Paris

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 17th, 2011
Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libya's leader, warned of 'civil war' in a speech on Sunday night.

As protests in Libya enter their eighth day, following a "day of rage" on Thursday, we keep you updated on the developing situation from our headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

Blog: Feb17 - Feb18 - Feb19 - Feb20

By Kamal Hyder in Asia on January 6th, 2011
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

I remember a bumper sticker that read: "We have the best politicians money can buy!"

How appropriate.

People who have lived in Pakistan will tell you that politics and political parties are the domain of the privileged class who have not necessarily made their money the hard - and legal - way.

Flamboyance and loose mouths have always claimed lives in a country where the majority lives below the poverty line and where almost 40 per cent of the people depend on aid and extra help.

If you want to become famous, throw massive parties - and all the better when it is all paid for by the state and from the poor taxpayers' money .

The bigwigs know how to wine and dine, but have no time for the wretched masses whose mouths are still open and in want of their next meal.

If you were worried about the escalating fuel prices you would never hear any complaints from the children of the governors, minions and sycophants who have helped

By Kamal Hyder in Asia on August 1st, 2010
Photo by Kamal Hyder

Those people who had electricity during the heavy downpour were able to watch images of people clinging for life against the force of water.

Their only chance of survival was to hold on to barbed wires as others watched helplessly - many not knowing what to do.

One old man raised his finger towards the sky and said, "If the present leadership stayed in power for just one more year the wrath of Allah will be upon us all".

Desperate and strong words, but coming from the depths of a mortal heart.

After years of military rule, the representatives they happily sent into the provincial and national assemblies are now the target of much anger.

Meanwhile, it did not matter what happened on the ground as the president prepared to fly to London and Paris amidst strong criticism from both the people and the political leadership that at the time of such an emergency the president should call off his trip.

Within minutes, the loyal advisor and clos

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on May 31st, 2010
Protesters in Istanbul wave Palestinian flags after the raid (Photo: AFP)

Early Monday morning, Israel attacked a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip; up to 10 people were killed in the pre-dawn raid, according to organisers and media sources.

We'll be live-blogging the aftermath of this incident throughout the day; keep checking back for international reaction, news from our correspondents on the ground, photos and video. (All times are GMT, except where noted.)

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By John Terrett in Americas on March 31st, 2010
Photo by AFP

President Obama says he's not interested in seeing a sanctions regime against Iran in months - he wants to see one within weeks.
 
He was speaking at a press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy after the two met for more than an hour at the White House.
 
In their private meeting, the pair discussed the Middle East, Afghanistan, financial reform, climate change and convincing countries to join UN Security Council sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme – something that's close, according to President Obama.
 
"We have to continue to apply pressure, not just on Iran but we have to make sure that we are communicating very clearly that this is very important to the United States." 
 
Question from reporter: "How long?" 
 

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on November 28th, 2009
Photo by AFP
It was billed as a summit of presidents of Amazon countries. But most of the presidents didn’t bother to show up, making the ‘summit of presidents’ in Manaus one with few actual presidents in attendance.
 
About half of the mysterious place called "the Amazon" is in Brazil. The other half is divided between 8 other countries - Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
 
So Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, organised Thursday's one-day summit of Amazon countries as a chance for them to come together a forge a common agenda ahead of the all important Copenhagen climate change summit starting on December 7 - which is being billed as the biggest climate change meeting in generations.
By Alan Fisher in Europe, Middle East on November 13th, 2009
Photo by Reuters

It's all about joining the dots.

The visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Paris is the latest step in a process which could bring peace talks with Israel.

The two sides talked last year with the Turks as mediators. The Gaza War brought those discussions to an abrupt halt.

Now in the last 10 days, there's been some significant movement, which in some quarters is inspiring hope of renewed talks.

First, the Turkish foreign minister popped over to Paris. It's understood he was briefing the French on how far things had developed last year.

Then, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu arrived for lunch on Wednesday and stayed for nearly two hours.

Those close to him say he's willing to talk to the Syrians again "without preconditions".

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