Somalia

The 51st New York Film Festival Is as Varied as Its Hometown

Three Members of Al-Shabaab, The Group Behind Nairobi Mall Attack, To Be Tried In N.Y.

When Ali Yasin Ahmen, Madhi Hashi, and Mohamed Yusef appeared in the Brooklyn courthouse last December, people were confused. They were confused because the men were Somali; two of them had Swedish citizenship and the other held citizenship in the U.K. They were apprehended in Africa, en route to ... More >>

Captain Phillips is a Hokey High Seas Drama Apt to Turn Stomachs and Elicit Groans

A Hollywood-style A Hijacking for dummies.

Film Fall Picks 2013

Edited by Aaron Hillis

In A Hijacking, the Pirate Life Is Tense

After Boston Bombing, Rightbloggers Turn on Immigration (Mexican or Whatever)

There's a bill working its way through Congress that would offer a "path to citizenship" to the sort of immigrants currently known in some circles as illegal. Though its application is general, it's obviously aimed at U.S. guests of the Mexican persuasion, and it only has a chance of passing because ... More >>

Feast of Appetizers: Gorge on This Year's Oscar-Nominated Short Films

Oscar-Nominated Short Films 2013

Stolen Seas: In Deep With Honest-to-God Pirates

"Ertra, Ertra, Ertra" And The Problems With Patriotism Performed At A Shrill, Unpleasant Register

THE SONG: "Ertra, Ertra, Ertra." THE YEAR: 1993. THE REASON: Unbearably shrill second half; ruined all Uncanny X-Men back issues featuring Siryn and/or Banshee. To write that the Eritrean national anthem sounds as though the Horn of Africa has severed ties with its mainland and receded into the Re ... More >>

Live: Darcy James Argue's Secret Society Gets Palindromic At Galapagos

Secret Society Big Band Galapagos Art Space Friday, March 9 Better than: A certain big band that snoozed its way through the blues uptown a couple of nights earlier. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society—an impeccably appointed 18-wheeler of a jazz group in top shape—made only its second ... More >>

Somalia Food Crisis Now Officially a Famine; Lavish Indian Weddings Cause Food Waste

​McDonald's is continuing to see profit growth thanks to items like frozen strawberry lemonade counteracting the rising costs of hamburgers. [Bloomberg] The U.N. has officially declared Somalia's food crisis a famine in several parts of the country, as millions of people are on the brink of s ... More >>

Rupert Murdoch's Other Other Newspaper Invokes Starving African Children in Phone Hacking Cartoon

via​Newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch and his friends just won't stop defending their master. Days after a Wall Street Journal editorial ran in defense News Corporation's handling of the UK hacking scandal, the Times of London comes today with the above political cartoon: "I've had a bellyful ... More >>

American Drones Carry Out Strikes in Somalia; Maria Shriver Files for Divorce

​The United States has stepped up efforts against Islamic extremist groups in Somalia, the New York Times reports. Unmanned drone attacks late last month marked the first American military action in the nation since 2009. Shabab members were targeted after reports that the group was carrying ... More >>

Hillary Clinton and Others Inspire at the Women in the World Summit 2011

The Daily Beast​The second annual Women in the World summit started on Thursday with a welcome from Tina Brown, Editor in Chief of Newsweek and the Daily Beast, who hosted the event, and ended with a farewell on Saturday. Over the course of the few days, an esteemed collection of women and me ... More >>

Somali Pirates Hijack American Couple's Yacht; Man Saved After Staten Island Ferry Jump; Bronx Rapist Busted (Weekend Links)

Jean and Scott Adam, an American couple, were taken captive by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean yesterday. The pair were sailing from Mumbai to Oman when they were captured, and "sources onshore in Somalia indicated that a well-known piracy gang from northern Somalia had captured them and was ta ... More >>

Obama's Busted Lip, Willie Nelson's Weed Arrest & More of What You Missed While in a Food Coma

