- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Gregory_nick

Lebanon Reverses Decisions That Prompted Violence

Nick — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:31:02 +0000

Lebanon’s governing coalition on Wednesday night formally reversed two decisions that had provoked the militant group Hezbollah, bringing the country a step closer to resolving the week-old political crisis that set off the worst factional violence since the nation’s 15-year civil war.

The announcement was made after a day of intensive meetings between Lebanese leaders and an Arab diplomatic delegation led by the foreign minister of Qatar. Rescinding the decisions was a victory for Hezbollah, the Shiite group backed by Syria and Iran that has been trying to wrest more political power from the government. After it was announced, shortly after 11 p.m., loud bursts of celebratory gunfire echoed across the city for almost an hour from Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hezbollah’s stronghold.

Lebanon’s information minister, Ghazi Aridi, said the cabinet reversed the two decisions — which challenged the militant group’s private telephone network and the job of a Hezbollah ally who directs airport security — “in view of the higher national interest.”

Fighting has largely ended between supporters of the government and the Hezbollah-led opposition. But it was too early to tell if the government’s announcement would persuade Hezbollah to end its “civil disobedience” campaign, which has included blocking the road to Beirut’s airport. The group has said it will end the campaign after the two decisions are reversed and the government agrees to “return to the dialogue table.”

Why Bush Must Recognise The Nakba

Nick — Wed, 14 May 2008 09:57:59 +0000

Air Force One will travel back in time this week, banking low near the southern Mediterranean coast and touching down on contested soil where the past is always present.

In the Holy Land, the battles over the historical narrative surrounding the founding of Israel in 1948 are as hard-fought as the contemporary struggles over West Bank settlers, Palestinian refugees, and negotiations for a two-state solution.

In a long and bitter dispute, there are profound consequences for the “honest broker” (as the US government has long described itself) in identifying with only one side’s history.

Yet when George Bush, the US president, steps off his plane to help Israel mark its 60th birthday, he will stride firmly into the past of one side.

Top 10 Sex And The City facts

Nick — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:25:17 +0000

The official release of the eagerly-awaited Sex And The City movie is just weeks away. As preparations for tonight’s world premiere in Leicester Square get into full swing, we reveal some lesser-known facts about the popular series and its...

Franco-African relations: Who is tired of whom?

Nick — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:36:26 +0000

The news may have come as a surprise to the French, whose leaders are always talking about the influx of Africans, and the threat this “invasion” poses to their economy and culture.

However, to Africans it was merely a confirmation of what they already know: France no longer attracts them.

Gone are the days when the greatest dream of Francophone artistes, intellectuals, students and politicians was a trip to Paris or settling there.

Le Monde, one of the leading French newspapers broke the story, which was based on reports filed to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs by its diplomats. Their common thread? France’s image in Africa is “very tarnished.”

The fact “has been established in a series of dispatches written at the request of the Quai d’Orsay (The French ministry of Foreign Affairs) in the autumn of 2007 by 42 ambassadors posted in Africa,” the paper said on April 27, 2008.

Students Given Inventors Award for Underwear With Condom Pockets

Nick — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:07:16 +0000

A team of Helsingborg, Sweden, high school students has won a national award for its invention — men’s underwear with pockets for condom storage.

Bribe or miswording? You make the call.

Nick — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:33:40 +0000

The Consumerist this morning has an item about an outfit called TheCellShop.net apparently trying to buy itself a top-notch reputation on resellerratings.com.

Blockade puts Gaza on brink of serious food crisis, says UN

Nick — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:12:14 +0000

Destitution and food insecurity among Gaza’s 1.5 million residents has reached an unprecedentedly critical level, according to unpublished UN findings that they now need “urgent assistance” to avert a “serious food...

BBC Finds Facebook Flaw

Nick — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:14:34 +0000

A loophole on social networking site Facebook could allow identity thieves to access the personal data of users, according to an investigation.

Teenager Murdered in the Goa... Did Doctor Illegally Keep her Organs?

Nick — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:16:13 +0000

The mother of a British teenager murdered in Goa has been refused permission to retrieve organs that were removed from her daughter’s body without permission.

Austria: Secrecy, shame and the land of the lost children

Nick — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:01:05 +0000

Like many Britons whose image of Austria was defined by school history lessons and The Sound Of Music, whenever this landlocked Alpine nation is mentioned certain stereotypes spring to my mind.

Or at least they did, until this week. One would think of mountain vistas shimmering with snow-white swathes of edelweiss, and apple strudels accompanied by cream-topped mugs of hot chocolate.

And one would remember that, although modern Austria is little more than a stepping-stone on the road to Eastern Europe, it was once the rock on which the mighty Hapsburg Empire was built, and dominated the civilised world for centuries.