Religion

Spring Brings Differing Fruits for Tunisian Women

By Louise Sherwood
The revolution that ousted dictator Ben Ali in January 2011 brought new, hard-won freedom to the Tunisian people. However as the country discovers whether secularism and growing political Islam can co-exist, some women are enjoying greater liberty to practise their religion while others are concerned that their rights may be eroded.

A President Fights His People

By Hisham Allam
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi faces massive demonstrations, but he faces also his own government on many fronts.

Tunisia Now Searches an Economic Spring

By Justin Hyatt
Nearly two-and-a-half years since the toppling of the autocratic regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in the first regime change of the now famous Arab Spring, the high expectations of change to come with the revolution have hardly been met.

Abandoned Egypt Suffers

By Hisham Allam
As supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi prepare for a face-off on Sunday, a mushrooming problem for Egypt arises from the people not there – the tourists.

Confrontation Builds Up in Cairo

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's first turbulent year in office will end with two massive rallies in Cairo, both expected to draw hundreds of thousands: one by his mostly Islamist supporters and another by secular opposition forces who demand he step down.

Egypt Split ‘Between Egyptians and Islamists’

By Hisham Allam
The Muslim Brotherhood realised a long cherished dream when it came to power last year. The Muslim Brotherhood had faced continuing discrimination since former president Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power in 1956 until the end of Hosni Mubarak’s days.

Q&A: “Pope Francis Will Have to Open Up Church Debate on Burning Issues”

By Fabíola Ortiz
The Catholic Church has become sclerotic and is afraid of facing the issues of post-modernity, Brazilian theologian Frei Betto says, although he hopes that Francis, the first Latin American pope, will inspire it to renew its emphasis on social issues and the defence of the poor.

Q&A: How One Woman Demands Answers and an End to FGM

By Lucy Westcott
Bogaletch Gebre knows exactly what women in her Ethiopian community are going through. Along with her sisters, the women's rights activist was a victim of female genital mutilation (FGM) when she was a child in a part of Ethiopia where the practise was carried out on every girl.

Creating Their Own Spring

By Karlos Zurutuza
The soldiers of former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi had left just a few days before, but a group of about 50 children were already singing in the Amazigh language in the village of Yefren, 110 kilometres south of Tripoli. This month will mark two years since the establishment of the first Amazigh school in Libya.

Young Yemen Multiplies Without Growth

By Rebecca Murray
Yemen’s population is increasing at a rapid rate, straining the country’s dwindling natural resources and setting up its youth for a grim future, with few jobs and scant means to get by.

Egypt Sees a Dam Confrontation

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
Ethiopia's diversion of part of the Blue Nile late last month has both rocked Cairo's relations with Addis Ababa and provided fodder for Egypt's ongoing war of attrition between its Islamist government and secular opposition.

Trapped Between Political Persecution in Eritrea and Misery of Refugee Camps

By Saikou Jammeh
In February 2013, 20-year-old Mohamed*, like hundreds of thousands of other Eritreans, fled the brutal dictatorship in that East African nation in search of a better life in neighbouring Sudan.

Egypt Marks a Spring for Islamists

By Cam McGrath
Egyptians are deeply divided and the majority are dissatisfied with the performance of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, but also have little confidence in the main opposition figures or their future, a new poll has found.

U.S., EU Urged to Press Harder for Reform in Bahrain

By Jim Lobe
Human rights groups here are calling for the United States and the European Union (EU) to exert more pressure on Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, to seriously engage its opposition and end its repression of its majority Shi'a population.

Kurds Advance, Into the Unknown

By Karlos Zurutuza
A ban on political and even social gatherings, a bar on Kurdish language and culture; uprooting people, forced disappearances and a ‘caste’ of hundreds of thousands of local Kurds deprived of citizenship... life for Kurds in pre-war Syria was probably as dire as it is today for their kin in Iran.

Fatwas Heighten Sectarian Tensions in Syria Conflict

By Emad Mekay
Saudi Arabian religious scholars are leading an increasingly vocal chorus of Islamic preachers who are urging Muslims and Arabs to support Syrian rebels against what they say are atrocities at the hands of Iran-backed Shiite forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Coming Out in Droves Against Drones

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Though the constant hum of unmanned aerial vehicles flying overhead makes a strong case for staying indoors, residents of Pakistan’s North Waziristan Agency are emerging in droves from their humble homes, some no bigger than huts constructed from mud and stones.

Scales Tip Towards Women in Jewish Religious Rights Struggle

By Pierre Klochendler
The struggle for gender equality and Jewish pluralism took a highly symbolic turn on Sunday at the Western Wall, Judaism's most revered site and emblem of unity, as a group of women known as "Women of the Wall" prayed legally and in a way they saw fit.

Q&A: “The U.N. Is Too Slow to Respond to Crisis”

By Sudeshna Chowdhury
As the situation in Myanmar deteriorates, thousands of Rohingyas have fled the country in search of a safe haven.

Egypt’s Presidency, Judiciary Brace for Showdown Over Draft Law

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
The post-revolution struggle between Egypt's judiciary and President Mohammed Morsi, the country's first Islamist head of state, finally seems to be coming to a head over controversial draft legislation regulating judicial authority.

46 Years on, Arab-Israeli War Still Leaving Its Mark

By Pierre Klochendler
Majda el-Batsch was eight years old in June 1967 when she heard about the war that year. "I didn't know what war meant," she recalled. More than four decades later, the Palestinian reporter is still grappling with the meaning of what is known as the Six-Day War.
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