NewsLab

News and stories from the Arab world, the Mediterranean and Europe, from the point of view of 20 women who met for the first time in November 2007, in Alexandria, Egypt

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Ingrid Betancourt is free

July 2nd, 2008 · 2 Comments

                                                                                          
After 71 months of captivity in the jungle, Ingrid Betancourt is free! The Colombian army rescued the former presidencial candidate and 14 other hostages kept for several years in the hands of FARC, the biggest and oldest Colombian guerrillas.  A great day for fredoom, a great encouragment for fredoom fighters. Photo Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

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Tags: Politics · War & Conflict · women

He did it!

June 4th, 2008 · No Comments

Yeah… after months of expectation, surprise and controversy, Barack Obama captured yesterday the Democratic presidential nomination. The atmosphere is enthusiastic, as he is the first black American to lead a major party in presidential elections. But many questions remain unanswered… and his first foreign policy speech wasn’t that different from what Bush has said this last years… […]

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Tags: Photo · Politics

I want to be Swedish!

May 7th, 2008 · 2 Comments

Last week I visited Sweden in response to an invitation of foreign ministry of Sweden. They wanted to show Portuguese journalists some of the progresses made to improve environment standards, but when I left the country I was impressed by much more things than the traffic control policy or the green areas created side by […]

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Tags: Economics · Environment · Travel

An equal government

April 16th, 2008 · 3 Comments

This news has some days, but I think good news don’t have expiration date: for the first time in Spanish political history, women outnumber men in the new Cabinet! Socialist prime-minister Jose Luis Zapatero chose eight men and nine women for his second term. Two of the nominations are even more surprising: Carme Cachón is […]

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Tags: Gender · Politics

Are dogs naturally dangerous?

April 2nd, 2008 · 3 Comments

After a series of fatal dog attacks, most of them against children, Portuguese government decided to take drastic measures to fight the problem. Last year, a new law was approved to force the owners of dangerous dogs to register them and buy special insurances.
But the measure didn’t have the expected results and, last month, the […]

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Tags: Politics · Society

“Shock and Awe”, five years late

March 19th, 2008 · No Comments

After a long day writing about George W. Bush speech in the fifth anniversary of Iraq’s invasion, and can’t avoid make a balance of these war and the consequences for the country and the world.
Bush said his decision was fair and justified, that removing Saddam Hussein was the right decision and, despite the human and […]

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Tags: History · Politics · War & Conflict

Hillary still on track

March 5th, 2008 · No Comments

M.P. made the question: will the second Super Tuesday in Democrat’s primary elections are going to be Hillary Clinton Waterloo? After and exhausting electoral night and several predictions in that sense, the final answer is no, she survived the test and is still on the race to the White House. The former first lady won […]

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Tags: Politics

A Woman’s Side of War

February 27th, 2008 · No Comments

Almost two weeks after Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence – in the end of a process that started in 1991 with Croatian war and led to the disintegration of former Yugoslavia – the Serbian branch of an international female organization against war published a book that might be a landmark in the history of the […]

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Tags: Gender · History · War & Conflict

Domestic violence in Portugal

February 20th, 2008 · 3 Comments

 Today I write to you to tell you a sad story. The story of women spanked, violated, harassed or killed by their husbands or boyfriends. Statistics tell us that one in every three women suffer some kind of abuse during their lives, but the annual reports still surprises me.
Today, all Portuguese national newspapers write about […]

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Tags: Gender · Health · Human Rights

The forgotten magic mountains

February 14th, 2008 · 4 Comments

After several days away for vacations, I’m back and want to share with you some pictures of the beautiful province of Trás-os-Montes (literally, behind the hills), in northeast Portugal.
Away from the big cities, difficult to access due to curling roads, the region has been quite forgotten by the central government and younger generations are leaving […]

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Tags: Photo · Travel