October 29, 2024
When a Lebanese schoolteacher, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, wanted to buy a car a few years ago, she went to the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Qard Al-Hassan (AQAH) Association to get a loan.
Some time later, the mother-of-two needed a washer-dryer and a dishwasher, so again she headed over to the nearest AQAH branch where it was a lot easier and cheaper to get a loan than if she had visited one of Lebanon's banks.
October 07, 2024
In pulverised Gaza, life has become almost medieval for traumatised residents but the Israeli offensive that obliterated their homes and killed their neighbours is defiantly modern and has raised profound questions over the role of Big Tech in war.
More than any other major conflict this century, the Israel-Hamas war has spotlighted how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used on the battlefield, and what responsibility the makers of these tools should bear.
October 07, 2024
Palestinian journalist Islam al-Zaanoun was so determined to cover the war in Gaza that she went back to work two months after giving birth. But, like all journalists in Gaza, she wasn't just covering the story - she was living it.
The 34-year-old, who works for Palestine TV, gave birth to a girl in Gaza city a few weeks after the beginning of the Israeli offensive last October.
October 06, 2024
Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led Palestinian militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
October 04, 2024
Hazem Suleiman lost almost a quarter of his body weight as he and his family fled time and again from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. But what really worries him is the damage you can't see - the invisible trauma that will mark him forever.
"I won't forget the screams of children and women ... I have nightmares of charred bodies. Horror films do not show this, but it is what happened."
September 25, 2024
It was the deadliest day in Lebanon for decades but the young woman in Adloun, a coastal town near the southern border, said she wanted to go through with the online job interview, even as Israeli airstrikes hit buildings nearby and her children shrieked in terror.
My friend, who was carrying out the interview, told her she could reschedule.
September 10, 2024
In Gaza, falling ill can be a death sentence. Cancer patients are waiting to die, polio has returned, and many of the doctors and nurses who might have offered help are dead while the hospitals they worked at have been reduced to rubble.
Doctors and health professionals say that even if the Israel-Hamas war were to stop tomorrow, it will take years to rebuild the healthcare sector and people will continue to die because preventable diseases are not being treated on time.
September 02, 2024
For eight weeks, all gamers' eyes were on Riyadh but for some rights groups the real winner of the first Esports World Cup was Saudi Arabia, which they accused of deflecting attention from its human rights record by hosting the event.
While 1,500 people competed through July and August for the $60 million prize pot, some prominent industry insiders boycotted the competition while some participants wore Pride flags on their clothes apparently to signal support for a community criminalised in the kingdom.
August 27, 2024
Islamic State supporters are exploiting AI tools for propaganda and recruitment and experts fear safety measures are not adequate.
Days after a deadly Islamic State attack on a Russian concert hall in March, a man clad in military fatigues and a helmet appeared in an online video, celebrating the assault in which more than 140 people were killed.
August 13, 2024
In Gaza, the sky is full of menace. As well as the missiles that rain down on schools and shelters, the brutal rays of the sun have made the summer unbearable for those struggling to survive in a ravaged landscape of ruins and rubble.
Samaher al-Daour sometimes wishes she had been killed in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war rather than have to watch her son, who lost a leg during the conflict, endure the unbearable heat.