Blog archive all
16th October 2010
Chile is a long way from the Middle East, perhaps in more ways than one. As I watched the rescue of the miners earlier this week, a question came to mind which has been niggling me ever since: What if the accident had happened in one of the Arab countries? How would the authorities have handled it… Read more
15th October 2010
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is planning to form an army in Aden and Abyan with the aim of establishing "God's law", according to a recorded speech by its military leader, Qasim al-Raimi, which has been posted on the internet.
In the recording, he described the proposed army as "a line… Read more
14th October 2010
I won't say much about Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon, which is being extensively covered elsewhere. But I was delighted to see that Memri, the "media research institute" described by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as an indispensable tool, has got another scoop.
Yesterday, it informed… Read more
14th October 2010
In an article for Middle East Report Online, Mariz Tadros takes a detailed look at the current sectarian tensions in Egypt.
"For six weeks," she writes, "Egypt has been sitting on top of a sectarian volcano. Protesters, men and women, have been exiting mosques following prayers almost every single… Read more
13th October 2010
In what is widely seen as an attempt to stifle opposition activism in the run-up to next month's parliamentary election, the Egyptian authorities have have announced restrictions of the sending of text messages to multiple mobile phones.
News organisations that send out alerts to phone users have… Read more
12th October 2010
Ghazi al-Samawi, a criminal investigations officer named on an al-Qaeda hit-list, was killed in Zinjibar (Abyan province) on Sunday night.
A Yemeni official said two men on a motorbike shouted "Allahu akbar" as they shot him and sped off. Motorbike attacks have become a common assassination method… Read more
12th October 2010
A charity in the Saudi city of Jeddah is tackling the problem of child beggars ... by having them deported.
The Al-Bir Welfare Society, which runs the kingdom's first welfare centre for child beggars, has organised the deportation of 6,000 children during its first seven years of operation, Arab… Read more
10th October 2010
Last August, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia issued a royal decreethat restricted the issuing of fatwas to government-approved religious scholars. An announcement at the time said this was intended to put a stop to fatwas on "strange" or "obsolete" topics.
Since then, a satellite channel and… Read more
9th October 2010
For some years now, Yemen has been seeking to join the Gulf Cooperation Council. There are good reasons for thinking this would benefit Yemen, though the GCC states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – also have reasons to be wary. In the long term, though, continued exclusion… Read more
9th October 2010
Amid continuing debate about under-age marriage in Saudi Arabia, Arab News reports the story of a marriage official (mazoun) with a 12-year-old wife:
"When my mother insisted I consummate my marriage, I had to summon up the courage for two weeks before I was able to have sex with her," he said.… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
