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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… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
Following the attack on a British embassy vehicle in Sana'a on Wednesday, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has some interesting titbits about the militants' choice of targets.
"The British embassy in Yemen has suffered the most number of terrorist attacks of all the foreign embassies… Read more
Violence, unfortunately, is part of the daily scene in Yemen and most attacks go unreported beyond the local press. When westerners are the target, though, there's more interest – as we saw yesterday.
A vehicle carrying five British embassy staff, including the deputy ambassador, came under… Read more
"Web tastes freedom inside Syria, and it's bitter" – that was the headline on a recent article by New York Times journalist Robert Worth. It tells the story of a video posted on Facebook which showed Syrian teachers beating their students, and goes on to talk about the restrictions on journalists… Read more
A small story of life in Egypt, from the Rebel With A Cause blog:
A young boy, Kareem (16 years old), was walking by in downtown area, Cairo. He was followed by four guys who were shouting insults to the young boy calling him a faggot. The boy just ignored their insults and kept going,… Read more
A report from Human Rights Watch last week noted some
modest but positive developments in Saudi Arabia during the five years of rule by King Abdullah.
"Today, Saudis are freer than they were five years ago," it said. "Saudi women are less subject to rigid sex segregation in public… Read more
Another Moroccan magazine bites the dust. Following the closureof Le Journal Hebdomadaire earlier this year – driven out of business by an advertisers' boycott and crippling libel fines – the publishers of Nichane (the first weekly magazine in colloquial Arabic) have announced that… Read more
There are many in Saudi Arabia who still hanker after the days when the government could control almost everything that people said or heard.
Last month came the announcement that bloggers would have to register with the authorities – which in the face of uproar from the blogosphere was… 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
