Somali women. Women with the power and knowledge to pass their education to their offspring have the chance to construct a healthy and successful society from the chaotic rubble [...]
By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Write
JERUSALEM – Israeli police firing stun grenades faced off Sunday against masked Palestinian protesters hurling stones and plastic chairs outside the Holy Land’s most volatile shrine, where past violence has escalated into prolonged conflict.
A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields marched toward young men covering their faces with [...]
In an apparent shift from the Bush administration’s efforts to foster regime change in Iran by financing opposition groups, the Obama White House has all but dismantled the Iran Democracy Fund.
While the move has been criticised by neo-conservatives in the US, it has been welcomed by Iranian human rights and pro-democracy activists.
The controversial program was [...]
The war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is set to begin in The Hague on Monday, although without the defendant himself present in court.
Karadzic has said he will boycott the opening of his trial in protest at what says is a “rush to justice” by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for [...]
Hundreds of people were wounded in the attack, the worst for months in the Iraqi capital [AFP]
Two car bombs in central Baghdad have killed at least 136 people and wounded more than 550 others, police sources have told Al Jazeera.
The blasts went off less than a minute apart on Sunday, near the ministry of justice and the headquarters [...]