CAIRO, Egypt –  A relative newcomer to Arab TV, the Turkish soap opera "Noor" has helped narrow the gender gap between men and women across the Middle East.

Women see the lead female character – the independent, aspiring fashion designer Noor -- as a role model. Meantime, her husband on the show -- the blue-eyed former model and athlete Mohannad -- has become the region's first pin-up boy.

The nightly soap opera has mainly female viewers glued to their TV sets not only because Mohannad is a cuter version of Justin Timberlake, but because he offers something many lack in their lives: romance, tenderness and a supportive partner to his independent wife. Mohannad has become the standard against which many Arab men are being judged, much to their chagrin. 

Susan Baaghil / Reuters

A family watches the Turkish soap opera "Noor" in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.Â

Too much to live up to
According to Arab newspapers, marriages in Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia have dissolved because wives insisted on putting Mohannad's picture on their mobile phone display, or on their bedroom wall. In Bahrain, a woman allegedly begged her husband to have plastic surgery to look like the actor. Another recent divorcee allegedly told her husband "I want to sleep with Mohannad one night and then die." 

In Saudi Arabia, where about one in seven people tunes in each night, men circulated the rumor that Kivanc Tatlitug, the actor who plays Mohannad, is gay, which left female viewers distraught until the rumor was dispelled. 

Saudi society abounds with Mohannad jokes such as this one: A Saudi woman was touring Turkey with her husband and son when her husband went missing. As she described him to the police, her son shouted, "But that's not what Daddy looks like." "Be quiet," she whispers, "They might just give me Mohannad."

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Palestinian women walk past T-shirts with pictures showing the lead characters of Turkish TV soap opera "Noor,"  in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Sunday, July 20.

"Mohannad" and "Noor" are now the hottest babies' names in Saudi – even though the religious establishment has condemned the show. A top Saudi cleric forbade viewers from watching the "malicious" soap operas that "corrupt and spread vice" and has also declared that any TV station airing them is against God. This has put Saudi-owned Middle East Broadcasting Company (MBC), which airs the show three times a day, at loggerheads with Saudi religious leaders.

Saudi clerics may have an uphill battle: The Turkish serial has so wooed Saudis with its scenic backdrops of the Bosporus, and green, clean vistas of Istanbul that Turkish tourism officials say it has caused Saudi tourism to the country to more than double. 

The series has not only made Saudi women aware of the failings of their partners, but the advantages engendered by a more liberal, tolerant Islamic society such as Turkey. 

"It is eye opening for Saudi women. They haven't seen such a sensitive, passionate, giving personality," explained Dr. Fawzaya Abu Khalid, a writer and women's activist based in Riyadh.

For many women, the show has opened a whole new world and a lot of men aren't happy about it. "Men feel threatened. It is the first time women have a role model for male beauty and passion and can compare him with their husbands," said Abu Khalid. "It is the first time they found out their husbands are not nice, that they are not being treated the way they should be, and that there is an option outside." 

Glued to TV across the region
Filled with scheming relatives, corny romantic scenes, melodramatic acting and amateurish effects, the sequence bombed in its native Turkey, but found new life among Arab women of all ages from Riyadh to the West Bank, when MBC began airing a dubbed Arabic version four months ago.

Reem, a young Saudi businesswoman who prefers to use her first name only, was introduced to the show by her nieces, ages seven and eight. Reem explained the show's allure. "Romance is not here, living in a dry desert. Saudi women are missing something in their lives, in the treatment in the family, the wife with her husband and the husband with his wife. What I see from my female customers is that they are attracted by the love and romance and the way the man is treating the woman." 

And in east Jerusalem, every night at 10 p.m., the streets are suddenly empty – everyone is glued to the TV watching "Noor" there, too.

Bakiza, the matriarch of a large household in Jerusalem's Old City, surrounds herself every night with her children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. They each take something different from the show. "I admire the story of Mohannad and Noor because of what it shows about how a family should be," said Bakiza. "The grandfather, Fikhry, is the one who takes care of the whole family, decides everything, and solves all the problems. Everyone respects him."

Malouk, a 15-year-old niece of Bakiza, has her own reason for watching the show. "I can only watch it because of Mohannad. He is handsome, romantic, and takes care of his wife. In fact, he is better than his wife."

The popularity of the series goes beyond the family room. It is also a business success story in the local communities. Restaurants, coffee shops, and clothing stores, proudly display posters of the couple in their windows to attract business. In Ramallah, nargila cafes (where water pipes are smoked), have their TV sets tuned for the channel of the series, to keep the customers there.

Even small children are onto the show and are making purchases based on the series' merchandising. Haitham al-Halak, 45, a grocer in the Old City, says, "I was surprised how children from 6 to 15 years old, are buying from me only the potato chips with their pictures on it!"  said Haitham al-Halak, 45, a grocer in the Jerusalem's Old City.

A positive role model for women
To some young women, the aspiring fashion designer Noor, provides a positive female role model and encourages them to raise the bar not only on future spouses but on themselves. 

In Cairo, Na'ama Hegazy, a single 25-year-old, watches "Noor" three times a day and says it has influenced the way she sees her future.  

"I want a romantic [man] who treats me like how Mohannad treats his wife. Every day he brings her flowers and tells her romantic words," said Hegazy. "The life will be very good when a husband treats his wife [like that]."

But Hegazy also wants to emulate Noor who is a both a good wife and mother, and a self-reliant professional. "When she has troubles with Mohannad, she wants to him to leave her alone. She wants to work and doesn't want anything from him. This means any woman who falls out with her husband can work and depend on herself."     

NBC News' Lawahez Jabari contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

 

 

Music and dancing fill the streets of Santiago, Cuba from sundown to the first light of dawn. Contagious drum rhythms draw people out of their homes into endless conga lines -- some lasting as long as six hours. NBC News' Mary Murray reports on the colorful celebrations that mark the founding of Cuba's second largest city.

VIDEO: Summer Carnival in Santiago, Cuba

BEIJING – Activists have been rounded up, migrant workers sent home, and restrictions placed on live music venues, bars and restaurants.

