Culture

Israeli, Palestinian leaders to make rival U.N. pitches

September 27, 2012 0

Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 66th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, September 23, 2011. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

UNITED NATIONS: Israeli and Palestinian leaders will address the United Nations on Thursday, one warning of a dire threat from Iran and the other seeking limited recognition in the absence of a peace process. On a more optimistic note, the U.N. General Assembly will also hear from Myanmar leader Thein Sein, who has presided over historic reforms after decades of …

At least one Lebanese hostage in Syria to be released

September 25, 2012 0

One of the Lebanese Shiite pilgrims that Syrian rebels have been holding hostage in Syria, hugs his mother, right, upon arrival at his house in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban)

BEIRUT: At least one, and possibly three, of 10 Lebanese pilgrims held hostage in Syria will be released in the coming few hours, mediators said. A mediator, who requested he remained anonymous, told The Daily Star early on Tuesday that three men would be released, identifying them as Awad Ibrahim, Ali Termos, Khalil Saleh. The Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars of Lebanon, …

Mine violence hits at South Africa’s political problem

August 19, 2012 0

Striking miners hold weapons as they wait to be addressed by former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema outside a South African mine in Rustenburg, 100 km northwest of Johannesburg August 18, 2012. (Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko)

MARIKANA, South Africa: The bloody protest by South African miners that ended in a hail of police gunfire and 34 deaths this week could also wound the ruling ANC and its main labor ally, laying bare workers’ anger over enduring inequalities in Africa’s biggest economy. Thursday’s shooting, bringing back memories of apartheid-era violence, underlined that after 18 years in power …