Middle East

World News

Mash Donalds? Iranians Copy American Fast-Food Brands

2:37pm November 02, 2013

by NPR Staff

If you wander through the streets of Tehran, you might find that faux McDonald's, or maybe a Pizza Hat. The rise of the "fake franchise" caught the attention of Iranian-American Holly Dagres, a Middle East analyst and commentator, who says some of these eateries "look like the real deal."

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Brooklyn Hipster Finds The 'Big Sulk' In Iran

11:36am November 02, 2013

Iranian American journalist Hooman Majd wrote a memoir about his family's one-year sojourn in Tehran. Majd and host Scott Simon discuss his new book, The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran.

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Iranian Hard-Liners Plan 'Grand Day Of Death To America'

6:46am November 01, 2013

Some hard-liners in Iran are planning a "Grand Day of Death to America" on Monday — the anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979. Revolutionary Guards commanders promise the slogan will "echo across the nation."

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A Marmaray Project train awaits its inauguration ceremony in Istanbul on Tuesday.

World News

Ottoman Dream Come True: Train Links East And West In Istanbul

9:04pm October 30, 2013

by Peter Kenyon

Istanbul inaugurated the world's first continent-connecting train line this week. It's not the Orient Express, but the subway does make real an idea first proposed in the mid-19th century.

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Saudi Women Get In Driver's Seat To Protest Ban

8:00am October 28, 2013

Dozens of women in Saudi Arabia drove cars Saturday in open protest against the kingdom's ban on women driving. NPR's Deborah Amos, who has been covering the story, speaks with Steve Inskeep about the outcome and implications of the protest.

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Candidates for town council Michal Chernovitsky (left) and Adina Ruhamkin campaign in a park in El'ad, or Forever God, a small religious community in Israel. They could be the first women on El'ad's council, and the first ultra-Orthodox women to win publi

Election In Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Town Tests Gender Norms

8:29am October 27, 2013

by Emily Harris

"It's a new thing. I hope it will be accepted, but I'm not so sure," one resident says about women running for town council. "Here women who express themselves aren't seen as a good thing."

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A woman drives a car in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. Saudi Arabia is the only country where women are barred from driving, but activists have launched a renewed protest and are urging women to drive on Saturday.

Saudi Women Go For A Spin In Latest Challenge To Driving Ban

7:39pm October 24, 2013

by Deborah Amos

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that effectively bars women from driving. Women are making a renewed challenge to the ban by getting behind the wheel and posting videos in advance of a national drive-in set for Saturday.

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Children play at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where more than 120,000 Syrian refugees live. Roughly two-thirds are kids, many of whom have been traumatized by the violence in their homeland.

World News

Syria's Grinding War Takes Toll On Children

2:19pm October 22, 2013

Two million Syrian children have been displaced by the war. Many have witnessed violence and experienced trauma that could have life-long consequences. One of the biggest challenges for international aid agencies is healing the invisible scars of the youngest victims.

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World News

Unrest Erupts In Egypt After Attack On Christian Wedding

10:10am October 22, 2013

by Leila Fadel

Christians in Cairo are planning protests a day after an attack on a wedding party left three dead and 18 wounded. The Muslim Brotherhood condemned the attack.

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Palestinian travelers wait to cross into Egypt at the Rafah crossing terminal in the southern Gaza Strip earlier this month.

World News

A Graduate Student's Odyssey From Gaza To Indianapolis

8:30am October 20, 2013

by Emily Harris

Fida'a Abuassi has finally made it to the U.S. for graduate school at the University of Indianapolis. She should have been here in August, but was stuck at home in the Gaza Strip, the tiny Palestinian enclave bordered by Israel and Egypt. Leaving Gaza is rarely easy. But since the military takeover in Egypt, it's become nearly impossible.

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