religion

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Refugees from Ramadi trying to escape the city and extremists. Last week’s small extremist victories in Ramadi were fuelled by the work of sleeper cells, who spread rumours and panic that saw security forces abandoning the city and locals fleeing for Baghdad. But those worst fears were never […]

Buddhism

Rohingya Muslim Minority Migrants targeted by Buddhists found in Mass Grave

contributors

Wochit News / IRIN | – “Dozens of police and volunteers exhumed six more bodies on Saturday in the second day of digging out a mass grave near a suspected human trafficking camp on a hillside deep in a southern Thai jungle. The digging site, in Sadao district in Songkhla province, on Friday yielded four […]

political Islam

10,000 Turkish Police Repress Mayday Labor Protests

contributors

Aljazeera Top Stories | – Aljazeera Top Stories: “TURKEY MAYDAY PROTEST” See also: AJ+: “May Day Protest In Turkey Goes Ahead Despite Ban” For more see Turkey marks tense May Day as police enforce lockdown in central Istanbul

Colonialism

Palestinian-Israelis: Hundreds pray outside closed mosque in Beersheba

contributors

BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) — Some 250 Palestinians performed Friday prayers outside a mosque in Beersheba in southern Israel that Israeli authorities have kept closed since 1948. The prayers came amid heavy Israeli police presence, with police sealing the roads leading toward the mosque. The initiative was called for by Sheikh Hassan Abu Ubeid from al-Ramla along […]

Africa

Global Connections: World History as Social History – a New Synthesis

Juan Cole

I and colleagues have just brought out a world history. Because of the fine and exciting writing of my co-authors, it is more than just a textbook. My readers often ask me about history books – here’s one I can recommend. By John Coatsworth, Juan Cole, Michael Hanagan, Peter C. Perdue, Charles Tilly, and Louise […]

Iraq

“We had to destroy Tikrit to save it from ISIL”: Recovered Iraqi City a Ghost Town

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Tikrit | (Niqash.org) – It’s been almost a month since the Islamic State group was expelled from Tikrit. NIQASH went there and found a graffiti-covered ghost town ruled by opposing groups of gunmen, none of whom trust one another. In Basha Street in the centre of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, […]

Christianity

2015 Darwin Award: Paris would-be Church bomber Shoots own Leg, Calls 911

contributors

France24 | — “This church in the Parisian suburb of Villejuif may have escaped being attacked last week-end. “Documentation was found that said without ambiguity that a person known to authorities would carry out an attack on 1 or 2 churches,” says French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.” France24 English: “France Terror threat – All we […]

Iraq

Iraq’s Future in the Balance: Will Sunni Arab Tribes join or fight ISIL?

contributors

By Khales Joumah | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – The key to long lasting victory in northern Iraq is the loyalty of it’s Sunni Muslim tribes. Both the Iraqi Kurdish and the extremists are starting new flirtations with the tribal leaders of Ninawa. But how genuine are these suitors? At a recent meeting in Ninawa, […]

Iraq

Iraq: Shiite Gov’t faces Mammoth Task in taking Sunni al-Anbar from ISIL

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Only a few hours after the start of the next big military campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq, things [went] wrong. Anbar will not be like Salahaddin – there are social, political, military and geographical obstacles to overcome first. Last week the Iraqi government, buoyed […]