Full Coverage: Middle East

30.11.2004

30.11.2004 Social entrepreneurs are planting the seeds of lasting change in developing countries across the globe. Abdul Waheed's Bright Education Society is reforming religious schools in Pakistan. Magda Iskander is training a cadre of home health care providers in Egypt, and Mohammed Farouk is working to de-stigmatize AIDS in Nigeria.

29.11.2004 With imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti throwing his support behind Mahmoud Abbas, the former Prime Minister has become the frontrunner in the contest for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, according to a recent opinion poll. But nearly half of all Palestinians have yet to make up their minds.

29.11.2004

28.11.2004 UNESCO has brough out an Arabic version of its popular community radio manual to expand the reach of community media in the Arab region. The original version of this guide, 'How to do community radio', narrates the experience of its author Mr. Louie Tabing who was the project officer of 'Tambuli', one of the first community radio stations in Phillipines.

26.11.2004 Investigative reporter Greg Palast says the blueprint for privatizing Iraq’s assets, especially its oil, is a “Christmas wishlist drafted by U.S. corporate lobbyists.” It imposes low taxes on big business while promoting quick sales of Iraq's refineries, pipelines, ports and other assets to foreign operators.

25.11.2004 OneWorld UK reviews the London meeting at which Naomi Klein spoke on the subject of Making a Killing: The Corporate Invasion of Iraq

25.11.2004 The Guardian leader today says "the world should applaud" the Paris Club deal for Iraqi debt relief. The Iraqi National Assembly has a very different perspective.

24.11.2004 Child mortality rates in Iraq were serious before the war, says Unicef. With aid agencies now unable to work inside the country, escalation of the conflict has fatal consequences far beyond the battlefields.

24.11.2004 Human rights advocates and several religious organizations have called on the U.S. company Caterpillar to stop selling bulldozers to Israel, on the grounds that they are used by the army to raze Palestinian homes in violation of international humanitarian law.

23.11.2004 A major U.S. human rights group has called on Caterpillar Inc., the Illinois-based heavy-equipment giant, to immediately suspend sales of its D9 bulldozer to the Israeli army on the grounds that they are being used to violate international humanitarian law in the occupied territories.

23.11.2004 The restriction of Palestinian freedom of movement has fragmented Palestinian economic space, raised the cost of doing business, and eliminated the predictability needed to conduct business, said the World Bank Monday at the release of a new report showing how Palestinians have become mired deeper in poverty since the start of the Intifada in 2000.

23.11.2004 The international conference being held in Egypt to discuss the Iraq situation will need a larger meeting table than previous ones, as countries with such differing perspectives as the U.S., France, Iran, and Syria are all present.

23.11.2004 Margaret Hassan, the CARE director murdered in Iraq last week, had lived and worked in the country for 30 years. Margaret Hassan was not killed in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, she was murdered in the Iraq that has been created by Messrs Bush, Blair, Berlusconi, and other Western leaders, say Transnational Foundation President and Chairman Jan Oberg and Christian Hårleman.

23.11.2004 UNITED NATIONS, Nov 22 (IPS) - The United States, which traditionally castigates human rights violators before the United Nations each year, has rarely or ever been formally condemned by the world body for its own transgressions of civil liberties.

23.11.2004 BAGHDAD, Nov 19 (IPS) - An eyewitness commentary to IPS through a U.S. raid on a Baghdad mosque Friday gives a vivid picture of what a 'successful raid' can be like: at least four worshippers dead and 20 wounded in what was a 'horrific scene'.

22.11.2004 We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the militarization of the Intifada, says University of Ramallah Modern Media Institute director Daoud Kuttab. There have been many signals recently that armed groups are getting ready to continue their struggle politically instead of militarily, and developments since the death of Yasser Arafat have supported that possibility.

22.11.2004 New debt relief for Iraq carries a sting in the tail - 4 years of IMF economic medicine. Iraqis fear an effective transfer of sovereignty to Washington and advocate unconditional relief for debts which financed Saddam's regime.

20.11.2004

19.11.2004 The U.S.-instituted Iraqi media commission sent out an order recently asking news organizations to "stick to the government line on the U.S.-led offensive in Fallujah or face legal action." The warning, which is just one of many restrictions and intimidations faced by journalists in the country, was sent on the letterhead of interim prime minister Ayad Allawi.