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29th July 2010
Two hundred Yemeni soldiers who were reportedly captured by Houthi rebels in the north of the country on Monday are now said to have been freed. AFP quotes a mediator and "tribal sources close to the rebels" as confirming the release.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni defence ministry issued a statementdenying… Read more
28th July 2010
In the renewed conflict in northern Yemen, the Houthi rebels have taken 200 soldiers prisoner, according to a military official cited by AFP. The troops are said to belong to a regiment of the Republican Guard.
The capture of the soldiers has not been confirmed by the rebels. A Houthi spokesman… Read more
28th July 2010
The Egyptian government's uniquely incompetent handling of the worldwide swine flu outbreak last year is discussed by al-Masry al-Youm in the light of analysis by the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The paper quotes a former preventive medicine advisor for the health ministry as… Read more
28th July 2010
Following recent debates about the use of gay rights to "pinkwash" Israel's image (Toronto Pride, Madrid Pride, US Social Forum, etc), Aeyal Gross, associate professor of law at Tel-Aviv university, has written an interesting and level-headed essay: "Israeli GLBT Politics between Queerness and… Read more
27th July 2010
Gunmen attacked the British embassy in Sana'a from a fast-moving vehicle late yesterday. Splinters from a rocket-propelled grenade were also found inside the embassy, according to Xinhua. No casualties were reported and al-Qaeda is being blamed.
Meanwhile, a few more details have emerged of Sunday'… Read more
27th July 2010
Following Abu Dhabi's efforts to protect outdoor workers from the summer heat, Saudi Arabia is planning to do the same – but the legal requirement will not come into effect until next year.
Employers will be obliged to give outdoor workers a break between noon and 3pm during July and August, when… Read more
26th July 2010
A woman clad in hijab and lettuce leaves was arrested by Jordanian police and detained for three hours yesterday, for holding an unauthorised demonstration.
The lone protester, Amina Tariq, carried a placard saying "Let vegetarianism grow on you".
Vegetarianism is an unfamiliar concept in most Arab… Read more
25th July 2010
In a column for the International Herald Tribune headed "When Arabs Tweet", Rami Khouri takes issue with the US State Department's efforts to promote the internet and other digital technologies as a vehicle for political change in the Middle East.
Western policymakers, he says, need to "grasp more… Read more
24th July 2010
This is outside the Middle East, I know, but relevant none the less. The American magazine, Commentary, is described in the New York Times as a small-circulation journal with an outsize influence. One commentator has even gone so far as to say that "no other journal of the past half century has… Read more
22nd July 2010
Fighting between the Houthi rebels, government forces and pro-government tribesmen continued in northern Yemen yesterday despite a short-lived ceasefire and the death toll over the last few days of conflct may now be as high as 50.
The Yemen Observer reports:
Local sources said that the… 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
