Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said that Hezbollah and other "terrorist groups" have urged their sympathizers to take revenge for the Quran burnings that have taken place in Sweden.
He said that Swedish interests abroad had already been targeted, including an attempted attack on the diplomatic mission in Beirut last week and the storming of Sweden's Embassy in Baghdad last month.
Full StoryNestled in sand dunes an hour's drive from the skyscrapers of Dubai, a desert village abandoned in the 1990s stands as an eerie relic of the rapid urbanization of the United Arab Emirates.
Built in the 1970s to house semi-nomadic Bedouin, the village of al-Ghuraifa was abandoned two decades later as oil wealth transformed the country into a global hub of commerce and tourism, home to the futuristic cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Full StoryA senior Swedish official said Monday Swedes abroad and businesses linked to Sweden"should observe increased vigilance and caution," following recent Quran burnings in the country and protests in the Muslim world.
Henrik Landerholm, Sweden's National Security Adviser, said there are signs of "a heightened threat" to the country and to Swedish interests abroad, adding the security situation has worsened.
Full StoryFor a vast number of book writers, artificial intelligence is a threat to their livelihood and the very idea of creativity. More than 10,000 of them endorsed an open letter from the Authors Guild this summer, urging AI companies not to use copyrighted work without permission or compensation.
At the same time, AI is a story to tell, and no longer just in science fiction.
Full StoryThe are entrenched in Afghanistan after of rule. Women and girls pay the price
The Taliban have settled in as rulers of Afghanistan, two years after they seized power as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from the country following two decades of war.
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Elon Musk has said that his much-hyped cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg would take place in Italy, as authorities there confirmed talks about hosting a "great charity event."
Full StoryLebanon's culture minister said he has asked authorities to ban hit movie "Barbie" for purportedly "promoting homosexuality," as anti-LGBTQ rhetoric soars in one of the Arab world's more liberal countries.
"It was decided... to send a request to Lebanon's General Security agency... to take all necessary measures to ban showing this movie in Lebanon," caretaker Culture Minister Mohammed Mortada said in a statement.
Full StoryLondon-based sex worker Marin Scarlett and right-wing populist Nigel Farage might initially appear unlikely campaigning allies, but when it comes to the pitfalls of banking in Britain they share a common cause.
"It's ridiculous that financial institutions can act like moral arbiters," Scarlett told AFP, echoing Farage's exact same criticism last month after a scandal erupted around his treatment by British banks.
Full StoryThe diminutive woman with a white feather headdress stood on the stage of the majestic colonial theater in Brazil's Amazon on Monday and addressed the crowd.
The woman, Minister of Indigenous People Sonia Guajajara, declared the day "the milestone of Indigenous participation," then cited the national statistics institute's freshly released census data that revealed the full scope of the nation's Indigenous population: 1,693,535 people.
Full StoryArtemisia Gentileschi's painting skills quickly surpass her father's, but society dictates that as a woman, she must stay home and protect her virtue. Art — with its unsavory types and naked models — isn't exactly fit for a good Roman Catholic girl. And when her painting tutor attacks her, it sets off a cascade of seemingly insurmountable problems and impossible choices.
Author Elizabeth Fremantle deftly paints Artemisia's painful but inspiring story in her latest biographical fiction, "Disobedient." Having already established herself as a writer who champions powerful female leads, Fremantle fleshes out the 17th-century artist who defied the limits placed upon her and became one of the best painters of the Baroque period.
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