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Iraq has lost over 300,000 Christians since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. That represents over 40% of that country's Christian population. Most of these people will not return to Iraq. Syria has taken in 1.4 million Iraqi refugees, by far the most of any country. Since fleeing to Syria, many Iraqis have suffered great trauma and struggle to cope.
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The Greco-Roman ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra still stand majestically in the desert in central Syria. These ruins date back more than two thousand years and are one of Syria's main tourist attractions. Palmyra was a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as The Bride of the Desert.
Today, there are still continuing archaeological teams excavating the ruins.
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As Syria steps out of the shadows of isolation and auditions for a larger role on the world stage it has become increasingly important to understand its significance in the murky politics of the Middle East. Although the US and much of the West has refrained from engaging Syria, its recent inclusion in the Paris Summit and renewed talks with Israel are signs of change.
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Deir Mar Musa literally means The Monastery of Saint Moses Abyssinian. This monastery is situated North of Damascus and it has existed from the middle of the sixth century, having belonged to the Syrian Antiochian Rite. In the fifteenth century the monastery was partly rebuilt and enlarged, but by the first half of the nineteenth century it was completely abandoned, and slowly fell into ruins.
Restoration of the monastery began in the early 1990s as a common intiative of the Syrian State, the local Church, and a group of Arab and European volunteers.
With precious frescoes dating from the 11th and 12th century falling into disrepair a collaboration between the Italian and Syrian states was formed to create a school for restoration of the frescoes.
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There are 700 "dead cities" across northern Syria, all of which were Christian during the Byzantine period but now lay abandoned and in ruins. These ruins were among the greatest treasuries of Byzantine architecture to be found anywhere in the ancient world. The ruins date back to before the fifth century B.C.
After the Islamic conquest of the Byzantine world, the Dead Cities fell into decline, the inhabitants moving away and leaving ghost towns behind them.
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Syria was once the center of the Islamic Empire, and Damascus is one of the oldest and most celebrated cities on earth. Damascus is the largest city in Syria and also its capital. As Syria takes on more importance in world politics, Damascus takes on a larger role as a result of its strengths in trade, tourism, industrial activities, and real estate. The Damascus stock exchange opened in early 2009, the only stock exchange in Syria.
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As Syria steps out of the shadows of isolation and auditions for a larger role on the world stage it has become increasingly important to understand its significance in the murky politics of the Middle East. Although the US and much of the West has refrained from engaging Syria, its recent inclusion in the Paris Summit and renewed talks with Israel are signs of change.
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There are millions of Arabs in the Middle East who are Christians, but their numbers are dwindling. The Christians in Syria make up around 10% of the population. These images reflect the power of history, culture, and religion and ultimately identity of these people.
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One of the least reported cultural stories in the Middle East today involves the plight of Arab Christians—some eight million people living mostly in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq.
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As Syria steps out of the shadows of isolation and auditions for a larger role on the world stage it has become increasingly important to understand its significance in the murky politics of the Middle East.
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The Peshmerga refer to the unique warrior class of Kurds that have been fighting in northern Iraq since the 1920's and the advent of the modern Kurdish independent movement, following the collapse of the Ottoman empire. Today, as Iraq's fledgling security forces prepare to take over the country's defense, a crucial question is emerging: what will happen to Iraq's 80,000 or so Peshmerga, the battle-hardened Kurdish militia?
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Thousands of animals a day are killed, roasted, cut up and prepared for consumption throughout the delta. Nearly all of the workers here, especially the meat handlers, are Muslims from the Hausa and Yoruba tribes of Northern Nigeria. With the pollution and environmental degradation that the oil industry brought to the delta, fishing stocks have been depleted significantly. This essay reveals the unhealthy and environmentally unsound practices that have developed within this vital source of protein and sustenance for the people of the Niger Delta. The government must take responsibility for this situation and administer the laws that are already on the books to protect it’s people and environment.
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Despite terrorism and sectarian bombings, Pakistan has been undergoing a cultural explosion. Encouraged by new independent television stations, which feature news, fashion, sitcoms and music, Pakistan's young people are generating their own brand of art and media. Nowhere is this more evident than in Pakistan's second largest city, Lahore.
