That leaves many governments invested in vague hopes that such a settlement, however rickety or superficial, will somehow stop the metastasis of the Syrian crisis and ease fears of Islamic State terrorism — often conflated with concerns about ordinary Syrian refugees — that have fueled the rise of right-wing politicians. Photo Syrian refugees live in makeshift tent settlements in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for […]
Our daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 24, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. newslide Abu Dhabi Dance performance Attend Trisha Brown: In Plain Site, a programme of site-specific performances free from the constrictions of the conventional […]
An online commercial released by Nike this week showing Arab women fencing, boxing and spinning on ice-skates has stirred controversy over its attempt to smash stereotypes about women leading home-bound lives in the conservative region. It begins with a woman nervously peering out of her doorway and adjusting her veil before going for a run in the street, while a female voice narrates in a Saudi dialect: […]
Photo Iraqi forces attacked the Mosul airport in an offensive to take the western side of the city from the Islamic State on Thursday. Credit Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces have seized most of Mosul’s airport, an important milestone in the broader offensive to retake from the Islamic State the western half of the city, allied and Iraqi officials said on Thursday. […]
Jackie Evancho, who sang the U.S. national anthem at President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month, has asked him to sit down with her and her transgender sister to learn about the challenges for students struggling with gender identity. Evancho, 16, requested the meeting in a public Twitter message to the president late on Wednesday, minutes after his administration revoked landmark guidance to public schools to let transgender […]
A recent meme under the hashtag #OscarsWeNeed, dubbed “Outstanding Background Extra”, perfectly encapsulates what The National’s Alternative Academy Awards (aka The Other Oscars) is all about. There he was, an extra standing behind Spectre star Daniel Craig, sweeping as if his life depended on it – even as his broom never came close to the ground. As Hollywood prepares to honour the best of American and foreign […]
Instagram just introduced its most controversial feature since Stories. The app added the ability to attach up to 10 photos and video clips to a single post, which is either the absolute worst or, maybe, kind of okay — depending on where you stand. But no matter where you stand, the update will absolutely change how you share and view posts and it could take some getting […]
The military’s stance softened somewhat in 2015, when an army court ruled that veiled relatives of soldiers could enter military grounds. The army’s cultural shift was also reflected in last July’s failed coup attempt. The government claims that the putsch was organized by an Islamist faction within the military, an institution previously assumed to be staffed mainly by Kemalists — followers of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder […]
By SUZAN FRASERAssociated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s military has changed its regulations to allow female officers to wear headscarves while on duty, defense officials said Wednesday, removing a ban on Islamic-style head coverings at an establishment that once was considered a bastion of secularism. The move also ends the last remaining headscarf ban at a public institution in the predominantly Muslim, but officially secular country. […]
Republican President Donald Trump’s administration was expected to revoke landmark guidelines issued to public schools in defense of transgender student rights, according to a draft document seen on Wednesday by Reuters. The draft reverses former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature initiative on transgender rights, which instructed public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their gender identity. (Read the draft here: tmsnrt.rs/2kMAGAS) The draft […]
By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Michele Kambas | ANKARA/ATHENS ANKARA/ATHENS Cyprus reunification talks were in disarray on Wednesday after reports the Turkish Cypriot side would not join this week’s meeting in an escalating row that opened old wounds over past Greek Cypriot ambitions to unite with Greece. Talks between Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci were abruptly interrupted last week over a decision […]
BERLIN A false alarm was sounded in a school in Menden in western Germany on Wednesday, local government officials said on Twitter, after media reported an armed man had entered it. “We can confirm that this was a false alarm,” the local government of Arnsberg, neighbouring Menden, said on its official Twitter account. Earlier, police said they had deployed forces to a school in Menden, near Dortmund, […]
Welcome to Local Edition! I’m Kristen Hare, I’m a reporter at Poynter, and I’m so glad you’re here. This is the first edition of this newsletter (you can subscribe here), and here’s how it will work: Each month, we’ll feature a different theme related to the future of local news. My goal is to build a conversation week to week and month to month. I hope that […]
ABU DHABI // The deadline has been extended for artistic submissions in a campaign to honour the country’s martyrs. Entries for the Proud Expressions initiative can now be submitted until Sunday, organisers said. The campaign is a joint initiative of the Martyrs’ Families’ Affairs Office, part of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, and the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority. “We have been thrilled by the […]
Conceived by legendary Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz as a single novel of about 1,500 pages, The Cairo Trilogy is a timeless work of modern Arab literature, with themes, characters and ideas that are familiar and ring true almost 60 years after it was published. “The Cairo Trilogy is a work on a par with Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks,” says Dr Rasheed El […]
When Lieutenant General HR McMaster walks into his office in the West Wing of the White House as the new US national security adviser, the widely respected soldier and military historian will face one of the biggest challenges of his decorated career. President Donald Trump named Lt Gen McMaster — a three-star army general who commanded troops in Iraq and served in Afghanistan — to succeed Michael […]
If eight years under Obama rule, 6 of which included Republican majorities in Congress, taught us anything, it’s that Presidents have fairly broad authority to govern through executive orders and rules changes implemented at the 100’s of government agencies responsible for overseeing our every move. Fortunately for the Trump administration, this broad Presidential authority extends to immigration laws and, despite his recent defeat in the 9th Circuit, […]
FUJAIRAH // Fond memories of close-knit families and a lifetime of hard work to eke out a living in the harsh natural environment of the Northern Emirates came flooding back to a group of elderly Emiratis on Tuesday. About 50 senior citizens from Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman gathered for an event to celebrate their generation’s accomplishments and for students to show their gratitude to their […]
LONDON Average life expectancy will rise in many countries by 2030, breaking through 90 years in some places, and policymakers need to make more efforts to plan for it, according to a large international study. South Koreans are likely to have the highest life expectancy in the world by 2030 and the United States one of the lowest among developed countries, the study showed. “The fact that […]
The White House on Tuesday signaled it was preparing to reverse a U.S. policy on transgender rights, raising concern among rights advocates that Republican President Donald Trump is about to revoke a signature initiative of his predecessor. Former Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration issued guidance to public schools last May to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity, a move transgender people hailed as […]
ProPublica Illinois announced Louise Kiernan as its first editor in chief on Tuesday. Kiernan, who worked at the Chicago Tribune for 18 years, comes to ProPublica’s first regional project from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. There, she was an associate professor. At the Tribune, Kiernan was the lead reporter on a project that won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. That year, Kiernan […]
My taxi driver in San Diego had a plan. He was moving to Laredo to get back into long-distance trucking. He’d work hard for 10 years, save a couple of hundred grand, and retire to Mexico. I did the math: that put him around 2028. He might just make it before all the trucking jobs go away. At Qualcomm last week, Cristiano Amon, president of […]
Ann Ravel on Sunday fulfilled her promise to quit the Federal Election Commission by May. In doing so, Ravel — who directed her resignation letter at President Donald Trump and including unsolicited advice for new president — leaves behind an agency the outspoken Democratic commissioner says she at once considers “essential” to American democracy and as useful, in its current state, as “men’s nipples.” But Ravel tells […]
By Simon Carraud | BEIRUT BEIRUT French far-right National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen canceled a meeting on Tuesday with Lebanon’s grand mufti, its top cleric for Sunni Muslims, after refusing to wear a headscarf for the encounter. Le Pen, among the frontrunners for the presidency, is using a two-day visit to Lebanon to bolster her foreign policy credentials nine weeks from the April 23 first […]