​Everyone knows Thanksgiving is a two-day holiday. The first is for eating and drinking and fighting with your family. (Maybe you go to the movies at night, that's okay too.) The second is for eating and drinking more, preferably leftovers with people you like, friends or the favorite family m ... More >>

GOLDEN TICKET

A night with two young lit stars

U.S. Travelers Will No Longer Be Able to Travel With Their Favorite Large Ink Cartridges

A tampered-with large ink cartridge.​Well, this is going to put a damper on things. According to the latest air cargo security regulations (following reports of suspicious packages found on UPS planes en route from Yemen to Chicago, which turned out to contain explosives), airline passengers w ... More >>

The U.S. Is More Corrupt Than 21 Other Countries, Which Is All Bernie Madoff's Fault

​The most and least corrupt nations have been "diagnosed" by Transparency International in their 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the "perceived levels of public sector corruption" in 178 countries around the world. Corruption levels go from "very clean" to "highly corrupt" an ... More >>

Stallone Hawks Nostalgia in The Expendables

Morning Links: Buses to Get Faster, Police Looking for Suspects in Sexual Assault in Central Park, Rush Limbaugh Marries Again

A rendering of the new lanes.​• Starting in October, New York City buses will get express lanes on 1st and 2nd Avenues. The Department of Transportation and the MTA hope this will improve bus travel times by 20 percent. New bike lanes will also be added to part of the route. • Two New Jer ... More >>

Back to 'Africa' With Nas and Damian Marley

Why the blockbuster collusion of Distant Relatives feels so . . . distant

HARD-KNOCK LIFE

K’Naan teaches you the ABC’s

Peanut Butter & Jelly, Cooking Schools Appropriated by Wannabe Terrorists

​The goons who were allegedly plotting to kill politicians, mall shoppers, and American troops in Iraq apparently spent some time watching the Food Network: According to an AP story, Tarek Mehanna and his conspirators allegedly used the code words "peanut butter and jelly" for fighting in Soma ... More >>

Pirate School, For the Merchant Sailor in You

The three Arrrrrs: Maritime schools tackle the seafaring menace

Pirate Coming Here for Trial; Local Crewmen Talk to Press

Lots of Somali pirate aftermath in the papers today: the Post interviews local heroes from the Maersk, who describe the ordeal outlined in the Maersk email we posted on last night: dark on the ship, hot in the hold where the crew hid, scared pirate hostage, etc. The Daily News focuses on Harlem's Wi ... More >>

Another Free iTunes Single of the Week: K'naan's "Bang Bang (feat. Adam Levine)"

James MinchinHere's your future Last week's prediction: From the UK? Sorry, but aesthetics matter, no matter where you are on the globe. No coincidence that the Somalia-born K'naan learned to speak English off the phonetics on Rakim and Nas albums; talent will travel, before during and after thing ... More >>

Free Will Astrology: July 30 to August 5

Busting the Merchant of War

The Bush administration finally nails a notorious supplier to terrorists—after he spent 30 years hiding in plain sight

Un-Veiled

The controversial critic of Islam retraces her road to enlightenment

The Growing GWOT Target List

That Darned Khat

In search of New York's most elusive drug

Heart Attack

Attempting romantic comedy, Sir Ridley Scott conquers neither

'Trick or Trick!' Halloween's Early This Year.

Film

Racial tensions and feminist stirrings from Mali to Maine

The Day I Became a Martyr: Islam Protest Brings Fatal Fatwa

Kiddie Corner

Children's theater doesn't have to translate into child's play to provide intelligent fun

World Beat

Argentinean Cowboys, Tajik Thugs, Italian Gay Dwarf Taxidermists

Letters

Gravity and Grace

Fazal Sheikh's Worldview

Lux et Veritas

Letters

Letters

'Black Hawk' Damned

Activists Protest No. 1 Movie

Fight Songs

A Place at the Table

Afghan Women Debate Their Future

Thanks, But No Thanks

How the U.S. Missed a Chance to Get Bin Laden

Nation

I Dreamed of Africa

Nuruddin Farah Talks About Raw Nerves, Refugees, and the Imagination