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Well beyond the devastation of lives and communities, hurricane Katrina left a legacy of garbage in its wake. In fact, it generated more garbage than any American city produces in a year, totalling 22 million tons of waste. It is the largest and most complicated cleanup in American history. More than three months after the disaster, the state and the Army Corps of Engineers have just begun trying to figure out how to sort the blanket of debris.
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Since oil was discovered in the Niger Delta in 1956, over 400 billion dollars worth has been pumped out of these fertile grounds. These images document daily life along the Niger Delta, its inhabitants and the conditions in which they live.
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Nearly every member of the Los Angeles City Fire Department is a trained paramedic—which is vital considering that over 80 percent of the calls they receive are medical, rather than fire related. In South Los Angeles, the Fire Department has become the frontline in health care for many residents. While 911 calls often involve life-threatening cases like car crashes, gunshot wounds and chest pains, many more are non-urgent cases that could be better—and more cost effectively—handled in a clinic. But with the growing number of uninsured and underinsured people, 911 has become the speed dial for those who either don’t have access to health care or who don’t manage their care properly. The end result is that LAFD paramedics often can’t concentrate on real emergencies because they are busy filling the health care void.
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After moving her father Herbert Winokur into the household, filmmaker Julie Winokur and photojournalist Ed Kashi share their intensely personal struggle to juggle children, an aging parent and their careers.
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Despite the daily images of carnage coming out of Iraq over the past 2 and a half years, the story of the Kurds in northern Iraq is one of progress, hope and determination. In the midst of the violence and chaos that has engulfed much of the rest of the country, the Kurds have leveraged a golden opportunity and are building on the unprecedented freedoms they have enjoyed since 1991. Unlike the rest of country, the north is living the promise of the new Iraq while preparing themselves for independence in the event Iraq falls apart. This story chronicles these changes while also reminding us of the troubles and dangers that still exist in this turbulent land.
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This photo essay examines the American health insurance crisis, by focusing on the people of rural Tennessee. These people have been abandoned by their Medicaid Provider TennCare, and left to fend for themselves. Their plight is a stark example of how deep the suffering runs when 190,000 people lose their public health care funding almost overnight.
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A new high-tech surveillance system has been put into effect by the Chicago Police Department. This system which employs citywide cameras and a computerized central database, has helped Chicago reach its lowest murder rates since the 1960's. The architect behind this new system is Ron Huberman.
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First Lieutenant Melissa Stockwell, 25, a U.S. Army veteran of the Iraq war, lost a leg while on active duty there in 2004. Melissa's rehabilitation has been remarkable due to her strength and determination.
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The Digital Hospital in Hackensack, New Jersey, under the guidance of Dr. Gerard Burns, utilizes state of the art technology by their doctors and nurses.
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BJ Jackson, an American veteran who was wounded in Iraq, with his wife Abigail, 22, and two daughters Brilynn, 4 and Hailey, 2, in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa.
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Attracted by the low cost of living, the quality of life and the sun, British seniors are retiring in ever increasing numbers to Spain's Mediterranean coast.
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The Jewish neighborhoods of Baghdad have become melting pots where Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Christians and even Sudanese immigrants congregate and live together. There is barely a trace of their Jewish past.
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Was there collusion between the US forces and Iraqi looters to allow the wholesale destruction of the Baath Party government, vis a vis the physical manifestations of it?
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American forces in Iraq consumed more than 200,000 gallons of water and roughly a million gallons of fuel a day-all of which had to be trucked hundreds of miles into Iraq from camp Arifjan in Kuwait.
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U.S. military troops on Operation Valiant Guardian, a military operation whose mission is to scour villages for stockpiles of weapons, enemy safe houses and Al-Qaeda or Taliban operatives.
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The Hezbollah Party in Lebanon is more than a guerrilla army. It has become a political party and organization that oversees a large network of social institutions. The members are mainly Shiite Muslims.
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As a result of El Nino the pacific coast of Peru near the city of Pisco, has become a rich source of shellfish. Almost overnight desert towns became lively fishing villages.
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