Blog archive all
19th October 2009
Of all the many restrictions on life in Saudi Arabia that might reasonably be lifted, making it easier to buy and sell guns does not spring to mind as an obvious necessity – but the interior ministry seems to think otherwise.
It has decided to allow anyone over 25 with a clean criminal record and a… Read more
19th October 2009
A 22-year-old Jordanian woman with stomach pains was taken to the doctor by her father and an uncle on Saturday. The doctor found she was pregnant.
“On their way home, the father stabbed the girl with a sword 25 times in her stomach, killing her immediately as well as her unborn baby boy,” a police… Read more
17th October 2009
A Moroccan editor has been jailed for “intentionally publishing false information” about the king's health.
Driss Chahtan of al-Michaal newspaper was sentenced to a year in jail and two other journalists – Mostafa Hiran and Rashid Mahameed – were sentenced to three months each with a fine of 5,000… Read more
16th October 2009
Two views on the war in Yemen. President Salih says it will end very soon. "The army is achieving great, great progress in all frontlines, and over the coming few days the victory will be declared," he said on Wednesday.
Well, it's Friday now and the war goes on. But let's give it another week and… Read more
16th October 2009
I have written before about the trials and tribulations of Nawal el Saadawi – the Egyptian writer, feminist and secularist – at the hands of Islamists. She recently formed a new organisation, “Egyptian Solidarity with Civil Society”, which will be based on "scientific reason".
Yesterday she had an… Read more
15th October 2009
It was only last week that Colonel Gadafy pleaded with Libyan officials to help find a proper job for his 37-year-old son, Saif al-Islam.
Well, as luck would have it, a job has now turned up. The title is "coordinator of social and popular committees" which sounds modest but it gives Saif al-Islam… Read more
14th October 2009
October 14 is Yemen's National Day – the anniversary of the day in 1963 when southerners launched their armed struggle against British occupation. As such, it provides an officially-approved excuse for people to take to the streets.
The video above, via YouTube, shows the scene earlier today in… Read more
14th October 2009
There's confusion in Yemen over the apparent forcible closureof an Iranian-funded hospital in the capital, Sana'a.
The hospital, which employs 120 staff (eight of them Iranian) was sealed off by security forces yesterday amid claims that it had links with the Houthi (Shia) rebels. The government… Read more
14th October 2009
I have been searching Google for reports about the death in Egypt of Yousef Abu Zuhri, the brother of a Hamas spokesman. It's covered in Russia, China, Britain, Israel and several Arab countries, but so far the only major American news organisation to mention it seems to be Fox News.
Zhuhri, 38,… Read more
13th October 2009
There are further developments regarding Yahya al-Houthi, a relative of the Yemeni rebel leader, Abd al-Malik al-Houth, who is also an absentee member of the Yemeni parliament living in Germany.
On Sunday, I noted that he has been stripped of his parliamentary immunity in Yemen (temporarily, at… 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
