Evacuation from Syria's Yarmouk camp paused
Evacuation plan for armed groups from a Palestinian camp in Damascus is in limbo amid conflicting reports on pullout.
Patrick Strickland | | Humanitarian crises, War & Conflict, Middle East, Syrian crisis, Syria
A plan to evacuate armed groups and families from the Damascus-area Yarmouk refugee camp and nearby areas has been put in limbo following the assassination of a Syrian rebel leader, according to reports.
The plan was set to evacuate thousands of fighters from armed opposition groups from the embattled Palestinian refugee camp, the al-Qadam suburb and the al-Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood to opposition-controlled areas elsewhere in Syria, including pockets of land controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and the al-Nusra Front.
According to the Lebanese group Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel, eighteen busses arrived in the area on Friday afternoon, but the deal was paused after the killing of Zahran Alloush, the leader of the Army of Islam armed group.
Taiwan’s heavy metal star rallies fans to run for parliament on anti-China platform
Freddy Lim, singer with black metal group Chthonic, is standing for a fast-growing pro-democracy party
For many in the city of Taipei and across Taiwan, it was the most hotly awaited event of the year. Tens of thousands of music fans gathered in Liberty Square on Saturday night for an extraordinary free concert which marked the 20th anniversary of Chthonic, the country’s most famous heavy metal band.
Wearing combat boots, lead singer Freddy Lim held the stage with the brand of music that has seen the Taiwanese “black metal” band dubbed the Black Sabbath of Asia.
But this was not just any gig: it was also a political rally ahead of a crucial year for Taiwan. Described as a “concert to calm the soul and defend the nation”, the event was intended to energise Taiwanese youth and gain political support for Lim’s new role – as a parliamentary candidate for the New Power party (NPP).
Female activists fight against gender inequality in India's Hindu temples
Temple authorities maintain the men-only tradition has stood for centuries and it would be wrong to change it
Trupti Desai is confident that the group of female activists she heads will help bring about a “revolution” against gender inequality in India.
While there are many fronts in the battle for equality, the Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, as the group is known, has sought to tackle the issue of female admission to Hindu temples. A number of members were stopped in a recent attempt to enter the Shani Shingnapur temple, in the village of the same name in Maharashtra, so the group has issued an ultimatum to the temple authorities. They have called for the long-standing policy to be altered by tomorrow or they will return with hundreds of supporters and try again.
Ms Desai says that in the 21st century “different and progressive” thinking is required. Temple authorities maintain that the men-only tradition has stood for centuries and it would be wrong to change it.
The video game raising awareness of Senegal's child beggars
A computer engineer in Dakar has created a video game called “Cross Dakar City” to raise awareness about child beggars in Senegal’s capital. The game, which you can download on mobile phones and tablets, follows a young boy named Mamadou as he navigates Dakar’s dangerous traffic.
The streets of Dakar are filled with children begging for money. Most of these children, called “talibés”, are students at Islamic schools called daaras, where they are supposed to be studying the Muslim holy book, the Quran. In reality, schools force the children to spend hours each day begging, supposedly to teach them humility. The child beggars earn a lot of money for the marabouts, the powerful religious figures who run the Quranic schools – veritable begging networks. According to a 2010 report by Human Rights Watch, there are about 50,000 children in this situation in Senegal – about 30,000 of whom are in Dakar – spread out amongst several thousand Quranic schools.
When the children go out to beg, it puts them right in the midst of Dakar’s busy traffic, at constant risk of being hit. But that isn’t the only problem these children face. Most live in overcrowded housing, often without access to water or electricity. Many are malnourished. In 2013, the Observers travelled to Dakar to report on the mistreatment of these children in the very first episode of the Observers Direct.
Gaza Strip's artists seek to rebuild hope in a society ruined by conflict
December 26, 2015Ruth Pollard
Middle East Correspondent
Gaza City: The small, childlike drawings depicting scenes of everyday life are sketched on torn pieces of brown paper, ripped from the bags of cement given to families whose houses were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in last year's war in Gaza.
There are 400 paintings and the artist, Majdal Nateel, says they are not designed to represent all of the 495 children killed in the 50-day conflict with Israel, nor the thousands more maimed or the 300,000 children in need of psycho-social support after living through at least one, if not three, wars in five years.
Instead, the 28-year-old artist says, they represent the lost hopes and dreams of those children. What could have been if they had lived.
"The idea was to paint the dreams of children who were killed in the last war … to show them playing, painting, drawing, flying kites, doing the everyday things they would be doing if they had not died," Nateel says from the tiny studio inside her home in Gaza City.
Why The Cuba Trade Embargo Still Isn't Going Anywhere
Neither Congress nor the Castros are committed enough to overturn trade sanctions yet.
Roque PlanasNational Reporter, The Huffington Post
On Dec. 17 last year, President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro jointly announced that their two governments would launch the process of normalizing diplomatic relations for the first time since 1961. A flurry of other changes accompanied that watershed moment over the past year. Americans have much more leeway to travel to the island, the U.S. struck Cuba from the "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list and direct mail service will soon be re-established.
At the same time, a half-century trade embargo against the island's Communist government remains in effect and GOP presidential hopefuls with personal or political ties to the Cuban-American exile community of South Florida, including U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, have pledged to roll back the opening toward Cuba.
The WorldPost spoke with Bardach about the future of U.S.-Cuba relations, whether the trade embargo will end soon, and why Jeb Bush helped free a Cuban terrorist accused of blowing up a passenger jet carrying 73 people.
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