Making a bad joke can be embarrassing at the best of times but in Pakistan it can now get you thrown into prison.
Security services have been asked to monitor text and e-mail traffic for what are being called “ill-motivated messages”. Convictions could bring sentences of up to 14 years in jail – the same as being convicted for murder.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reports from the capital, Islamabad.
The independent film On A Tightrope looks at the struggle of four children living in an orphanage in China’s Xinjiang province and their dream of becoming champion tightrope walkers. Like all Uighurs, they are forced to walk on a metaphorical tightrope: trying to balance between Islam and a Communist China that rules Xinjiang with an iron fist, restricting their religion.
High food and fuel prices, inflation, poverty and unemployment are pushing many people in Djibouti to the limit. The country is parched and many of its citizens are now almost totally reliant on imports of food, further pushing up prices.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow reports.
Seven Taliban fighters, heavily armed and disguised as women, have launched a co-ordinated attack on government buildings in the Afghan city of Khost. The attack came less than a month before the upcoming presidential elections.
From Kabul, Al Jazeera’s James Bays reports on the difficult circumstances surrounding the vote.
More from the UK Guardian:
Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests and armed with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the main police station in the eastern Afghan city of Khost yesterday. Their assault triggered lengthy gun battles that left seven militants dead and 14 people wounded, officials said.
The attack was one of the most audacious in recent years and took place in an area that it was hoped had been stabilised. Khost is a major provincial centre and the site of one of the biggest US bases in Afghanistan.
The assault signalled a further escalation in Taliban tactics of targeting poorly defended government installations rather than heavily armed international troops. One aim is to drive a wedge between local forces and officials and those trying to protect them. Local forces are attacked directly, international soldiers are struck with remote-controlled bombs.
In recent weeks, tribal leaders have seen a major influx of fighters who are fleeing operations on the Pakistani side of the porous frontier 12 miles from Khost where Islamabad’s soldiers have begun moving against key insurgent havens.
The Suez Canal is one of the world’s busiest international trade routes and a major source of foreign currency for Egypt.
The man-made passage channel links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, saving ships from a long journey around Africa.
Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh reports from Ismailia where the global recession has caused Egypt to lose millions of dollars in revenues.
A report from Kenya’s NTV looks at the challenges faced by Ugandan troops serving in Somalia as part of the OAU mission.