Security also is high, with x-ray machines at all subway turnstiles, road checks surrounding Beijing, and 100,000 police, paramilitary and army troops deployed throughout the capital. (See the issues discussed with local officials at a recent Beijing press conference). 

A week before the Opening Ceremony, some foreign journalists have dubbed them the "No-Fun Games," the "Fun-Free Games" and the "Killjoy Games."

But, following recent incidents and conversations, it struck me these Summer Games might be better called the "Nationalism Olympics."

Adrienne Mong

Beijing is awash with smog and Olympic signage.

'You are disrespecting the Olympics spirit!' 
Take, for instance, what happened when our researcher Ed Flanagan was accompanying cameraman Kevin Burke last week on a shoot at the main Olympics ticket booth.

Wishing to get a high shot of the massive crowds of Chinese waiting to buy tickets, Kevin, with his video camera, climbed on top of a table that was supposed to be used to sell tickets.

Immediately, outraged bystanders began shouting at him (in Chinese): "Get off that table now! You are disrespecting the Olympics spirit! You are besmirching China!"

Ed quietly suggested to Kevin that he step down from the table.

Given the uncomfortable conditions – waiting in line overnight in a sticky relentless heat – some of the ticket buyers' irritation was understandable. But it seemed surprising that they would vent their anger at a foreign news crew and choose to do so in such a manner, resorting to expressions of national pride.

Adrienne Mong

We heart China. Patriotism for sale in China.

In fact, some analysts speculate that this swelling of national pride – and not some terrorist attempt – might well be the real wild card in the authorities' grand security plan for the Games.

"A worst-case situation could very well be a confrontation between Chinese crowds and individuals who try to protest here," said Russell Leigh Moses, an author who specializes in Chinese politics. "There's a lot of pride [and] patriotism among Chinese these days, and we might see a situation where the police have to intervene to keep Chinese away from individuals who are seen … as harming China."

We have seen quite a lot of evidence this year to support Moses' analysis. First, there was the indignant reaction across China to perceptions of bias in Western media coverage of March's violence in Tibet. Then there was the verbal fury unleashed against Western protesters disrupting the Olympic torch relay.

NBC News

Future nationalist youth?

While these two reactions seemed largely defined by young people in web chat groups, the Sichuan earthquake in May unified the greater population, drawing people into an already emotive groundswell of nationalist voices across the country, particularly on the internet.

"The popular mood here is very proud," said Moses. "I think it's very much interested in China being seen in a positive way." 

Indeed, a newly-expressed confidence amongst the Chinese appears to have no bounds. Last week, a poll showed 86 percent of Chinese people surveyed believe their country is headed in the right direction. The results of the poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, demonstrate that Chinese citizens, compared to 23 other nationalities, are by far the most satisfied with their own nation. 

This pride comes as the result of a long, troubled political history. After decades steeped in propaganda about China's "humiliation" at the hands of western and Japanese powers, the Chinese are finally beginning to see their country in a new light. In their minds, three decades of unprecedented political stability and economic growth mean it's time for China to enjoy greater international stature.

And a key step to achieving that status, many Chinese believe, is hosting the Olympics. In fact, 93 percent of Chinese polled in the Pew survey think the Games will improve China's image around the world.

Moreover, many people feel they have a personal stake in Beijing's ability to host a successful Summer Games. The Pew survey found that, "roughly 8 in 10 say the Olympics are important to them personally."

All these factors, however - optimism, pride, a history of perceived victimhood – might make for a potent mix during an event that already tends to heighten nationalist sentiment amongst countries competing in the Games.

In a recent article about the roots of China's current wave of nationalism, writer-observer Orville Schell quotes a China-born filmmaker as saying, "We Chinese carry the burden of our history with us and the question of Western humiliation is always unconsciously inside us…. There is something almost in our DNA that triggers automatic, and sometimes extreme, responses to foreign criticisms or put-downs."

Which begs a question: Whose reaction to, say, a Free Tibet banner being unfurled at an athletic competition will be more worrying: that of security forces or that of ordinary Chinese folks?

Neither, we hope. Learn more about what the Olympics mean for China on Nightly News with Brian Williams next Monday, when NBC News begins its coverage direct and live from Beijing.

Click here for complete coverage of the Beijing Olympics

By Cheryl Gould, NBC News Senior Vice President

Once I returned home from a week in Tunisia as part of a two-person Committee to Protect Journalism (CPJ) delegation, I couldn't get Slim Boukhdir's plight off my mind, nor his wife Delinda's answer when I asked her if her husband would go back to reporting if he were released from prison: "Of course he will," she said, "And I support him in that."

As I reported here earlier this month, CPJ sent us there to focus attention on the treatment of journalists in Tunisia, which jails more reporters than any other country in the Arab world, even while its government enjoys good relations with the United States.  But when our mission was over, Boukhdir remained a prisoner and we had no reason to believe that he would be released.   I was haunted by the image of Delinda, a soft-spoken but strong woman, who has been raising two little children alone since her husband was thrown in prison.  

Back in New York, I was sitting on a lunch-counter stool with an NBC friend, discussing my trip, when I got an email on my blackberry from Joel Campagna, my CPJ colleague and traveling companion during our visit to Tunisia:

"It's still unconfirmed, but I just got word that Boukhdir has been released from prison!"

A free man
I told Joel (and myself) that I would not react until it was confirmed. Too many times, early reports turn out to be simply wishful thinking or rumors, and the dashed hopes are worse than living with the situation at hand.  

A few moments later, I got another email from Joel. This time, I grabbed my friend's arm and shouted with joy, "He's out of prison! They let him out of prison!" (I don't even want to think what the other lunch patrons were thinking at that point).

"How do you know for sure?" I wrote back.  Joel replied that when he first heard the rumor, he called Delinda's cell phone, hoping she would have the facts. To his surprise, Slim Boukhdir himself answered the phone – a free man at last.

He recounted how his jailers gave him the news. A prison guard told him to pack his belongings immediately and leave the cell so that he could be transferred to another prison. But soon, Boukhdir realized something very different was happening. He was ushered to the front gate of the prison and was told that the Minister of Justice decided to release him.  

