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  • As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed

    An unprecedented fall in the water levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has exposed the rural population to dangers of heat, drought – and displaced wildlife. Swarms of snakes are attacking people and cattle in southern Iraq as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers dry up and the reptiles lose their natural habitat among the reed beds. Doctors.. More

  • Inside North Korea's labor camps

    It is estimated that 150,000-200,000 prisoners are detained in the camps, located in valleys in remote mountainous areas of the central and northern part of North Korea. Deeply secretive North Korea does not publish any details of the camps or the detainees held in them, but accounts from former inmates and guards who have defected paint a bleak.. More

  • Bound, blindfolded and beaten – by Israeli troops

    Two Israeli officers have testified that troops in the West Bank beat, bound and blindfolded Palestinian civilians as young as 14. The damaging disclosures by two sergeants of the Kfir Brigade include descriptions of abuses they say they witnessed during a search-and-detain operation involving hundreds of troops in Hares village on 26 March. The testimonies.. More

  • Torture and justice, American style

    "I could see them, dragged naked along the concrete corridor," reported the 18-year-old boy. "Their skin was tearing off their bodies and the extreme pain showed on their faces. Electric shockers such as are used on livestock had first been used on them. I saw the burns on their arms and legs. Then ‘wrist-breakers' were used on.. More

  • Lebanon's Palestinian refugees

    In 1948 hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from or forced to flee their homeland in the wake of the creation of the state of Israel. While some were forced out by armed Israeli militias - perhaps the most notorious being the Irgun and Stern gangs - others fled in the belief Arab armies would defeat those Jewish forces fighting for.. More

  • Somalia crisis 'Africa's worst'

    The "very dire" humanitarian crisis in Somalia is the worst in Africa for many years, says Oxfam's coordinator for the failed Horn of Africa state. Many of its hundreds of thousands of internally-displaced people, the world's largest such concentration, have little food or shelter, he said. Mogadishu civilians have been fleeing intense fighting.. More

  • Muslims in Bulgaria see their civil rights under threat

    The rising anti-Muslim rhetoric ahead of a July parliamentary election have raised tensions in the country. Twenty years after Bulgaria's then-Communist regime mounted an official campaign of persecution against its Muslim minority, could bring the nightmare back. Mustafa Yumer, a Bulgarian Muslim, led resistance and hunger strikes against an assimilation.. More

  • Photos show rape and sex abuse in Iraq jails

    Photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse which U.S. President Barack Obama does not want released include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday. The images are among photographs included in a 2004 report into prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison conducted by U.S. Major General Antonio Taguba. Taguba.. More

  • 'Israelis may emigrate over nuclear threat'

    Almost a quarter of Israel's seven million citizens would consider leaving the country if Iran becomes a nuclear military power, according to a new poll. The poll also shows that over 40 per cent of Israelis believe that their military forces should strike Iran's nuclear installations without waiting to see whether US President Barack Obama's plans.. More

  • Bangladesh's toxic legacy

    Much of Bangladesh's water contains dangerous quantities of arsenic, a toxic compound that cripples human organs and can eventually lead to death. The country is now scrambling to reverse what the World Health Organization (WHO) calls "the largest mass poisoning in history", but it will not be an easy task. Arsenic was commonly used as a.. More

  • '1.4 million people displaced in Pakistan valley'

    The number of people displaced by fighting in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley has risen to more than 1.4 million, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Monday. "The situation is volatile and changing rapidly," Holmes told reporters at the United Nations. He said extra financial resources were urgently needed to deal with the situation.. More

  • Inquiries about Swine Flu

    In an interview with the "Raya" Qatari newspaper, Dr. Abu Bakr Ash-Shaafi'i, an advisor of otolaryngology at Al-‘Imaadi hospital in Qatar, said that swine flu is a severe, extremely infectious chest disease that infects pigs. It is produced from one of the A virus subtypes of swine flu. Although the rate of disease outbreak is high,.. More

  • US detainee abuse 'unprecedented'

    A former US official has accused the administration of George Bush, the former president, of authorizing "unprecedented" acts of abuse during the interrogation of detainees. Phillip Zelikow told a US senate hearing on torture practices that the Bush administration was guilty of a "collective failure" over the interrogation of "war.. More

  • White Phosphorus? Concern over burns on Afghans caught in battle

    Afghanistan's leading human rights organization said Sunday it was investigating the possibility that white phosphorus was used in a U.S.-Taliban battle that killed scores of Afghans. The U.S. military rejected speculation it had used the weapon. White phosphorus can be employed legitimately in battle, but rights groups say its use over populated areas.. More

  • 'Go back and die in Gaza'

    Since Israel's closure of the Gaza Strip in 2007, only severely sick Palestinians have been allowed to seek medical attention elsewhere provided they receive authorization and security clearances from the Israeli authorities. However, getting the special permit that allows patients to leave Gaza for medical treatment is a bureaucratic hassle and, many.. More