Blog archive all
29th December 2009
Saudi police have detained more than 40 people for questioning in connection with last months flooding disaster in Jeddah. They include current and former officials as well as contractors and engineers, and others in the property business.
According to the Saudi Gazette, eight people were taken… Read more
29th December 2009
Al-Hurra, the little-watched TV station established by the Bush administration to win hearts and minds in the Middle East, has been granted another $112 million by Congress to keep it going through the coming year. Total cost so far: $650 million.
Writing for the Huffington Post, James Zogby of the… Read more
28th December 2009
"The gap between Arab governments and internet activists is widening day after day," the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) says in a report issued last week.
The report includes useful information about the current state of play between the authorities and internet… Read more
28th December 2009
Marc Lynch at foreignpolicy.com notes the lack of interest shown by the Arab media in the Detroit plane bomb affair. He writes:
The Arab media's indifference to the story speaks to a vitally important trend. Al-Qaeda's attempted acts of terrorism simply no longer carry the kind of persuasive… Read more
27th December 2009
It seems increasingly likely that Abd al-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the northern rebels in Yemen, is dead.
He was reportedly injured in an airstrike on December 17 and is said to have died later from his wounds. According to the latest reports, he was secretly buried on Saturday in al-Malahidh… Read more
26th December 2009
Why, you might wonder, is the Virgin Mary apparently spending so much of her time at the moment in Cairo?
The Coptic Pope, Shenouda III, has an explanation: "The Virgin Mary loves Egypt, where she stayed for three-and-a-half years when Jesus was a child," he told worshippers in his weekly sermon. "… Read more
25th December 2009
Once again, there are conflicting reports about the latestairstrike in Yemen directed against al-Qaeda.
Yemeni officials say at least 30 suspected militants were killed when they gathered for a meeting at Rafadh in Shabwa province yesterday.
The Yemen Observer says the strike demolished the home of… Read more
25th December 2009
Fouad Makhzoumi, a Lebanese billionaire and former arms dealer, is at the centre of a political row in Britain after it emerged that one of his companies has donated £100,000 to the Conservative Party during the last four years.
But besides his support for the British Conservatives, he has also… Read more
24th December 2009
The document above has been posted on the internet by several Egyptian bloggers, including Amr Salama and Wael Abbas. It appears to be the start of a four-page memo from the interior ministry, discussing plans for surveillance of Mohamed ElBaradei and his family by state security.
ElBaradei, the… Read more
24th December 2009
Seventeen years after Egyptian Islamists decided his religious views were suspect, Nasr Abu Zayd is still paying the price. Arriving in Kuwait last week with a valid visa, he was turned away at the airport on the orders of the State Security department.
He had been due to give two lectures at 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