Boukhdir got in a cab and asked to be taken home. On the road, he unexpectedly met Delinda coming from the opposite direction.  She had jumped in a cab and headed to the prison as soon as she got word he'd been freed.
"Thank you CPJ, from the bottom of my heart," he told Joel. "I cannot thank you enough."  Joel couldn't get a word in edgewise during their phone conversation, so effusive was his gratitude and praise.

"My release from jail is a victory for freedom and independent journalism," Boukhdir said. "The Tunisian regime managed through imprisonment to deprive me of the right to freedom of movement and to do my job while being among my loved ones.  

"But it totally failed to break my will and determination to carry on with independent and ethical journalism," he continued.  "It's shameful and degrading for the whole country to jail journalists for doing their job."

Congratulations, Boukhdir.  You are now a free man and I have no doubt that you will continue courageously to do what journalists are supposed to do.  Yes, it's shameful that you and your colleagues have to work under these threats and worse. But for now, we'll take small victories one at a time wherever and whenever we can get them.

By Mark Mullen, NBC News Beijing CorrespondentÂ

By Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent

By Ian Williams, NBC News Correspondent

By Mike Mosher, NBC News Producer

By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News Correspondent

By Peter Alexander, NBC News Correspondent

 

"Afganistan under coalition watch has practically become a narco-state," said Owais Ahmad Ghani, the governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, in a recent interview with NBC News.

Ghani, who as governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province also oversees Pakistan's unruly tribal areas, explained how he believes the challenges of battling the war on terror in the region are compounded by misrule in neighboring Afghanistan.

VIDEO: The governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province explains some of the challenges of waging the war on terror

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer

In the countdown to the Beijing Olympics, NBC News' Adrienne Mong spoke with a number of people who know Beijing intimately about how their city has changed and the challenges it faces going forward.

From pollution to the rapid pursuit of progress, below are a series of links where an environmentalist, a businessman, and a Fulbright scholar describe Beijing "In their own words."

Environmental activist
Lo Sze Ping is the Greenpeace Campaign Director in China. A Hong Kong native, he studied and lived in the U.S. for several years before moving to Beijing in 2001.

Lo describes his experience in the Chinese capital, where he says people are aware of environmental issues -- not in the abstract but in the concrete day-to-day sense. He also reminds us that "that China cannot be not part of the picture" when it comes to battling for a cleaner planet."

VIDEO: Greenpeace: 'The acute pollution in China is right in your face.'

Coming home to change
Gong Li is a Beijing native who left his homeland in 1987 after graduating from Tsinghua University (known as China's MIT) to pursue graduate studies in the U.K. and then a career in the information technology industry in the U.S.

In 2001, he finally returned to a radically changed Chinese capital and told NBC News Producer Adrienne Mong how it took him a couple of years to readjust to being home.

VIDEO: Coming home to Beijing

Rapid transformation
Susan Brownell first came to China in 1985 to study at Beijing University, also known as Beida and described as China's Harvard. A national level track athlete in the U.S., she joined the track team at Beida and began competing in national college competitions across China.

Brownell is now an anthropologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is back in the Chinese capital on a Fulbright fellowship. She discussed China's transformation in sports and society.

VIDEO: China's transformation

An Israeli human rights organization gave out 100 small video cameras to Palestinians to document abuses at the hands of Jewish settlers. NBC News' Martin Fletcher reports.

VIDEO: Palestinians document abuses with video cameras

LONDON – Just typing his name brings back an old, deeply buried dread. Thirteen years since the end of the war in Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic – along with Gen. Ratko Mladic – remains, for many of us who covered them, one of that war's "faces of evil," even if the austere, white-bearded version of Karadzic seen today looks nothing like the slick poet-psychiatrist of those days, with his rock-star mane of gray hair and European suits.

Karadzic was the perfect front man for the horrors that were allegedly carried out against thousands by his paramilitary henchmen. He was a kind of mafia warlord who was cleverly articulate – even if crazed – when it came to explaining the history of Serbs victimized over the centuries at the hands of the West.

VIDEO: Karadzic caught hiding in plain sight

According to investigators, he used "ethnic cleansing" to justify beatings, rapes, mass murder, starvation and unspeakable torture of non-Serbs. 

And, for years, Karadzic managed to evade U.N. forces, Serb police and a hoard of international media – including NBC News – only to be arrested, in the end, on a city bus near Belgrade.

In the summer of 1997, two years after Karadzic was indicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, NBC News launched an ambitious, and costly, series of stories on "The Hunt for Dr. K." We sprayed Bosnia with producers, reporters and crews, hoping to track down the former Bosnian Serb leader, who had gone into hiding.

Unbelievably, we soon learned that he was still spending much of his time at his own home in Pale, the capital of the self-proclaimed "Serbian Republic," a breakaway enclave. How could that be? Italian and French U.N. peacekeepers routinely patrolled the same neighborhood.

We asked the Italians manning a checkpoint about 100 yards from Karadzic's home. "It's not our problem," an Italian soldier told me in broken French. "If we see him, we'll stop him. But we never see him."  

My producer, Justin Balding, and I were determined to see him. So we rigged a small hidden camera in an over-the-shoulder tote-bag and looking like a pair of naive tourists approached his bodyguards outside his house. Our ruse was an introductory letter for his daughter, Sonja, his unofficial press secretary.

One of the guards excused himself for a few minutes and during that time we saw over a dozen guards with guns and dogs slip out of the garden to check us out. I tried not to think about what kind of carnage the guards had committed or what might happen to us if they discovered the slit for the camera lens in the tote-bag Justin was carrying.

By the time the first guard returned, it was sheer joy to learn that neither Dr. Karadzic nor his daughter were at home. We thanked him and quickly left.

Later, back in our vehicle, we screened our covert tape, as well as tape from our cameraman, Kyle Eppler, who was rolling, from a distance, inside our parked vehicle. It ended up that Kyle did get the most useful images from afar of the house and guards – but not the man himself. And we barely got that. "Police," who were likely Dr. K's paramilitary men, detained Kyle and checked his tape, eventually letting him – and the tape – go.

