Iraq
Kurdish diva wages culture war on ISIS
Kurdish-American pop singer Helly Luv is facing death threats from ISIS after travelling to the frontline in northern Iraq to produce a music video cheering on the Peshmerga.
Tag: fear of music
Afghanistan
Women’s freedom icon rocks Kabul peace concert
Aryana Sayeed, a popular singer and TV personality facing death threats for refusing to wear the hijab, performed at a Kabul "Peace Concert," organized by youth groups.
Europe
Greece: anti-fascist activist on trial
Anti-fascist militant Savvas Michael-Matsas went on trial in Greece, charged with "libellous defamation" in a case brought by members of the far-right Golden Dawn party.
North Africa
Tunisia: feminist, rapper icons for left opposition
Amid growing protests, Femen activist Amina Sboui and rapper "Weld El 15"—both facing criminal charges—have become heroes for Tunisia's secular opposition.
Mexico
Mexico: Chapo goon popped —but still not Chapo
The Mexican military announced the capture of “El Fantasma,” yet another accused lieutenant of fugitive Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin Guzmán AKA “El Chapo.”
East Asia
PSY sells out —but righties use him to bash Obama
The righties are up in arms because Obama will be attending a charity gala featuring PSY—even though the Korean rap star has abjectly apologized for his past anti-imperialism.
Afghanistan
Taliban behead 17 for dancing
Taliban militants attacked a family gathering where men and women were dancing together at a village in Afghanistan's Helmand province, beheading 17, including two women.
Central Asia
mosque150
A top US sportswear company announced that it has dropped a Chinese supplier over concerns that its products were made by forced labor in detention camps in Xinjiang. Reports have mounted that the hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uighurs believed to be held in a fast-expanding system of detention camps are being put to forced labor for Chinese commercial interests. An Associated Press investigation tracked recent shipments from one such detention-camp factory, run by privately-owned Hetian Taida Apparel, to Badger Sportswear of North Carolina. After long denying that the camps exist, Chinese authorities now say they are "vocational training centers" aimed at reducing "extremism." (Photo via Bitter Winter)
South Asia
Ideology Chart
Pakistan's army high command approved the death penalty for 10 condemned jihadists who were convicted by a military tribunal of attacks that claimed over 60 lives—including the assassination of Amjad Sabri, one of the country's most revered singers of qawwalii, traditional Sufi devotional music. Sabri was on his way to a televised Ramadan performance in Karachi when his car was attacked by gunmen, and his many followers hailed justice in the case. But in the two years since Sabri's death, attacks on Sufis in Pakistan have continued, with suicide blasts and horrific massacres at shrines and mosques. (Photo via PTI)