IRIN News (Urban)
ISRAEL: The tribulations of being an Ethiopian Jew
TEL AVIV 09 February 2012 (IRIN) - Growing up in Israel, Shai Siun became accustomed to being called a “nigger”.
PAKISTAN: Quetta's Hazara community living in fear
QUETTA 07 February 2012 (IRIN) - Widespread fear of harassment, discrimination and killings has prompted some Hazara community members living in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province in southwestern Pakistan, to consider leaving the country, even by illegal means.
NIGERIA: Never so divided, never so united
LAGOS 03 February 2012 (IRIN) - A month after an angry public launched protests across Nigeria over skyrocketing fuel prices due to the removal of a government subsidy, a measure of calm has returned and people seem to have settled into accepting a compromise.
NEPAL: Fears of violence during expected Kathmandu squatter eviction
KATHMANDU 02 February 2012 (IRIN) - A Nepalese government development plan for Kathmandu could lead to violence as the authorities seek to evict thousands of landless squatters, activists say.
Analysis: Where Afghan humanitarianism ends and development begins
KABUL 30 January 2012 (IRIN) - Afghanistan suffers from cyclical natural disasters - floods and drought - which affect people annually and require expensive emergency responses, but their impacts could well be avoided, or at least mitigated, if proper water management systems or dams were built, for example.
YEMEN: Little hope of swift return for Abyan IDPs
ADEN 25 January 2012 (IRIN) - When Abdullah al-Hasani, 55, fled his home in the Khanfar District of Yemen’s Abyan Governorate eight months ago, he hoped some day to return and grow watermelons.
HEALTH: Learning from Saudi experience on risks of mass gatherings
LONDON 23 January 2012 (IRIN) - The world’s great mass gatherings - from religious pilgrimages like the annual Haj to Saudi Arabia and India’s huge Kumbh Mela, to major sporting events like the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup - present important health challenges to organizers and participants alike.
NIGERIA: Timeline of Boko Haram attacks and related violence
DAKAR 20 January 2012 (IRIN) - Bombings and shootings by the militant Islamic group Boko Haram - also known as Jama’atu Ahlus Sunnah Lid Da’awati Wal Jihad - have increased sharply in recent months, leaving many worried that wide-scale sectarian violence could break out. Some 80 people have been killed in Boko Haram (BH) attacks in recent weeks, while 500 are reported to have been killed over the past year. Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been forced to flee their homes.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Possibilities and pitfalls following president’s death
BISSAU 20 January 2012 (IRIN) - The death of Guinea-Bissau President Malam Bacai Sanha on 9 January from health complications could either perpetuate the instability that has long plagued the country, or provide an opportunity for political parties to negotiate a smooth, constitutional transfer of power which could in turn help shore up the country’s development, say analysts and diplomats.
IRAQ: People consider fleeing as violence increases
BAGHDAD 19 January 2012 (IRIN) - Suicide attacks, assassinations and bombings in Iraq have claimed the lives of at least 265 people and injured hundreds of others since 18 December, the date the USA withdrew all but 200 of its troops from the country, according to the health and interior ministries.
NIGERIA: Boko Haram displaced fear returning home
KANO 19 January 2012 (IRIN) - Many of the tens of thousands of civilians who have fled their homes following a string of deadly attacks by “terrorist group” Boko Haram in northern Nigeria over recent weeks have not yet been able to return home - or been offered any shelter by the authorities.
KENYA-SOMALIA: Paying high price for military incursion
ISIOLO-NAIROBI 13 January 2012 (IRIN) - Security, service delivery and economic activity in northeastern Kenya have deteriorated considerably since October 2011, when the country’s military forces deployed in neighbouring Somalia in an effort to eradicate the Al-Shabab militia, which has vowed to avenge the incursion.
EGYPT: Calls for minors to be kept out of political clashes
CAIRO 05 January 2012 (IRIN) - The involvement of children in violence during ongoing clashes between protesters and police in Egypt should be addressed because it is against international norms, say child rights activists.
FILM: Our most-watched films of 2011
NAIROBI 28 December 2011 (IRIN) - Launched in 2004, IRIN’s film unit has won numerous awards for its productions, several of which have been aired by prominent international broadcasters. Here is a list of the unit’s most-watched films in 2011.
SYRIA: Violence, sectarianism stalk Homs
BEIRUT 22 December 2011 (IRIN) - Syria’s central city of Homs is in a state of quasi-civil war, as violence becomes a daily routine, with sectarianism increasing and living conditions deteriorating, say residents and government opponents.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Population growth fuels conflict
GOROKA 21 December 2011 (IRIN) - Unchecked population growth is fast proving an additional source of conflict in Papua New Guinea (PNG), a country with a history of clan violence and clashes over land, experts say.
YEMEN: Changing the narrative
DUBAI 20 December 2011 (IRIN) - Aid workers in Yemen, the Middle East’s poorest country, appear to have made some headway in broadening the mainstream narrative to include the deepening humanitarian crisis.
MALAWI: Urban poor hit by slew of price increases
BLANTYRE 19 December 2011 (IRIN) - Devaluation, fuel shortages and economic mismanagement have conspired to push staple food prices to “alarming levels” in urban areas of Malawi, where even catching a bus to work has become an unaffordable luxury for many, according to residents and analysts.
BANGLADESH: “Invisible hazard” of groundwater depletion
DHAKA 13 December 2011 (IRIN) - Experts warn rapid depletion of Bangladesh’s underground water table could jeopardize food and water security for millions throughout the country and also endanger the biodiversity of one of the world’s largest mangrove forests within the next two decades.
INDONESIA: Jakarta gears up for floods
BANGKOK 12 December 2011 (IRIN) - Indonesia’s disaster management officials warn severe flooding may hit the capital Jakarta this rainy season, as more than 26,000 health, public works and other emergency personnel mobilize nationwide in a larger-than-usual preparedness effort.
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