Why didn't the U.N. forces raid the house? No official would say on the record, but it was clear that no Western country was willing to risk the loss of perhaps dozens of men to capture one alleged war criminal.

We did speak to some of his old friends, to his family, to some of his alleged victims, and to a Bosnian journalist on a mission to document each and every one of his alleged atrocities. We even arranged with a man who called himself Karadzic's chief lawyer to have an exclusive interview with Dr. K as he ''turned himself in'' to Bosnian authorities. But Dr. K suddenly changed his mind, we were told. And we never got any closer to our goal.

Over time pressure mounted and Karadzic had to go permanently underground. But there were still regular reports of visits to his wife and daughter back in Pale, as well as his mother in his native Montenegro. There were raids, some U.S.-led, but Dr. K always managed to make his escape.

There were also rumors that pro-Serb elements within the French peacekeeping force were tipping off Karadzic when his enemies got too close. And, through it all, many Bosnian Serb government officials – and citizens – saw him as a hero to the Serb cause; even years after the Dayton Accords ended the war in Bosnia.

If Serbia's old nationalist government had protected him, then logic suggests that the new, moderate, pro-Western government that was just formed on July 7 and is keen to shed Serbia's pariah image, might have sacrificed him to gain legitimacy. But why his capture and arrest occurred now is still unclear.

Still, it must be seen as a victory for those seeking some truth and justice for the former- Yugoslavia, a nation once so intimidating that even the Soviet Union didn't interfere too much. Those of us who covered the trauma of its decade-long implosion – from Croatia's 1991 war to the 1999 conflict in Kosovo - the capture of Radovan Karadzic, like the arrest of the late Slobodan Milosevic, turns yet another page in that brutal history. And each reporter who was there likely has a mental gallery of images that sum up Radovan Karadzic. 

Here are just three of mine:

The young, bright face of my Yugoslav cameraman, Tuna Tunukovic, at our last meal together in Zagreb – before he was killed by Bosnian Serb gunfire on the mountainous approach to Sarajevo; 

The wan, almost ghostly faces of Muslim women and children, having just walked dozens of miles in the summer heat, from Srebrenica to Tuzla, and who cried inconsolably, fearing the worst for their missing male loved ones;

The glazed stare of a stooped Sarajevan in a torn suit carrying a pile of withered branches on his back, hoping to cash them in for a few pennies. The branches stripped of their bark because he and his family had eaten it. 

Jim Maceda is an NBC News Correspondent in London who covered the wars in the former Yugoslavia extensively.  

By Karl Bostic, NBC News Producer

Iraq's parliament passed a provincial elections bill on Tuesday despite a walkout by Kurdish parliamentarians angered over how the law would deal with the disputed city of Kirkuk.

The provincial election plan -- strongly backed by Washington -- would shift more political powers to regions and is viewed by Sunni Arabs as path to gain more influence over decisions by the Shiite-led government. U.S. officials see the voting as another key step in national reconciliation.

But a timeline for the elections has been a major source of dispute. The U.N. Special Representative to Iraq, Stephan de Mistura, explains the importance of the local elections to NBC News and why this is a "make or break time for Iraq."

VIDEO: Stephan de Mistura, the U.N. Special Representative to Iraq, explains why Iraqi provincial elections are key

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer

BEIJING – Twenty-two days before the Olympic Games open here, the capital is awash in smog – an unseasonably thick haze that seems part pollution, part humidity. 

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

A typical morning seen from a residential high-rise overlooking Beijing's Third Ring Road.

And while Chinese authorities say the atmosphere has been better than expected, they are taking measures this weekend that hopefully will ease the muddy, gray haze that has stifled the city's residents for the past six weeks.

Beijing's government said it has spent around $20 billion to improve its air quality, deploying a variety of emissions-reducing measures such as cutting fares for public transport; converting coal-fired heaters to electric or other clean-fuel ones; imposing new vehicle-exhaust standards that match those in Western Europe; and shutting down or relocating factories in the capital.

Officials have even brought in more green, literally. They've invested $1.12 billion to build the enormous Olympic Forest Park, on the edge of the Olympic Village. Not only does it help buffer the notorious sandstorms that sweep over Beijing, the park should help clean the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing more oxygen.

But despite these efforts, the haze in June and early July was the thickest many Beijing natives had seen in a while.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

A not so typical morning seen from the same residential high-rise overlooking Beijing's Third Ring Road.

Add to that an unusually high level of humidity that, for weeks, ended each day with a sudden downpour around 7 p.m. The rain – not common to Beijing this early in the summer – prompted a few people to speculate how many cloud-seeding missiles the Meteorological Bureau might be firing into the air ahead of the Games.

As it turned out, they were right. Beijing's meteorological experts ran a weather drill over several days in early July to "dispel clouds" and clear the skies. 

But the haze persisted.

So much so that Reuters Television decided earlier this month to launch a daily "Beijing Smogwatch."

"Dear Clients," said a Reuters advisory, "Persistent smog over Olympic host Beijing's skies and a massive algae bloom in sailing venue Qingdao have highlighted China's environmental concerns a month ahead of the Games. Reuters will run daily smogwatch pictures until The Games begin."

And so Monday through Friday, the news agency has been broadcasting up to a minute of footage of Beijing smog to its subscribers. 

Not surprisingly, it's been pretty much the same video: The city cloaked in smog.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

Beijing's Olympic set piece, the Bird's Nest stadium, blends in with the air.

But if the authorities here have their way the smogwatch could come to an end after this weekend, when construction sites around Beijing will suspend operations until Sept. 20. The work stoppage also extends to mines, chemical plants, and factories – even those in neighboring provinces.

And a new traffic control system launches on Sunday, whereby the 3.3 million private vehicles on the roads of Beijing will be cut by fifty per cent as cars with license plates ending in even numbers alternate every day with those with plates ending in odd numbers.

The Iraqi government has delayed another vote on the structure of local elections, frustrating Iraqis, many of whom lack electricity and running water - which is particularly difficult during the hot summer months. NBC's Karl Bostic reports from Baghdad.

