Inside Stories

SADAA, YEMEN — September is the month when students around the world head back to school and, despite enduring years of brutal war, Yemen’s children are no exception. In the Khulah School in the northern city of Sadaa, fifth-grader Saleem Ahmed Mutaher sits on the floor with about 70 other students, his mind distracted by the pain of sitting on a hard, dusty floor as well as the strong winds that enter from the classroom’s broken windows.

BALTIMORE — At first glance, Ben Jealous appears to be a good bet to become Maryland’s first black governor. Running in a blue state — where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one and nearly one in three voters is African-American — against an incumbent Republican governor, Jealous is a liberal Democrat, a son of Baltimore, and the former head of the NAACP, which is headquartered here. He even received an endorsement from the popular black comedian Dave Chappelle.

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his counterpart from the South, President Moon Jae-in, made a powerful show of unity with the signing of the Pyongyang Declaration on Wednesday, underscoring their pursuit of “mutual reciprocity, common good and shared prosperity,” a cessation of tension, and an explicit call for “Korean autonomy and the principle of self-determination.”

WASHINGTON — (Analysis) In the months leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, the U.S. has colluded with Israel in a string of policies and decisions that completely undermine the legitimacy of the agreement, not to mention Palestinian claims to justice, freedom and ultimately peace.

NEW YORK — Of apartheid South Africa’s myriad atrocities, one of the most medieval was a system in which white settlers plied their farmworkers with alcohol in lieu of wages. Known by the Afrikaans word for tot, or drink, the dop not only kept workers docile — and wages low — but, in fostering widespread and chronic dependency, the practice bordered on enslavement, manacling workers to their addictions and hence their oppression.

ATHENS – It is a tale of two realities. Later this week, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will give his annual speech to the nation – Greece’s equivalent of the State of the Union address — at the 83rd Thessaloniki Trade Fair.

HODEIDA, YEMEN — What is taking place at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula is unprecedented: the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition has caused a humanitarian crisis on all fronts, unlike anything else seen in the world today.

ANKARA, TURKEY — With most of the Turkish media controlled by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), it is hard for many people to fully understand the internal politics of Turkey. One way to break through this is by listening to Turkey’s exiled journalists like Abdullah Bozkurt.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (Analysis) — Who needs a Nation State Law? What does the insistence and the passing of a law that states Israel’s exclusive rights to the land and the state mean? Since many laws and the reality on the ground make it seemingly obvious that Israel is already a state for Jews, one would think this law is redundant at least, if not totally unnecessary.

WASHINGTON — After Paul Manafort was convicted and Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to various charges not related to Russian interference in the 2016 elections, the mainstream media still keeps the issue alive with disingenuous assertions.