the synthetic jungle
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Meedan blurs linguistic lines
With more than 340 million speakers, Arabic is one of the world’s major languages – the fifth most widely spoken by some counts. Yet, today Global Post asks if, in fact, Arabic is a dying language. Native Arabic speakers constitute about 3% of all internet users, according to World Bank figures. And yet, less than [...]
Ushahidi: Tracking Haiti’s crisis
It’s now more than a week since the Caribbean nation of Haiti was rocked by a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake, but the situation on the ground remains unstable, with people still being pulled from the rubble and the death toll continuing to rise. With landlines in the country badly damaged, and ground transportation a significant [...]
Online calls to help Haiti
"Help Haiti" is the cry that’s been tweeted and retweeted over and over, with the tag remaining a trending topic on the social-messaging website Twitter for most of the day of Wednesday. International aid groups are rushing to get relief workers and supplies to Haiti after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday. The [...]
Why the Haiti earthquake was so devastating
Steff Gaulter, Al Jazeera’s meteorologist, explains what made the Caribbean nation of Haiti so susceptible to such a devastating earthquake. She says the problems are all due to where the Caribbean plate is situated. Haiti sits on a faultline in the earth’s crust called the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault. At 4:53 pm local time, the Caribbean [...]
Stoning a symbolic Satan
In the latter part of Hajj, Muslim pilgrims spend time at Mina’s encampment, where they pelt a a wall representing the devil with pebbles daily. But there are always dangers when dealing with the devil.
A crush at Arafat
Up to three million Muslims descended upon the plains of Arafat as part of Hajj. Lines of buses crowded the streets, whilst throngs of people flooded in between the cracks.
Mina: The journey has begun
For the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, their spiritually and physically taxing journey is under way, having reached the tent-city of Mina. But the hardest parts of Hajj still lie ahead.
Saudi flexes its muscles ahead of Hajj
On top of fears of an outbreak of H1N1 flu during Hajj, Saudi Arabia has found it also has a number of security issues to be concerned about this year. One of those issues has been rising tensions between Saudi and nearby Iran. In the past, Iranian pilgrims have complained, held protests and even clashed [...]
Gearing up for Hajj
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have already gathered in Mecca in preparation for this year’s Hajj, which will begin on Wednesday, November 25. On average, between two and three million Muslims take part in the five-day journey every year. A decreased turnout had been anticipated this year due in part to both fears of an [...]
US third parties fight to be heard
For Al Jazeera English WASHINGTON – Two US presidential candidates have gone head-to-head over issues including the economy, the “war on terror” and flaws in the nation’s healthcare system. But neither man represented the Democrats or the Republicans. Although they run much lower-profile campaigns than the two presidential contenders, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack [...]
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