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My Syria, by ‘greatest living’ Arab Poet
He was the first Arab to win the German Goethe Prize last year at the age of 81, whose judges described him as “the most important Arab poet of our time,” and he was one of the favorites to win last year’s Nobel Prize for Literature… Read more
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BBC’s Arab Spring coverage
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The World Youth Report
In the aftermath of the economic crisis, the global youth unemployment rate saw its largest annual increase on record in 2009, resulting in around 75.8 million unemployed youth… Read more
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The Week’s Best Longreads
From the game of chicken between Israel and Iran to the memos that reveal Obama’s intimate decision making, The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the Web this week… Read more
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The graveyard shift: Parkour in a Gaza cemetery
Mohammed al-Jakhbeer and Abed Allah Enshasy sprint along narrow walls. They somersault off concrete pillars and land in the deep sand… Read more
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Revolution between hard covers
THE Middle East has a bad reputation when it comes to books; nowhere else do so few people read them. But that might change as censorship rules are relaxed and new books begin to dissect the popular uprisings that felled despots in Egypt and Tunisia—along with other delicate subjects. Eye-witness accounts, jeremiads and self-congratulatory memoirs jostle for space at the Cairo book fair, which coincides this month with the first anniversary of the revolutions… View site
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Syria polarised by Bashar Al Assad’s defiance – The National
DAMASCUS // Supporters of the Syrian president hailed it as a masterful display, outlining a clear vision of the future for a crisis-hit land. But Bashar Al Assad’s critics, and even the few remaining moderates, saw his fourth national address as a final nail in the coffin of hopes for a peaceful settlement… Read more
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Mary Raftery, 54, Dies; Irish Journalist Documented Child Abuse
Ms. Raftery’s documentary “States of Fear” detailed a Dickensian network of reformatories and residential schools for poor, neglected and abandoned children… Read more
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A Poverty Solution That Starts With a Hug
perhaps the most widespread peril children face isn’t guns, swimming pools or speeding cars. Rather, scientists are suggesting that it may be “toxic stress” early in life, or even before birth… Read more
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New Gallup data on the emotional lives of Iraqis
New Gallup data on the emotional lives of Iraqis. Sharply rising anger, stress and sadness… View chart
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The Noise of Cairo (Trailer)
Documentary about the art scene in Cairo after the revolution… View trailer
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Melinda Gates Answers Questions
Melinda Gates, just back from a trip to Bangladesh, along with Nicholas Kristof, answer readers’ questions about maternal health and other women’s issues… Read more
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Syria: Secrets from the city under siege
Eyes smeared with kohl, a young boy stares intently at the camera. Dozens gather for a funeral under a brooding sky. And in downtown Homs, the devastated city fighting a agonising rebellion against Syria’s President Assad, an old man closes his eyes and raises his hands in desperate prayer… Read more
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The Geography of Women’s Economic Opportunity
At the APEC Summit this past September, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton argued that women are a great untapped economic resource… Read more
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Economic Troubles Cited As the Top Risks in 2012
Severe income disparity and chronic fiscal imbalances are the top two risks facing business leaders and policy makers this year and over the next decade, the World Economic Forum said in a report Wednesday… Read more
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Remembering Richard Holbrooke
Essays about the foreign-policy stalwart Richard Holbrooke, and some writings of his own… Read more
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Egypt’s raids on NGOs are about control
Restricting NGO funding is typical of authoritarian regimes happy to take foreign aid but less happy about human rights… Read more
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A provocation in Egypt
Egypt’s military regime undertook an act of repression that even former strongman Hosni Mubarak never dared to try… Read more
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The Forgotten Wages of War
Americans’ view of its wars has been blind to one specific aspect of destruction: the human toll of those who live in war zones… Read more
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LONGFORM
Best long form essays and articles 2011 …. Read more
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The ‘Arab spring’ and the west: seven lessons from history
Drawing on the British Pathé archive, Seumas Milne picks out the recurrent themes of imperial efforts to control the Middle East… Read more
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Damascus on the Edge
A young writer in Damascus shares observations about the uprising in Syria… Read more
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Amman without Maani
The mayor of Amman oversees an organization that is in effect a mini state, with tens of thousands of employees and a budget that runs into the hundreds of millions of dinars. Omar Maani held the coveted position for nearly half a decade. What got done in that time… Read more
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The Under-Examined Story of Fallujah
Seven years after the U.S. invasion of Fallujah, there are reports of an alarming rise in the rates of birth defects and cancer. But the crisis, and its possible connection to weapons deployed by the United States during the war, remains woefully under-examined.On November 8, 2004, U.S. military forces launched Operation Phantom Fury 50 miles west of Baghdad in Fallujah, a city of 350,000 people known for its opposition to the Saddam regime…Read more
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In Tahrir Square: A nurse reports from the Tahrir Square field hospital
I got a message on Sunday that the Tahrir Square field hospital needed medical help and supplies. As I used to be a nurse, I went. The tear gas is toxic in a way it was not in January. Various people have said that the cyanide component is greater or that phosphorus is causing the problem. I can positively confirm that the gas injuries are completely different and much more severe. We treated hundreds of youngsters who had totally collapsed and were not breathing. Most came to quickly but we had two deaths and one, a young boy, asphyxiated…Read more
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