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29th July 2013
Libya is about to embark on the drafting of a new constitution. Depending on how this process is handled, it can either stimulate a constructive debate about the future system of government and move the country forward from the Gaddafi era, or it can simply exacerbate existing divisions.
A good… Read more
28th July 2013
Graffiti outside Muslim Brotherhood building. Message says: "Go and take off your beard, you hypocrite. Fall Ikhwan!" Photo posted on Twitter.
Protesters ransack the NFA's headquarters in Hay al-Andalus, Tripoli. Photo posted on Twitter.
“No group/party (revolutionary/not) no city (… Read more
27th July 2013
All three of North Africa's "Arab Spring" countries are now in a state of crisis. While media attention, for obvious reasons, is focused mostly on the carnage in Egypt – latest reports say at least 70 pro-Morsi protesters were killed overnight – serious developments in Tunisia and Libya should not… Read more
25th July 2013
August is still a week away but July has already become the bloodiest month in Iraq so far this year. Yesterday brought at least14 more deaths to add to the toll, including nine officers killed when insurgents attacked a police station near Mosul.
Meanwhile, the mass breakout from Abu Ghraib and… Read more
23rd July 2013
"I'm very, very happy. This is the perfect ending," Marte Dalelv told reporters yesterday after learning that she had been pardoned by the ruler of Dubai.
The 24-year-old Norwegian woman had been convicted of having extramarital sex and sentenced to 16 months in jail after complaining to Dubai… Read more
22nd July 2013
Hashim al-Asimi, a 20-year-old Yemeni, was heading home last Monday night when two men on a motorbike approached and shot him dead.
Drive-by killings involving unlicensed motorbikes are a regular occurrence in Yemen and usually they are blamed on militants linked to al-Qaeda. Mostly, these attacks… Read more
21st July 2013
Bahrain's ruling family has a long history of promising reform, and a long history of failing to deliver. We saw it most recently in connection with the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, where key recommendations are still to be implemented. But that's nothing new: arguments about reform… Read more
18th July 2013
The right of people to get together and organise themselves in pursuit of shared interests is one of the building blocks for a free and open society. It is also something that Arab regimes fear, since active citizenship undermines their authority.
Consequently, many of them have introduced laws… Read more
17th July 2013
The rights and wrongs of President Morsi's overthrow – and its political repercussions – continue to dominate discussion of Egypt. But beyond the turmoil on the streets, and attracting far less attention so far, is the country's floundering economy.
At some point, someone will have to take the… Read more
15th July 2013
The Gulf Daily News, which bills itself as "The voice of Bahrain", is up to its old tricks again. Under the jubilant headline "Opposition vanishing", it reported yesterday:
"A major new survey reveals that support for Bahrain's opposition is dramatically waning as the Premier steers the nation into… 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
