A&E doctor who escaped Syria for UK left with 'life-changing' brain injury after London crash
Ahmad Alhameed, 47, suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs and serious brain injury when he was hit by a car on November 13 last year Source link
All posts tagged: civil war
What Memorial Day once meant for us
(RNS) — I’ll rise this Memorial Day to remember W. Lloyd Warner, the distinguished anthropologist who gave us the single best account of how civil religion in America works — or rather, how it worked once upon a time. “An American Sacred Ceremony,” a chapter in Warner’s 1953 book, “American Life: Dream and Reality,” focuses on the celebration of Memorial Day in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in the wake of World War II. Memorial Day originated in the North after the Civil War to show respect for the fallen Union soldiers, but by the middle of the 20th century it had become a commemoration of all who had died for the country. Warner, without using the term “civil religion,” calls it a “cult of the dead which organizes and integrates the various faiths and national and class groups into a sacred unity.” In “Yankee City” (as he identified Newburyport), preparations would begin several weeks before Memorial Day itself with various participating civic and religious organizations holding meetings and sending messages to the local newspaper announcing their activities …
‘At every single step there is death and danger’: The struggle to get food in Sudan – Perspective
To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again PERSPECTIVE © FRANCE 24 Issued on: 15/04/2026 – 14:31Modified: 15/04/2026 – 14:32 08:30 min From the show Reading time 1 min On the third anniversary of the start of the war in Sudan, which has killed tens of thousands of people, an aid worker from one of the main NGOs still there has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the starvation of the people. She also spoke about the incredible way the Sudanese come together to try to help each other. By: Video by: Source link
Growing up during Sri Lanka’s civil war taught me that getting along with people across divides is a virtue we can learn
(The Conversation) — I grew up in Sri Lanka. Much of my adolescence was spent in Kandy, a city built around a lake, set amid the lush tea plantations of the hill country. Its northern shore houses the Temple of the Tooth, one of Buddhism’s most sacred sites. Each year, it came alive with drummers, dancers and elephants parading through the streets in a “perahera,” or procession, honoring the Buddha’s relic. But Buddhism was only one part of Kandy’s mosaic of religious life. I went to a high school where students from different religious and ethnic backgrounds got along easily. Within walking distance stood Buddhist temples, Christian churches, brightly colored Hindu temples, or “kovils,” and Muslim mosques whose call to prayer echoed across the city multiple times a day. Religious observances filled the calendar; Sri Lanka has more holidays than almost any other country. Our own home was a glimpse into the island’s diversity. I attended both churches and temples with ease. My mother regularly visited a Hindu kovil with a close friend – though …
Syrian authorities’ new limits on alcohol sales in Damascus spark backlash
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Crowds of Syrians rallied Sunday to protest authorities’ efforts to limit the sale and consumption of alcohol in Damascus, reflecting rising anxiety in the cosmopolitan capital that Syria’s new Islamist government may threaten long-held secular freedoms. Hundreds of residents from a range of religious sects poured into a grassy square in Bab Touma, a Christian neighborhood in Damascus, chanting “Syrians are united!” and brandishing signs that urged the government to safeguard personal liberties and religious minorities. “This is not about whether we want to drink alcohol, this is about personal freedom,” said Isa Qazah, a 45-year-old sculptor from the area who joined the protest along the medieval stone lanes near Damascus’ Old City. “We have come here to defend an idea.” Heavily armed security forces surrounded the protesters. The demonstration passed without incident. The controversy erupted last week, when the governor of Damascus issued a decree banning “the provision of alcoholic beverages of all kinds in restaurants and nightclubs” across the capital. Within three months, it says, restaurants must have tossed …
Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything
It’s become almost like a histamine response: After a shocking national event like the assassination of Charlie Kirk, or Donald Trump’s deployment of the military to Los Angeles last June, mentions of the term “civil war” and calls for secession surge online. This kind of talk flared again in January, when two citizens were shot and killed by immigration agents on the streets of Minneapolis, and governor Tim Walz mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to be ready to support local law enforcement. “I mean, is this a Fort Sumter?” Walz said in an interview with The Atlantic, invoking the battle that sparked the Civil War. In a loopier register, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura urged the state to secede from the US and become part of Canada. “I think someone seriously should contact Canada and ask them if they’re open to this,” he said. These two statements by men who’ve held the same office pretty well sketch the basic outlines of popular discourse about American fragmentation: Spiraling civil war is the nightmare, tidy secession is …
Drone strike on a mosque kills 2 children in Sudan’s Kordofan region
CAIRO (AP) — A drone strike at a mosque killed two children and injured 13 others in Sudan’s central region of Kordofan early Wednesday, a local doctors group said, as the country’s civil war continues. The Sudan Doctors Network, which monitors the conflict, said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which are fighting the army, carried out the strike in al-Rahad city in North Kordofan. A spokesperson from the doctors’ network, Mohamed Elsheikh, told The Associated Press that the children had been attending a lesson at dawn. Targeting children inside mosques “represents a dangerous escalation in the pattern of repeated violations against civilians,” the network added. There was no immediate RSF comment. The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The World Health Organization says the fighting has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million. Aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher, as the fighting in …
Myanmar junta stages first election since seizing power
A trickle of voters made their way to Myanmar’s heavily restricted polls on Sunday, with the ruling junta touting the exercise as a return to democracy five years after it ousted the last elected government, triggering civil war. Former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed, while her hugely popular party has been dissolved and is not taking part. Campaigners, Western diplomats and the UN’s rights chief have all condemned the phased month-long vote, citing a ballot stacked with military allies and a stark crackdown on dissent. And as balloting began on Sunday, the United Nations released a statement saying that Myanmar needs “free, fair, inclusive and credible” elections. “It is critical that the future of Myanmar is determined through a free, fair, inclusive and credible process that reflects the will of its people,” said the United Nations in Myanmar, adding the UN “stands in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations”. Read moreMyanmar junta seeks to prosecute hundreds for ‘disruption’ ahead of elections The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party …