by Hafawa Rebhi | 5 Nov 2015 | Africa, Middle East, Syria
It’s hard to imagine Syria was once a capital of art. But its beauty lives in me. To Syria I owe my first poems, my Arabic writing and my favorite dramas. “Queen Zenobia’s Last Look Upon Palmyra,” by Herbert Schmalz. (Wikimedia Commons) With images from Syria of...
by Nelson Graves | 8 Oct 2015 | Africa, Middle East
Conventional wisdom can be comforting, but it can also be an easy way out. We want to challenge moral assumptions. Last week we wrote about female genital cutting in Uganda and laid down a challenge to readers. We said: Help the Sabiny people end...
by News Decoder | 7 Oct 2015 | Human Rights, Middle East, Syria
Russia has launched air strikes in Syria, raising the stakes in its Arab ally’s fight against rebels. Four News-Decoder correspondents explain why. Syrians hold posters of President Bashar al-Assad, far left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Damascus, 4...
by Pauline Bock | 6 Oct 2015 | Decoders, Middle East, Refugees, Syria
Syria is in its 10th year of gruesome armed conflict — a war that has important implications for the region and increasingly for global security. Syrian men play backgammon at a market in Damascus during more peaceful times, 26 October 2005. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)...
by Pauline Bock | 1 Oct 2015 | Middle East, Refugees, Syria
Lamis Aljasem has worked with young Syrian refugee children. “The next generation of Syrians is either going to be poorly educated or brainwashed.” Syrian refugee children drawing, near Saida City, Lebanon, 30 August 2015 (By Lamis Aljasem) Lamis Aljasem...
by Pauline Bock | 23 Sep 2015 | Africa, Asia, Decoders, Europe, Middle East, Refugees
This article is part of a News-Decoder series of “decoders” that explain crucial background to big issues. For more decoders, click here. By Pauline Bock Waves of migrants and refugees are threatening one of Europe’s bedrock achievements — the...
by News Decoder | 21 Sep 2015 | Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East
By Nelson Graves Here at News-Decoder we take stock on Fridays and look ahead to the next week’s news themes. It’s a way of making sense of developments that in the digital age can go by in a flash and confuse more than illuminate. Here’s a note I...
by Colin McIntyre | 18 Sep 2015 | Africa, Asia, Europe, Human Rights, Middle East, Refugees, Syria
By Colin McIntyre At a time when the European Union’s borders are under siege from thousands of refugees and immigrants fleeing war, persecution and poverty, the prospect of enlarging the 28-nation bloc would seem a distant dream. Yet negotiations continue with a view...
by Pauline Bock | 11 Sep 2015 | Africa, Americas, Europe, Middle East, Refugees, Syria
The world is grappling with its biggest migrant crisis since World War Two. To understand, it’s important to distinguish between refugees and migrants. See also our Decoder on migration crises. If it were a country, the “nation of the displaced” would be the...
by News Decoder | 4 Sep 2015 | Americas, Middle East, Refugees
By Nelson Graves The images stick in my mind, examples of the power of visuals, the changing nature of media and our fearsome responsibilities. In one video, taken from the shooter’s viewpoint, a handgun is fired at startled TV journalists. In a photograph, a...