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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Religion
MIDEAST: Israel Crushes Local Dissent, Attacks Global Criticism
Israel is lashing out at international criticism and attempting to crush local dissent in what appears to be growing sensitivity to reproach of its policies.KENYA: Deportation Protest Leads to Widespread Arrests
Organisers of a protest march against the expulsion of Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah El Faisal say Kenyan police have arrested up to 400 people and are interrogating them to prove their nationality and try to uncover links to terrorism.
Q&A: ‘Religious State, Recipe for Disaster’
When Omar Abdel-Razeq was appointed finance minister following the election of Hamas in January 2006, the BBC characterised the post as the "least enviable job in the new Palestinian government."
HAITI: On Sunday, Mass Was About the Dead
Rosemarie Tintin's black hat and veil barely concealed the sorrow on her face. She recently lost her entire family in Haiti's devastating earthquake and the only place she could find solace was at her church.MIDEAST: Israel Jails Palestinian Peace Activists
Israel has long argued that Palestinians should pursue their political objectives in a non-violent way. However, several prominent Palestinian peace activists have recently been arrested and jailed for doing just that.
CULTURE: ‘Understanding Diversity Can Help Avoid Clashes’
The International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2010) has not had an auspicious start.ECONOMY: Dubai Debts Prompt Review of Islamic Finance
'The World’, a manmade archipelago off the coast of Dubai, developed by the Nakheel real estate company - which partly relied on the issuance of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, to finance the ambitious project - has come to symbolise for many the vulnerability of the Islamic financial market.MIDEAST: Gaza Extremists Drifting Towards al-Qaeda?
Two separate bomb attacks on Internet cafes in Gaza last week have served as an uncomfortable reminder that extremist groups within the coastal territory may be stronger than the comparatively moderate Hamas organisation which rules the strip.RIGHTS: Groups Protest “Profiling” at U.S. Airports
Civil liberties advocates and organisations representing Muslims believe the Barack Obama administration's decision to require extra scrutiny for travelers to the U.S. from 14 predominantly Islamic countries will lead to practices that are discriminatory and ineffective.MIDEAST: ‘Prince of Peace’ – Obama or Netanyahu?
United States President Barack Obama’s intended broad Mideast policies are running into the complexities of peacemaking - especially after the ‘Prince of Peace’ began insisting on the necessity of, sometimes, fighting for peace.
Q&A: ”Israeli Settlements Killing Two-Nation Solution”
In the absence of any progress towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians, leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) are adopting a reasonable approach as a way of building up international pressure on Israel to get it back to the negotiating table.
Q&A: ”U.S. ‘Grand Bargain’ Can Save Israel From Itself”
Resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along the two-state parameters seems less likely with Israel torn between accepting a Palestinian state and the settler ideology which calls for Israel's exclusive rule over the whole of Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Q&A: Law and Order May Not Improve in 2010
For women in Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), 2009 has been particularly hard.MIDEAST: ‘’What About the Mailboxes?’’
The sun is about to set over Jabel Mukaber. The call of the muezzin envelops the valley beneath Naim Aweisat’s balcony and, rolling from the mosques of Abu Dis across the wall in the West Bank, rebounds from the stark concrete Israeli security wall to answer the minarets that peer over the walled Old City.RELIGION: Few States Enjoy Freedom of Faith, Report Says
About one-third of the countries in the world have high or very high restrictions on religion, and nearly 70 percent of the world's population lives in countries with heavy restrictions on freedom of religion, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.MIDEAST: Occupation Eats Away Israel’s Heart and Soul
After Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank torched a mosque and desecrated copies of the Quran in the Palestinian village of Yasuf, last Friday morning, they ran into a wall of condemnation.RIGHTS: Dispute Over Veil Spreads Across Egypt
A decision by the government to ban the veil in some academic institutions has reignited debate about personal rights.
Q&A: India’s Anti-Women Laws Dropping from the Books
The 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) this month has brought women's rights champions from around the world to the United Nations to share their success stories. One is Sujata Manohar, who helped create a national law in India that bars sexual harassment in the workplace.POLITICS: Tajik Grip on Afghan Army Signals New Ethnic War
Contrary to the official portrayal of the Afghan National Army (ANA) as ethnically balanced, the latest data from U.S. sources reveal that the Tajik minority now accounts for far more of its troops than the Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group.EL SALVADOR: Declassified Docs Shed Light on Jesuits’ Murders
Thousands of pages of declassified U.S. documents shedding light on the 1989 murders of six prominent Jesuit clerics, their housekeeper and her 16-year-old daughter in El Salvador could give a new twist to the case that opened in the Spanish courts in January.RELIGION-US: Will ‘The Road’ Be a Tool for Evangelism?
Two movies with doomsday scenarios highlight this year's pre-holiday releases - "2012", a special effects spectacular, is based on the Mayan calendar, whose end date - not to be confused with the end of the world, most scholars agree - is Dec. 21, 2012.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Religion plays a big and in some cases growing role in the socio-political dynamics within countries and often is a factor in civil and cross-border conflict, conflict resolution and peace building. From Burmese monks' marches to the role of religious fundamentalism, this dedicated site gathers IPS stories about how religion affects our world, from daily life to geo-politics.
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