United Kingdom
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British poet Hollie McNish on immigration
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Integration in Germany
What is required of us
Our country needs to respect and value minorities more and to empathise with them more. It also needs an honest debate about what we – not they – must bring to the table, writes Lamya Kaddor
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Portrait of the Sufi princess Noor Inayat Khan
The call of the one to the many
Idealistic, cosmopolitan and full of heroic courage. It is almost 75 years since the death of Sufi princess Noor Inayat Khan, who served as a secret agent in France during the Second World War and was ultimately murdered by the Nazis in Dachau concentration camp. A portrait by Eric Schumacher
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Sadiq Khan: "Trump is playing into the hands of IS"
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Album review: Reem Kelani′s ″Live at the Tabernacle″
Cultivating fusion
Since the early 1990s, the Palestinian-British singer, musicologist and broadcaster Reem Kelani has carved a unique niche for herself on the Arab and international music scenes. Her new album ″Reem Kelani: Live at the Tabernacle″ provides renewed confirmation of her rare talent. By Susannah Tarbush
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Pakistan and sectarianism
The enemy within
Pakistan′s generals blame their country′s cycle of political violence, including a recent bombing in the Baluch capital of Quetta, on groups in Afghanistan. The focus on external enemies complicates efforts to reduce political violence, ease inter-communal strains and facilitate easing of tensions with Pakistan′s neighbours. By James M. Dorsey
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The Chilcot Report
It's a no brainer
The lesson of the Iraq War should not be that armed intervention is to be avoided per se, but that such action should only be undertaken when it is the best available strategy – and the results are likely to justify the costs. By Richard Haass
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Pakistani crime writer Omar Shahid Hamid
A nexus of crime
Whatever the reason for Pakistan′s biggest city not being chosen more often as the setting of great crime fiction, it cannot be for a lack of material. The suspense-packed Karachi novels by former anti-terrorism cop Omar Shahid Hamid mesmerise and disturb at the same time, revealing a complex web of relationships, where ″justice″ becomes a highly relative notion. Thomas Baerthlein met the author in London, where he currently lives and works
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The not-so-United Kingdom
A potentially sticky wicket
Although a majority of Asian and Muslim voters rejected a Brexit, about a third did vote for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. Thomas Baerthlein reports from London about their motives – and increasing concerns about the negative fallout of the referendum on all ethnic minorities, particularly Asians and Muslims
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Alsatoor, Libya′s caricaturist
The pen is mightier
Since the 1970s, the Libyan Hasan Dhaimish, aka Alsatoor, has furnished a mostly Arabic public with daringly acerbic political observations about his former homeland. His son, Sherif Dhaimish, looks back over his long career – a career that is far from over
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″The Diary of a Hounslow Girl″
Bursting the bubble
British Pakistani actress, playwright and comedian Ambreen Razia is currently touring the UK with her acclaimed one-woman play ″The Diary of a Hounslow Girl″. In it, 16-year-old Shaheeda talks non-stop about running away, her mother who does not understand her, a fight with her friend on the bus and a messed-up Pakistani wedding. Ambreen Razia spoke to Thomas Baerthlein about being a Muslim girl growing up in London, the struggle with ″British identity″ and the importance of Sadiq Khan′s election as Mayor of London
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Sadiq Khan′s London
Democracy wins out
Pakistani by origin, Muslim by faith and newly elected Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan is the man of the hour in the United Kingdom, if not in Europe. As Bernard-Henri Levy argues, his victory sends a highly positive signal