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4th January 2010
For the first time in several months there are renewed hints of a possible ceasefire in northern Yemen's Houthi conflict. President Ali Abdullah Salih has set out a revised list of six conditions:
1. A full ceasefire, the re-establishment of safe passage on roads, and the surrender of mountain… Read more
4th January 2010
Yemeni security forces opened fire on a sit-down protest outside the offices of the banned al-Ayyam newspaper in Aden yesterday,according to Reporters Without Borders.
The Paris-based press freedom organisation accused President Salih's government of "taking advantage of support from foreign powers… Read more
4th January 2010
Concerned about the "regional and global threat" from terrorists in Yemen, Gordon Brown is to host an emergency summit in London later this month. Yemen, at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, is a country that tends to be off the radar except when something untoward happens affecting… Read more
4th January 2010
Once again, a Filipina domestic worker has plunged to her death from a balcony. Theresa Otero Seda, 28, died in the Sanayeh district of Beirut. She had apparently slashed her wrists before falling.
Matthew Cassel's blog describes the scene, highlighting the off-hand attitude of emergency services… Read more
4th January 2010
The Jordan Times reports on the case of Ishara Hemanthi, a 23-year-old Sri Lankan domestic worker in Amman:
"They would whip me with a phone cord or a water nozzle, and sometimes would pull my hair if I did not finish the tasks they had set for me during the day," she said, adding that she wanted… Read more
2nd January 2010
The British prime minister's decision to call an international summit on Yemen is widely reported this morning. It appears to have support from the US and the EU, and there are suggestions that Saudia Arabia and other Gulf states may get involved.
The talks will be held in London on 28 January,… Read more
2nd January 2010
Amid all the discussion of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his activities prior to boarding flight 253 for Detroit, the fact that he spent three years in London studying mechanical engineering has attracted relatively little attention.
A degree in engineering has no obvious connection with terrorism… Read more
2nd January 2010
Algeria's new internet censorship has got under way with the blocking, for the first time, of a political website. Le Quotidien d'Algerie reports (in French) that the opposition website Rachad is no longer accessible from within the country.
The Algerian government had earlier announced plans for a… Read more
29th December 2009
Mauritanian journalist Hanefi Ould Dehah has reportedly begun a hunger strike in protest at his continued detention after completing a jail sentence.
Ould Dehah, editor of the Taqadoumy news website, was serving six months for "indecency" but since his sentence expired on 24 December the… Read more
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
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