VIDEO: Infrastructure problems leave Iraqis in the dark

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan William Wood discusses opium production, the Taliban, terrorism and the challenges facing the country with NBC News' Jim Maceda.

VIDEO: U.S. Ambassador William Wood discusses the challenges in Afghanistan

HAVANA – The U.S. election season is once again in full swing – here in Havana.

There's so much political reporting here that you'd think Cubans plan on going to the U.S. polls.

A day rarely goes by without the state-controlled media running a story on the presidential candidates, analyzing their positions that go way beyond Cuba policy.

AP file

A Cuban man keeps up with the news in the Communist Workers weekly newspaper in Havana.Â

Television pundits, radio commentaries and pages in the written press have probed a gamut of election issues – from each candidate's proposed exit strategies in Iraq to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions to the impact of campaign financing on U.S. democracy.

Even Fidel Castro, retired from public life but still packing a lot of punch, has gotten into the act. He's written about a dozen editorials bashing both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.

In the case of the GOP frontrunner, barbs between McCain and Castro started last winter.

When asked his platform on Cuba, McCain said he did not expect to see any major political reforms on the island until after Fidel Castro dies, adding that he hoped that day was not far off.

"I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon," said McCain, referring to the author of "The Communist Manifesto" who died over a century ago.

McCain has pledged a no-engagement policy and maintaining the 50-year economic embargo aimed at debilitating the communist island.

He also has taken aim at the power shift on the island, asserting that "Raúl Castro is worse in many respects than Fidel."

Those cutting remarks prompted Castro to write a five-part essay on the GOP frontrunner, calling him a "liar" and a "tool" of hardliners in South Florida's Cuban community.

VIDEO: Cuba critical of McCain, Obama

Delving into McCain's record, Cuban TV found an interview with the Arizona senator during the 2000 election where he argued against isolation.

"I'm not in favor of sticking my finger in the eye of Fidel Castro," said McCain in 2000. "In fact, I would favor a road map towards normalization of relations such as we presented to the Vietnamese and led to a normalization of relations between our two countries." McCain has taken a more hard-line approach in the current campaign and has criticized Obama for suggesting he would be willing to meet with Cuban leaders.

Cuban press has also reported on Obama's flip-flopping. During his 2003 Senate campaign, he supported full normalization of relations with Havana. Now, running for president, Obama revamped his view.

He continues to call for greater engagement with Cuba and says would sit down with Cuban president Raúl Castro. "After eight years of the disastrous policies of George Bush, it is time to pursue direct diplomacy, with friend and foe alike, without preconditions," said Obama.

But, he now supports maintaining the trade embargo as a leverage to push for change: "Don't be confused about this. I will maintain the embargo," Obama said recently during a campaign speech before an influential Cuban-American group in Miami. "It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: If you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations."

Obama's comments sparked a harsh response from Castro, who described the policy as a formula to create "hunger and suffering."

Still, Obama has also vowed to lift President Bush's restrictions on family remittances and Cuban American travel now limited to once every three years.

Ironically, Castro took offense at that as well, describing it as "propaganda for consumerism and a way of life that is unsustainable."

Obama, charges Castro, is backsliding to safe ground – employing the same arguments previous U.S. administrations "have used to justify their crimes against our homeland."

While the Cuban government and official press carefully measure every statement issued by the campaigns and seem quick to criticize both candidates, average people seem to hold a completely partisan view.

"Obama will change the dynamic with Cuba," believes Jesús Lopez, 23, "and things will get better. Business will come here. No more anger."

Most important, said Lopez, "I'll be able to see my big brother."

The young, black Cuban has an optimism that's widely shared – seemingly based more on intuition than any insightful study. With some 35 percent of Cubans on the island of black or mixed race, people are openly intrigued by the idea of an Obama win.

That includes some of the Castro government's fiercest opponents.

The "Ladies in White," a group of the wives and mothers of imprisoned dissidents, wrote Obama a letter, supporting his call to engage in direct talks with Raúl Castro to gain the "immediate and unconditional release" of some "200 prisoners of conscience held throughout the island."

Likewise, independent economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe wants Obama to beat McCain. "He would remove Washington's absurd restrictions that affect the Cuban family," said Espinosa Chepe, referring to the economic embargo and restrictions on travel. "He is proposing a rational policy that will foster contacts between the two governments and Cuban society."

This would change the internal political climate, Espinosa Chepe, a former political prisoner, believes. "Castro attacked Obama because he is afraid of any détente that will eliminate his excuse for maintaining totalitarianism and repression in Cuba."

For the record, Felipe Perez Roque, Cuban foreign minister, recently stated that his government would be willing to meet Obama's challenge to meet over a negotiating table.

But, Obama's proposal to talk seems to be making other people in the Cuban hierarchy nervous. An editorial by one of Fidel Castro's closest collaborators, Armando Hart, warned that opening the gates to U.S. visitors could backfire – by ideologically corrupting Cuban society.

Without a doubt, this nation sees a lot riding on the November outcome and is following the U.S. presidential election as closely as any paid pollster.

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer

HANGZHOU, China – It's become a truism (and a complaint) that most stories that take us out of Beijing require a flight, plus a four-hour drive. In the past two months, our NBC News team has criss-crossed the country, gathering story elements for features that will be broadcast when the Summer Olympics finally kicks off in August.

So we'd become a bit blasé about the reach of development witnessed in every far-flung corner of China until one particularly long road journey when our cameraman Dmitry Solovyov, on assignment here from Moscow, made the observation that, "The roads here are excellent. We do not have roads like this in Russia. Certainly not everywhere like here."

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

The Hangzhou Bay Bridge spans 22 miles across Hangzhou Bay.

He's right, of course. We have traveled down four-lane highways that, were it not for the rice paddies and water buffalo, could be anywhere in the United States or Europe.

But while road engineering may be one of the most beneficial aspects of China's progress, it's not the most fascinating aspect about its sprint to first-world development status.

More compelling is the Chinese authorities' apparent obsession with building superlatives: the world's biggest dam, the world's biggest airport terminal, Asia's tallest skyscraper and the world's highest railway. You get the picture.

