Campaigning begins for Iran parliamentary poll
By Siavosh Ghazi / AFP TEHRAN: Campaigning began in Iran on Thursday for parliamentary elections to take place on March 2, with officials and state media calling for a big turnout…
Thousands besiege US base over Quran burning
By Mushtaq Mojaddidi / AFP KABUL: Thousands of furious Afghans besieged a US base on Thursday, throwing rocks and climbing up the outer walls on the third day of violent protests…
Somalia, world powers meet to map out future
By Danny Kemp / AFP LONDON: World powers met in London Thursday for a major conference on the future of Somalia aimed at ending two decades of unrest and tackling Al-Qaeda-linked…
Tunisia, Egypt Islamists signal bigger religion role
By Tom Heneghan / Reuters PARIS: After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be…
Spirit Award nominees share low-budget secrets
By Christy Lemire / AP The Spirit Awards celebrate the best in low-budget filmmaking. But within those honors, the John Cassavetes Award goes to films with even lower budgets: those made…
Gamal El Ghitani on preserving ‘Egyptian-ism’ (Part 2)
By Heba Elkayal Gamal El Ghitani’s writing on Egypt is first and foremost sensitive to and celebratory of the notion of the Egyptian identity vis-à-vis its history, starting with Ancient Egypt…
Waging peace in Somalia
By Augustin P. Mahiga MOGADISHU: Later this week, an important high-level conference on Somalia in London, sponsored by the British government and attended by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will present…
Abbas’, Netanyahu’s options: Rapidly dwindling avenues to peace
By Ghassan Khatib The regional and international environments appear increasingly less conducive to a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, especially in the short term. The United States is preparing for…
Hamas comes in from the cold
By Michael Bröning GAZA CITY: In the wake of revolutionary change in the Middle East, the forces of political Islam have scored one electoral victory after another. As the West grapples…
The life of a heart: Muslims and Jews saving lives together
By Mehnaz M. Afridi NEW YORK, New York: As I listen to sound bites of news, a swarm of words sting me: Iran, Israel, nuclear, Palestine-Israel at a standstill, Muslims kill…