RAMALLAH — A Palestinian festival showcasing women filmmakers has battled against Israeli closures, rampant insecurity, recession and funding shortages to promote cinema in Gaza and the West Bank. “It’s hard to work in films here,” said Alia Arasoughly, who runs Shashat, a non-profit organisation focusing on women’s cinema which is …

FATA BORNO  (AP) — A 10-year-old boy huddled behind African Union soldiers as half a dozen pickup trucks full of armed Arab militiamen screeched through the dusty riverbed outside his North Darfur refugee camp Wednesday. “These Janjaweed aren’t the most dangerous ones,” Najmaddin Idriss whispered as he stood behind the …

NAIROBI (AFP) — The United Nations said Thursday it had pulled out all of its foreign staff from parts of Somalia controlled by the country’s powerful Islamist movement, citing threats to workers. The world body said the threats, coupled with insecurity in southern and central Somalia after the murder of …