 
This obsession with creating and surmounting engineering challenges has not gone unnoticed.  Critics of the central Chinese government dismiss these high-profile projects and massive infrastructure schemes as nothing more than political or nationalistic grandstanding, symbols that reinforce Beijing's power and authority.

Especially when it comes to the splashy landmarks built in the capital itself. "In the new Beijing, the state only protected sites that served to bolster its own self-justifying version of history," wrote Jasper Becker in a new book, "City of Heavenly Tranquillity."

Becker noted that the destruction and reconstruction seen in the capital has not been limited to Beijing, "Across the country hundreds of historic cities, towns and villages have been torn down in the greatest act of historical vandalism in Chinese history."

Others might argue otherwise.  An architecture critic in the New York Times recently wrote, "[T]hese buildings are not simply blunt expressions of power. Like the great monuments of 16th-century Rome or 19th-century Paris, China's new architecture exudes an aura that has as much to do with intellectual ferment as economic clout."

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

Driving down the world's longest sea bridge, where drivers are not allowed to stop.

 
But perhaps there's one other consideration, one that might go a long way in explaining China's determination to out-build everyone else: a technocrat leadership that believes building is the key to sustained economic growth. 

A prime example is China's President Hu Jintao, who started out as a hydropower engineer and cut his Communist Party teeth for several years at a provincial branch of the now-defunct Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power.

This concentration of talent in engineering and other physical sciences is also reflected at the local level. "Most city officials were trained as civil engineers and appointed from outside the area they governed. During Beijing's Olympics bid, the party-appointed mayor was from Jiangsu province, and had majored at university in iron smelting," wrote Michael Meyer in his newly-published book "The Last Days of Old Beijing," a highly engaging history of Beijing's hutongs – the narrow streets and alleys that traditionally characterized the city. In Meyer's view, "the government prioritized construction and modernization" above all else.

Standing at the edge of a pier overlooking Hangzhou Bay Bridge, we gazed at the latest emblem of progress. 

The world's longest sea bridge, spanning 22 miles, was disappearing into the hazy distance this scorching summer afternoon. Connecting Shanghai directly to Ningbo in neighbouring Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou Bay Bridge opened this past May to great fanfare.

"The bridge has been hailed as a 'Made-in-China' model in large infrastructure construction that fully uses home- grown technologies and demonstrates the country's architectural expertise," reported Xinhua. The state-run news agency went on to say that, during construction, the project "had survived 19 severe challenges, including typhoons, sea tides and geological problems."

But the bridge's builders did not account for China's gawkers.

Within days of its opening, the $1.76 billion Hangzhou Bay Bridge was becoming famous for an unexpected special feature: car accidents. 

The special viewing platform built to the side of the six-lane bridge was nowhere near completion, leaving drivers with no space to pause. So many people were stopping to gawk at the much-vaunted engineering and causing so much mayhem that police began cracking down on dawdling drivers and enforcing a minimum speed of 50 mph.

By Cheryl Gould, NBC News Senior Vice President

TUNIS, Tunisia – Every once in a while you run across people whose courage makes you ask of yourself if you would act equally heroic should you find yourself in their shoes. That certainly was the question I kept asking myself during my recent trip to Tunisia.

I was there as part of a two person delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-profit organization for which I am a board member.

CPJ advocates for the freedom of expression wherever journalists are threatened, harassed, imprisoned or otherwise prevented from doing their jobs. My traveling companion on the trip, Joel Campagna, is a CPJ staff member whose expertise in press-freedom abuses in the Middle East (not to mention his fluency in Arabic) make him a known and respected press advocate among journalists in the Arab world.

Arriving at the Tunis-Carthage airport is a study in contrasts. On the one hand, efficiency and modernity are in full display: You could just as easily be in an airport somewhere in Europe, especially since all the announcements and signage are in French, and the duty-free shops are filled with over-priced French and Italian luxury items. But that's where the similarities end. 

A journalist not doing 'journalism'
In the passport-control area run by the police, I was kept waiting. On my official entry document, I perhaps stupidly, but at least truthfully, listed "journalism/news executive" as my profession. A uniformed bureaucrat who looked like he hadn't cracked a smile in 15 years asked me questions in rapid succession. What business do you have in Tunisia? Why are you traveling alone? Who is this colleague you say you're joining up with and where is he right now? What meetings do you have planned? Where will you be staying?  Do you have permission and the requisite paperwork to come here in a journalistic capacity?  What news organization are you from?  

I was there with CPJ, not NBC News, so how to explain that I was there as a journalist, but not to do "journalism"? I wasn't about to say that I was there to show solidarity with all Tunisian journalists who can't freely report the news; or that we sought to obtain the  release of a Tunisian reporter who has been languishing in prison because he dared to criticize the ruling government. I ended up saying something bland about participating in some conferences to discuss international journalism. By then my interrogator got bored and grumpily stamped my passport.

From the general hush of the passport control area, I was immediately thrust into the chaotic arrivals waiting area filled with the cacophony of hundreds of Tunisians waiting for relatives returning home. The call to prayer emanating from a nearby mosque competed with the honking horns, yelling taxi drivers, and Air France and Alitalia announcements. I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Joel Campagna/ CPJÂ

Large images of Tunisian President Ben Ali appear throughout the capital city of Tunis.

Boom time, with caveats
As a nation, Tunisia has so much promise. In many ways, this beautiful Mediterranean and Sahara Desert country stands out for the West as the teacher's pet in the Arab world. 

Its economy has been booming. Foreign investment has contributed to an admirable 5 to 6 percent growth rate. Construction sites are more common than mosques. There's a vibrant tourism industry, relatively modern transportation, health care, and secular education systems. Significant progress has been made for women's rights. There's an effective military and a large middle class – which is of course fundamental to the growth of democracy. And then there's the ultimate polished apple: The Tunisian government cooperates with the West in the fight against terrorism and even dictates what's allowed to be said in sermons at the mosques. 

While the U.S. and Europe have heaped praise on Tunisia and have encouraged it to continue to act as a bulwark against Islamist extremism, they have turned a blind eye (or at least a severely myopic one) to human rights abuses, most notably the freedom of expression.

The regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, for all the progress it has made elsewhere, has jailed more journalists than any other Arab country since 2001. And the situation is growing worse, especially as signs emerge of mounting unrest among those who are being left out of the growth benefits.

Ben Ali and his regime have in many ways gotten away with their bullying because they say it's all part of the fight against terrorism. But how does jailing a reporter who has uncovered corruption in the highest places (including within Ben Ali's family) help to fight terrorism? 

"Opposition" newspapers are allowed to exist, but they cannot criticize Ben Ali and are severely constrained by small circulations and relentless government harassment. How is the war on terrorism served by shutting down the Internet connections of newspapers whose reporters believe it is their job to raise hard questions? Are we all safer when the Tunisian police remove from the newsstands magazines containing articles that detail police harassment of journalists and their families?  Is it not a problem when those yearning for democratic freedoms in the Arab world feel the need to hide their opposition magazines behind government-supported newspapers when reading in a public place?

Is the Tunisian government made more secure by blocking press coverage of uprisings over severe unemployment and rising food prices in the least developed parts of the country?  Even the most educated young people, including many we spoke with, complain they can't get jobs because they don't have the right connections at the top, or lack the palm-greasing money necessary to buy their way into a job. 

The dissident reporters we spoke with are concerned about the swelling ranks of young, disaffected men drawn to Islamic fundamentalism and willing to go to Iraq as suicide bombers. We heard about this over and over again in all our meetings, but never would you be able to read about it in the Tunisian press.   

Joel Campagna/ CPJ

Cheryl Gould and Joel Campagna from the Committee to Protect Journalists talk with Rachid Kechana, editor of Al Mawkif newspaper, about the challenges facing Tunisian journalists.

Months before our trip, CPJ corresponded with various government agencies and bureaucrats asking for high level meetings to discuss these issues, and in particular, the case of journalist Slim Boukhdir, who has been imprisoned on trumped up charges since November 2007, shortly after he wrote an article critical of the regime.  

CPJ's requests generally result in official meetings, even if they don't always produce the desired results. But, Tunisia refused to grant us any such meeting, even with lower-level bureaucrats. They knew we were there, since we called and left messages every day.  We were followed and monitored, but no one from the government bothered to reach out to us.  

Nevertheless, we accomplished an important part of our mission. Though our efforts to visit Boukhdir in prison and obtain his release were frustrated, he did learn, through his wife and family, that we had made the two-hour trek to the prison on his behalf.  While he has suffered harsh and unsanitary conditions that have resulted in scabies, his wife Dalinda told us his spirits have soared just knowing CPJ is focusing attention on his plight and that of other Tunisian journalists. 

When I asked his wife if she thought Bouhkhdir would go back to journalism when he is finally released, Dalinda matter-of-factly responded of course he would, she would not want him to act otherwise.

Indeed, our fact-finding revealed that the more the government tries to silence the independent press, the more emboldened these journalists become. All of the journalists and human rights activists we talked with throughout the week told us how much our visit meant to them in their struggle for freedom of the press. 

Even though they risk imprisonment; even though their newsrooms have old, beat up computers with frequent Internet outages and e-mail that is often mysteriously wiped out; even though they have to work several jobs to support their families; even though they are routinely harassed by officials and never know when they'll be picked up by the police on spurious charges; and even though they see even bigger problems for Tunisians down the road – they keep on going. 

Such dedication encourages their fellow Tunisian reporters to follow suit.  Surely now that CPJ has conducted this mission, they reasoned, the West will be awakened, will put pressure on Ben Ali, and will actively promote freedom and democracy in a country so vital to our own self-interests. One can always hope.

Cheryl Gould is an NBC News Senior Vice President and serves on the Board of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Click here to watch video of the CPJ's Joel Campagna discussing the dangers for journalists working in Iraq.

 NICE, FRANCE – "Est-ce-que vous êtes Américaine?"

Boy, am I that obvious I wonder to myself after the taxi driver's question. "Oui," I reply, knowing he already knew the answer.

"Préférez-vous Obama ou McCain?"

It's the most popular question in France. I'm here to cover the Brangelina twins, but the French are mesmerized by America's political stars, the candidates for president – and not just the presumptive nominees.

VIDEO: Jolie and Pitt welcome twins

"Hillary, que fera-t-elle maintenant?" the hotel clerk asks – what now for Hillary? I don't know, I explain in fractured French. "Peut-être qu'elle ne sait pas," he offers. Maybe she doesn't know either, I agree.

As the French worry that their own President Sarkozy is cozying up too much to the United States, our choice of a successor fascinates them. Maybe Obama reminds them of President Kennedy, who still occupies a place in their hearts. Or perhaps they see in McCain a reflection of their military past, another Charles De Gaulle?

Campaign news is often front page news here. Brad and Angelina's babies stole the headlines, but only for today. Faute de mieux, for lack of anything better, I head over to the hospital.

MOSCOW – Russia's plethora of national holidays are tricky things. Nearly two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is still looking for its national identity – and nowhere is this seen better than in its holidays.

Some holidays have survived the transition from Soviet superpower to resurgent Russia via a weak and chaotic '90s. These include New Years, International Women's Day (March 8), Defenders of the Fatherland Day (February 23) and Victory Day (May 9). Others were done away with, like Constitution Day.

The most interesting batch are those holidays which were either recast from old ones or simply created anew.

Yonatan Pomrenze / NBC News

A wedding party celebrates Family Day in Moscow's Tsaritsino Park on July 8.Â

Take National Unity Day (November 4). It was introduced in 2004 to replace the Day of Accord and Reconciliation, which came into being in 1996 to take the place of the old Soviet Revolution Day, which commemorated the 1917 Communist Revolution. With such a convoluted history, it's no wonder that polls consistently show low percentages of the population actually knowing what some new holidays are supposed to commemorate.

And Unity Day has become the opposite – in Moscow, ultranationalist groups mark the day with anti-foreigner rallies.

So I was curious to see how the newest of the new Russian holidays – the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity, marked on July 8 – would fare. (It should be noted that the day is recognized as a holiday – but it is not an official day off from work.)

