New urgency to cross along tougher U.S. border
By ,
In Tecate, Mexico — It does not matter much, when you are on this side of the fence, whether there will be a path to citizenship or something short of it.
The path that matters is the one up and over the canyons and ridges of “La Rumorosa,” the Whisper Trail, one of the last places left along the California border where someone with no money and a little desert smarts has a decent shot of getting back in.
Which is why Lazaro Limon, 44 and recently deported for the fifth time, was back at the migrant shelter in Tecate this past week, waiting for rain. Border Patrol agents do not like to get out of their warm SUVs in a downpour, Limon figured, at least not to chase a solitary migrant.
“My family called yesterday,” he said. “My daughters told me, ‘Go for it, Dad.’ ”
Violent tide of Salafism threatens the Arab spring
A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters
Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia's president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House's The World Today. Commenting on a recent attack by Salafists – ultra-conservative Sunnis – on the US embassy in Tunis, he remarked in an unguarded moment: "We didn't realise how dangerous and violent these Salafists could be … They are a tiny minority within a tiny minority. They don't represent society or the state. They cannot be a real danger to society or government, but they can be very harmful to the image of the government."
It appears that Marzouki was wrong. Following the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid last Wednesday – which plunged the country into its biggest crisis since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution – the destabilising threat of violent Islamist extremists has emerged as a pressing and dangerous issue.
The long and short of what makes a leader
Why are people with a particular kind of face trusted in insecure times?
Why the long face? Well, because people trust them, particularly in troubled times, says research suggesting long-faced people are seen as natural leaders.
Homing in on facial cues that suggest tallness, as long faces do, is thought to have evolved from ancestral times when survival depended on choosing the right leader. "Our results suggest we turn towards the most dominant-looking people for leadership, especially when we are faced with a threat," says the psychologist Daniel Re of the University of St Andrews, who led the study.
Height has long been associated with success. In the last century, the taller of the two candidates won most US presidential elections.
UN sounds alarm over rise in PNG witch hunts
February 10, 2013
Nick Cumming-Bruce
Spurred by the killing last week of a young woman accused of witchcraft in Papua New Guinea, the United Nations on Friday called on the country to address increasing vigilante violence against people accused of sorcery and to revoke a controversial sorcery law.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva said it was disturbed by the killing of the woman, Kepari Leniata, 20, who was stripped, tortured, doused in fuel and set on fire on Wednesday as hundreds watched.
The killing in Mount Hagen, the Western Highlands provincial capital, reportedly was carried out by relatives of a six-year-old boy who, they claimed, had been killed by her sorcery.
Egypt blocks YouTube for a month, following 'Innocence of Muslims'
An Egyptian judge ordered the government to block YouTube for 30 days for carrying the 14-minute trailer to 'Innocence of Muslims,' the controversial film that sparked massive protests in the Middle East last September.
By Aya Batrawy, Associated Press / February 9, 2013
Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered YouTube blocked for carrying the film, which he described as "offensive to Islam and the Prophet (Muhammad)." He made the ruling in the Egyptian capital where the first protests against the film erupted last September before spreading to more than 20 countries, killing more than 50 people.
The ruling, however, can be appealed and, based on precedent, might not be enforced.
The 14-minute trailer for the movie "Innocence of Muslims" portrays the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, a central figure to Islam, as a religious fraud, womanizer and pedophile. It was produced in the United States by an Egyptian-born Christian who's now a U.S. citizen.
10 February 2013 Last updated at 00:16 GMT
Bulgaria's chalga pop-folk: A cultural rift
Bulgaria's sex-soaked pop-folk music culture known as chalga has come under the spotlight following the controversial decision to award EU development money to a top producer. Ina Sotirova, in Sofia, finds out why it has caused such a storm.
It is late Wednesday night at Student City, a neighbourhood notorious for its nightlife, and pop-folk superstar Andrea performs at Plazza Dance Centre. Clad in a glamorous black dress and red stilettos, she is surrounded by fans. In what has become a tradition, napkins shower over revellers and cover the floor like a thick layer of snow underneath high heels and little black dresses.
Chalga combines modern dance beats with Balkan, Gypsy and Middle Eastern rhythms. It is a cultural phenomenon - upbeat, fun and controversial - and is sweeping across the post-communist Balkans with its catchy tunes and silicone everything.
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