Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Prince al-Waleed backs moving the Manhattan mosque

Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal has been one of the most intriguing figures in the debate over the "Ground Zero Mosque." al-Waleed is both a funder of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's proposed Park51 Islamic Center through his Kingdom Foundation...

Published Fri, Oct 29 2010 9:06 AM by FP Passport

Winners & Losers

Winners Fidel Castro: Healthy again. Lesbians: Synthetic sperm cells derived from a woman's bone marrow tissue could make male participation irrelevant for women who wish to conceive. Iraqi chauvinism: The Islamic Army in Iraq, a Sunni nationalist...

Published Fri, Apr 13 2007 5:00 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Winners & Losers

New record set in bog snorkeling

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Looking for a new hobby? You may want to give bog snorkeling a try. The latest out of Wales is that a bog snorkeler may have set a new world record time for the sport by more than...

Published Mon, Aug 30 2010 9:34 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Fun Stuff, Sports

China’s most popular blogger on why there won't be a revolution

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Han Han, China’s government-critiquing, racecar-driving, Nescafe-promoting boy-wonder blogger , delights in identifying the red line and joyously dancing circles around it. In a post published today titled...

Published Fri, Dec 23 2011 2:36 PM by FP Passport

Just How Effective Are the Federal Government's Background Checks?

Among the many mysteries of the Edward Snowden affair, one in particular stands out: How did the National Security Agency not know it had a leaker in its midst? Put aside the question of how Snowden allegedly downloaded top-secret files onto a thumb drive...

Published Fri, Jun 28 2013 3:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: National Security

Saudi Arabia to Its Illegal Laborers: Get Out by Sunday, or Go to Jail

Saudi Arabia has long relied on foreign workers to fill millions of low-paying construction, clerical and service jobs, in many cases illicitly. But as the government cracks down on illegal workers, tens of thousands of Filipino and Indonesian migrants...

Published Thu, Oct 31 2013 8:16 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, Economics, Labor, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Arab World, Yemen

Morning Brief: U.S. Considers Military Action After Syrian Chemical Weapons Strike

U.S. Considers Military Action After Syrian Chemical Weapons Strike Top news: With casualties mounting in Syria's civil war and consistent reports of a major chemical weapons attack in Syria, President Obama huddled with his military advisers over...

Published Mon, Aug 26 2013 5:52 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

'We've Never Seen in Egypt's History This Many Attacks Against Journalists'

Two journalists have now been confirmed killed in clashes that erupted last night as the Egyptian military began clearing sit-ins by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy. Mick Deane , a 15-year veteran cameraman for Sky News, and Habiba Abd El...

Published Wed, Aug 14 2013 12:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Security, Middle East, Media, Egypt

Chile struck by massive 8.8 earthquake

Chile was rocked by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake early this morning, and reports are still dribbling out about its effects, including the tragic deaths so far of at least 85 people. There's still much we don't know -- particularly about what's...

Published Sat, Feb 27 2010 6:46 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Disasters, Latin America

Qaddafi declares jihad against Switzerland

This is getting ridiculous : "Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Mohammad, God and the Koran," Gaddafi said during a meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to mark...

Published Thu, Feb 25 2010 1:52 PM by FP Passport

You Can Now Buy Saddam Hussein's Rifle Online

The rifle above belonged to a brutal dictator who gassed to death thousands of his own citizens and had the gall to erect a giant arch modeled after his own fists. Now it can be yours for an estimated $7,500 to $15,000. The Rock Island Auction Company...

Published Fri, Aug 30 2013 8:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Iraq

Metadata May Not Catch Many Terrorists, But It's Great at Busting Journalists' Sources

The National Security Agency says that the telephone metadata it collects on every American is essential for finding terrorists. And that's debatable . But this we know for sure: Metadata is very useful for tracking journalists and discovering their...

Published Tue, Sep 24 2013 9:59 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, Law, Obama Administration, NSA

Merry Christmas from FP

Assuming there are no major breaking news events -- a pretty big assumption this year -- Passport will be off on Monday. Happy holidays! Read More...

Published Fri, Dec 23 2011 2:57 PM by FP Passport

Which country produces the most hashish?

This week's quiz question: Which country produces the most hashish? a) Afghanistan b) Morocco c) Russia Answer after the jump … [[BREAK]] A, Afghanistan. Afghanistan is well known as the world's top producer of opium, but it's also the world's...

Published Wed, Jul 28 2010 4:36 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Drugs & Crime

When crises erupt, should the U.S. turn first to its European partners?

An interesting debate arose during a panel discussion this morning with current and former heads of policy planning at the State Department. When a member of the audience asked why the panelists hadn't mentioned Europe and Latin America -- two regions...

Published Thu, Nov 29 2012 7:57 AM by FP Passport