It would be no small task, considering the competition from Valentine's Day and a new grassroots holiday referred to as "Conception Day," which has been promoted in some regions to encourage couples to stay home, have sex and make babies for a Russia whose population is declining by over half-a-million people each year. 

A celebration of fidelity
The biggest of the many events being held in Moscow for the holiday was at Tsaritsino, a park full of ponds, fountains and an old estate house. Under a sunny Moscow sky, a concert entertained dozens of young couples who decided to use the new holiday as their wedding date. Their wedding parties mixed in with the many onlookers who decided to come to see what the holiday was all about.

Yonatan Pomrenze / NBC News

A couple celebrates their wedding in Moscow's Tsaritsino Park to mark Family Day on July 8.

"I heard about it on the radio," said Kapitalina Zaitseva, a 74-year-old pensioner who was confident the new holiday would take root in Russia. "Valentine's Day isn't ours. It came from the West. This one is ours….it will strengthen families."

The emphasis of the holiday is not on falling in love, as much as keeping people in it. At ceremonies held across Russia, medals were presented to couples who made it through 25 or 50 years and were still together. In Moscow, a "reconciliation bench" is to be installed with a sloping seat that pushes couple together so they can stay seated until they work out any arguments they are having.

Getting the word out may take more time, though, especially with the younger generation. When asked what holiday it was today, 19-year-old engineering student Sergei Drozdov answered confidently, "The founding of Paris. Or was that yesterday?" Upon hearing about the new Russian holiday, Drozdov figured it must be replacing Women's Day.

Organizers stress that the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity is not meant to replace any other holidays. "This is a holiday celebrating common human values. It has no boundaries and no nationality," said Valentina Petrenko, who chairs the government committee where the initiative for the holiday was put forward. "It can unite many people, not only in this country but abroad as well."

For now, though, the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity still has its work cut out.

"Valentine's Day is about love. People have many loves, but only one family. Starting one and supporting one is work," said Olga Smirnova, who runs a lifestyle magazine in Moscow and came to watch the festivities. Not exactly a sentiment for a holiday card, but it's a start.

Russia's surging economy reaches out to its Cold War past. NBC News' Yonatan Pomrenze reports on a Soviet-era nuclear bunker in Moscow which has been transformed into a museum by day and a private party space by night.

VIDEO: Moscow's nuclear nightspot

TOYAKO, Japan – With climate change high on the agenda, the Japanese hosts of the G-8 summit have worked hard to make the event as green as possible. The temporary, low-emissions press center was built with recycled and reusable material and has many green features: solar panels to generate power, louvers to limit radiant heat and skylights to maximize natural light.

Even the air conditioning is environmentally-friendly: the press center is being cooled by 7,700 tons of snow collected from a nearby ski resort and held in an insulated storehouse in the building's basement. The runoff from the melting snow is even used to flush the toilets and journalists can walk over glass panels to see the snow below.

AFP - Getty Images

A photographer takes pictures of snow used in a natural air-conditioning system, through transparent floor panels at the G8 Summit media center in Rusutsu, Japan on July 6. Â

But as inhabitants of an island nation slightly smaller than California, but with more than three times as many people as the Golden State, few natural resources and little room to put waste, the Japanese have long been concerned about conservation and recycling.

VIDEO: Bush attends his final G-8 summit

Did housekeeping get the memo?
The representatives of the U.S. television networks covering President Bush at the summit found one wall of their workspace in a Japanese hotel lined with six recycling bins: one each for "combustibles," "incombustibles" and "plastics" and three different "recyclable waste" containers for "newspapers/magazines," "mixed paper" and "bottles/P.E.T. caps/cans."

Feeling virtuous, reporters, producers and technicians have stood over the bins, waste in hand, puzzling over the options. Does a plastic water bottle go in "plastics" or "bottles"? What's "combustible" and what's "incombustible"? Where does leftover food go? A rubber band? A candy wrapper?

So when a hotel cleaning woman came in to empty the bins, she was watched carefully. Interest turned to bemusement as she took the contents of the six bins and mixed them together in a single, large plastic garbage bag.

Shortly after she left, one person who had witnessed the exercise walked over and, with great deliberation, put an aluminum can in the bin marked "plastics."

NICOSIA, Cyprus – A Greek tanker carrying about 1.76 million cubic feet of water arrived in the Cypriot port of Limassol on Monday to help the drought-stricken island replenish its dwindling water reserves.

The tanker is the first in a fleet of ships chartered by the Cypriot government at a cost of $65 million to provide water to towns now experiencing emergency rationing. 

With the Mediterranean island's 17 main reservoirs now at critical levels – just seven percent full – Cypriots have endured meager water rations since March.

AP

A worker stands by during the final installation of a pipeline on June 28 which connects a mooring point in the Mediterranean Sea to the reservoir system on Cyprus.

The main water pipelines have been turned on for only a few nights each week. And some residents, particularly those living in high-rise apartment blocks, have complained of not getting any water at all because pressure has been insufficient to push the water to rooftop storage tanks.

Cypriots have been forbidden to wash their cars or water their gardens. Underground water pumped from boreholes has also become scarce.

Alexander McCowan, a landscape gardener working for several foreign embassies and private estates in Nicosia, said many of the capital's boreholes are now pumping mud.

"I installed one expensive garden with 500 meters (546 yards) of irrigation pipe in Nicosia a few months ago," he said. "Last week they called to tell me the system had stopped and their trees and lawns were dying.  I found that sludge had been pumped through the pipes and then solidified in the heat.  It was like cement."

Cypriot officials have voiced fears that tourism, one of the mainstays of the economy, might be adversely affected by the water shortages.

The tanker supply program will continue until the end of the year. The water will be pumped directly into the main water supply pipelines with any surplus going to the reservoirs.

Cyprus currently operates two desalination plants running at full capacity and a third is scheduled for completion later this year. The government is also considering plans to expand the search for underground water with giant drills reaching depths of approximately 875 yards.   

In the past Cypriots have relied on prayers offered up in the island's churches to provide rain. 

But this year it rained only a few days in January and February. By March it became apparent that shortages would probably be severe and that the prayers wouldn't help, so the government reluctantly introduced rationing.