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al Bassaleh

All the news that isn’t (satire and humor)

Photo of the Day: Christmas with Banksy

Najeeb Al-Anbarri
25 December 2005

Photo of the Day is a BNN feature which offers a photograph on a day, and calls it “Photo of the Day”. This is not to imply that this is a regular feature, nor that this photo is truly the mother of all photos for the day in question. Usual disclaimers apply. You’ll remember Banksy from his amazing summer graffiti project on Israel’s West Bank Barrier. Well Santa is back with Vandalised oil painting #031, 2005. Good job mate, the truth has to be spoken in weird ways in times when people aren’t listening to common sense.

USA TODAY misplaces 98,000 antiwar protestors

24 September 2005

In an unfortunate mishap, editors at USA TODAY’s website misplaced 98,000 antiwar protestors for half an hour on Saturday afternoon. Editors became aware of the problem when staff from the publication’s Lost & Found office rang to notify them that they were overwhelmed by a sudden and unexplained influx of tens of thousands of people holding banners and chanting. FEMA officials contacted the publication’s human resources department to promise help somewhere around next Sunday’s issue, forcing the editors to take immediate action.

Photo of the Day

Najeeb Al-Anbarri
14 August 2005

Photo of the Day is a BNN feature which offers a photograph on a day, and calls it “Photo of the Day”. This is not to imply that this is a regular feature, nor that this photo is truly the mother of all photos for the day in question. Usual disclaimers apply. This photo of the day was taken by Marcy Newman, of a section of Israel’s Wall near Bethlehem. On the right, someone has stenciled part of BNN’s header showing Ariel Sharon and Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt!

Israelis elect new Palestinian leader

23 November 2004

Millions of Israeli voters flocked to the polls today to vote for a new Palestinian leader. Israel has taken the unusual step of giving its voters a say in who will lead the Palestinians, after years of Israeli ministers trying to make the decision themselves. Israel’s Interior Minister, Tommy Lapid explained, “After the death of the terrorist leader Yasir Arafat, there is unique opportunity for Israel to pick a new, moderate Palestinian leadership.” He added, “since Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, our people are the only ones qualified to make this choice.”

Arafat's face appears on grilled cheese sandwich

18 November 2004

A local man in Louisville, Kentucky, was surprised, after making a grilled cheese sandwich and taking a bite out of it, to see the face of Yasser Arafat staring at him. “I made the sandwich just before sitting down to watch Fox News on November 10th,” Ben Larper told BNN. “After I took the first bite, the news about Arafat’s death came on. I stopped eating and put the sandwich down to watch the report. When I reached down for the sandwich, there it was, the same face as on the television!”

Dear Friend, This mail may not be surprising to you...

18 November 2004

The perpetrators of Advance Fee Fraud (AFF), known internationally as “4-1-9” fraud after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes, are often very creative and innovative. The following e-mail is a genuine 419 scam letter, puporting to be from Suha Arafat, published by www.theregister.co.uk and reprinted here with permission.

Controversy over Suha Arafat comments rages in media

8 November 2004

As Yasser Arafat lies gravely ill in a French military hospital, a bitter dispute between Arafat’s estranged wife, Suha, and his top advisors has broken out into the international media. “I appeal to you to be aware of the scope of the conspiracy,” Suha Arafat�told the Al-Jazeera satellite channel in a telephone interview, “They are trying to bury Abu Ammar alive.” Not so Suha herself. Hospital officials report that Suha has been behaving exactly as family members of seriously ill patients typically do, spending late nights with Arafat in his hospital room and only emerging for brief periods looking tired and upset.

Fear of flying

22 September 2004

Two days after a flight carrying former pop star Cat Stevens was diverted from Washington, DC to Maine, where the 1970s pop idol, now known as Yusuf Islam, was removed from the plane and sent back to London, and one day after a flight in Wisconsin was forced to turn around after a passenger opened the inflight magazine and found scribbled words in an “Arabic style writing,” another US flight was interrupted after a passenger grew suspicious of a man sitting next to him. The flight was grounded for six hours as security teams searched the aircraft and questioned all passengers. BNN’s Loreh Al-Malakeh reports.

Round-up of recent wire service images

7 May 2004

The origin of the well-known quotation, Un croquis vaut mieux qu’un long discours (“A picture is worth a thousand words”), is attributed to Napoleon. Back by popular demand, BNN Photo Editor Najeeb Al-Anbarri looked at recent wire service images of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and offers a selected overview of how the conflict is being visually portrayed by the commercial media. From hard news to entertainment, the breadth of images communicates much about the realities on the ground.

Press conference: Rumsfeld announces new Iraqi leader

28 April 2004

Faced with increasing violence and chaos across Iraq as the June 30 deadline for handing over to an Iraqi government, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld today announced the new Iraqi leader to “help Iraqis make the transition to self-rule and democracy.” The shock move follows the decision last week by the head of the US occupation authority in Iraq, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, to lift the ban on former members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party holding government jobs. BNN Foreign Correspondent Avraham Avinunu reports.

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