There are 2013 articles

  • Half of Afghan prisoners have not faced trial: UN

    More Afghans are being detained without trial, with poor people or those without powerful connections, the most common victims, unable to pay bribes to secure their release, the United Nations said on Monday. Afghanistan is emerging from nearly 30 years of war and its judicial and law enforcement systems are still very much in their infancy. Corruption.. More

  • Gaza life runs backwards as Israel siege bites deeper

    Gaza Strip residents are going back to the days of kerosene stoves and firewood-gathering as Israel's blockade of foreign aid supplies of fuel and food bites much deeper. Bakeries in the territory are now using low-quality grain or animal feed to produce bread. Israel closed border crossings to Gaza although it has to lift siege according to the.. More

  • Israel report: Make deal with Syria, prevent Hamas re-victory

    Israel should pursue "talks with Syria next year in return of concessions to weaken Iran and Hamas in the region", an internal Israeli government report says. Compiled by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's National Security Council (NSC) and published in part by an Israeli newspaper on Sunday, the report argues for paying the "heavy price".. More

  • Iraqis want walls torn down

    As the Iraqi parliament continues to debate the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa), residents of Baghdad are urging the government to tear down the walls which separate their neighborhoods. Iraqis say the walls were designed to consolidate sectarianism and establish a number of cantons; now that security has improved, they say, there is no reason.. More

  • Uyghur woman faces forced abortion ordered by China

    An ethnic Uyghur woman faces an imminent abortion of her third child, Radio Free Asia reported. The report said "Arzigul Tursun, six months pregnant with her third child, is under guard in a hospital in East Turkistan region, scheduled to undergo an abortion against her will because authorities say she is entitled to only two children.".. More

  • Uighurs fear Islamic practices will disappear under China's rule

    Uighur Muslims, who could not study freely Islamic teachings under the China's long-year restrictions, fear Islamic practices will be forgotten and disappear. "I wanted to study teachings like the Hadith," the man, 25-year-old Muslim, who identified himself only as Hussein, told San Francisco Chronicle, referring to a collection of the.. More

  • Iraqi doctors wary of carrying guns

    Iraq's medical professionals have reacted with caution to a government waiver that doctors be allowed to carry arms for self-defense purposes. The Baghdad government is hoping the arms initiative will improve security conditions to lure doctors who now reside in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf back to the country. Nadhim Abd al-Hamid, the.. More

  • A new Middle East under Obama?

    Even though Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States, there are some in the Middle East who believe his policies towards the region will differ little from those of his defeated Republican rival, John McCain. Al Jazeera asked a number of people in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, whether Obama would bring.. More

  • Asian tsunami 'not the first'

    The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated large parts of Asia was not the first and will likely not be the last, two separate geological studies have found. Geologists analyzing rocks in coastal marshes in the region found that a massive wave struck the same area about 700 years ago, the British science magazine Nature reported in its latest.. More

  • Warning on 'dire' Iraq conditions

    The Red Cross is warning that despite some improvements in security in Iraq, the condition of the country's infrastructure remains dire. In a statement issued from their headquarters in Geneva, the Red Cross said it was particularly concerned about poor water supplies. It estimates that over 40% of Iraq's civilian population still has no access.. More

  • Will next US president rethink Afghanistan?

    Ravaged by war and in the grip of a terrible drought, the people of Afghanistan are in desperate need of foreign help. The BBC's Damian Grammaticas travels to the central highlands to assess the situation and asks whether the next US president will need to rethink America's strategy against al-Qaeda and the Taleban. In the hospital in Bamiyan a.. More

  • The American crescent

    In a special two-part film Rageh Omaar traveled across the US exploring the roots and influence of Islam in America. Abdi says he would sacrifice his life for the country he calls home. The taxi driver taking me to the airport in Minneapolis is not referring to his birthplace, Somalia, but to the US – the place where he has lived for the.. More

  • High food costs 'a global burden'

    Almost two-thirds of people - 60% - in 26 countries say higher food and energy prices this year have affected them "a great deal", a BBC report has found. The BBC World Service global study said that while all nations had felt the burden of the higher costs, the problem was most acute in poorer countries. The Philippines was one of.. More

  • 'Replace capitalism with Islamic system’

    Board members of the Al Quds (Jerusalem) International Institution including Attallah (second from left), Mishal (fourth from left) and Qaradawi (third from right Doha-based Islamic scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has urged Muslim countries to take advantage of the global financial crisis and build a new fiscal system which is compatible with Islamic.. More

  • 'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy

    Somali pirates have accused European firms of dumping toxic waste off the Somali coast and are demanding an $8m ransom for the return of a Ukranian ship they captured, saying the money will go towards cleaning up the waste. The ransom demand is a means of "reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country.. More