Thu 19 August 2021: In Afghanistan, the COVID-19 response has hit education hard, which has had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable students. Nationwide school closures have added to the challenges already facing the country’s education sector, which has struggled to meet the public’s high enthusiasm for education in recent years. Even as schools reopen, the […]
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Tue 17 August 2021: Most Western media outlets are carrying headlines and hype about the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan after the fighting force swept through the country at a blistering pace which has left military strategists gasping. Within 24 hours of making his “I am staying” speech, President Ashraf Ghani fled from Kabul […]
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Fri 13 August 2021: Rome is scorching hot. This beautiful city is becoming unbearable for other reasons, too. Although every corner of the beaming metropolis is a monument to historical grandeur, from the Colosseum in Rione Monti to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in San Giovanni, it is now struggling under the weight of […]
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Fri 30 July 2021: Tunisian society is still in shock after President Kais Saied’s decision to sack the prime minister and freeze parliament. Few expected the elected president to use democratic mechanisms to reverse the democratic path that brought him to office. Particularly not in the country that had previously been hailed as the success story of […]
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Sun 25 July 2021: Twenty years have passed since the US invasion of Afghanistan, President George W Bush’s response to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, the responsibility for which was laid at the door of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Bush accused the Taliban government in Kabul of harbouring […]
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Sat 24 July 2021: The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that it has regained its observer status at the African Union. Until 2002, the colonial state was an observer member of the Organisation of African Unity, until the latter was dissolved and replaced by the African Union. Who has decided to readmit Israel to the […]
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Tue 20 July 2021: Europe’s identity crisis is not confined to the ceaseless squabbles by Europeans over the EU, Brexit, or football. It goes much deeper, reaching sensitive and dangerous territory, including that of culture and religion. Moreover, once again, Muslims stand at the heart of the continent’s identity debate. Anti-Muslim sentiments are rarely framed […]
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Wed 30 June 2021: The recent Israeli attack on worshippers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque attracted major international attention and condemnation. The resultant military offensive on the largely civilian population in the Gaza Strip killed 250 Palestinians, including women and children, and destroyed homes and infrastructure. Such was the revulsion at the violence inflicted by Israel […]
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Sun 27 June 2021: A longstanding recipient of US military aid, Israel has developed a domestic arms industry and become a key global supplier. Last month, as Israel bombarded the besieged Gaza Strip for the fourth time in 12 years, the United States approved a $735m arms sale to Israel. The approval was criticised by […]
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Wed 23 June 2021: Go along with me on a thought experiment for a few minutes. Imagine that British police forces permitted a crowd of thousands to march through an area of London with a high Jewish population chanting “Death to the Jews” and other similar violently bigoted obscenities. Imagine such a group of racists […]
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