On Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad announced “general amnesty” for all “crimes” committed to a date, state television said. The amnesty decree, announced only a week after the controversial election he won amid raging conflict across the country, for the first time extends amnesty to those accused to be terrorists under the controversial July 2012 anti-terrorism law. The Syrian government …

The recent string of “elections” across the Arab world raises profound questions about the Arab world’s apparent difficulty in adopting institutions and practices of liberal pluralistic democracies. But is the problem really about the ability of Arab social values to accommodate democracy, or is there a deeper problem related to the clumsy nature of statehood that has emerged in this …

Written by Jonathan Curiel Sylviane Diouf knows her audience might be skeptical, so to demonstrate the connection between Muslim traditions and American blues music, she’ll play two recordings: The athaan, the Muslim call to prayer that’s heard from minarets around the world, and “Levee Camp Holler,” an early type of blues song that first sprang up in the Mississippi Delta …

Can the media cover appalling atrocities and remain neutral and objective??  Media ethics and dilemmas  Is it really possible to be neutral when covering the war zones or reporting conflict and an uprising being ruthlessly put down by a superior force? Can you be neutral when witnessing barrel bombs being dropped from military helicopters on residential areas or when chlorine …

Hundreds of villagers from four villages in northeast Nigeria are feared dead in suspected Boko Haram attacks, in the latest increase in violence that is claiming the lives of an increasing number of civilians. According to local sources, Tuesday’s death toll due to attacks in Gwozo district in the state of Borno could be as high as 500; however, the …

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko on Friday during the D-Day anniversary held in Normandy, and called for an end to the violence and bloodshed on both sides, his spokesman said. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, was quoted as saying, “Putin and Poroshenko called for the soonest possible end to bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine, and to military …

Leaders of the G7, the group of the seven industrialized nations Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, on Thursday decided to tighten defenses against potential terror attacks by European Jihadists retiring from Syria. At the close of a G7 summit, British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron said, “We have agreed to intensify efforts to address the …

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry, during his unannounced visit to Lebanon, dismissed the Syrian elections as “a great big zero”. The “elections are non-elections, the elections are a great big zero”, he told reporters in Beirut. He also defended the Washington’s decision to work with the newly-formed Palestinian unity government, saying that it did not include any …

Palestinians on Thursday said that they would appeal to the UN regarding Israeli plans to build 1,500 new settler homes. Israel had announced their plans as a response to the newly formed unity government in Hamas. The government of technocrats has been recognized by both the US and the EU, but Israel has promised to boycott what it calls a …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres will plant an olive tree symbolizing peace after their unparalleled meeting with the Pope on Sunday in the Vatican Gardens, amidst high tensions between Palestinians and Israelis. The Vatican on Friday said that it hoped the initiative launched by Pope Francis, which will include Muslim, Jewish and Christian music and prayers, …