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22nd May 2016
Progressive social policies are increasingly under attack in international forums. Muslim countries are in the forefront of this campaign but they are also aided by rightwing elements in the United States and by countries where social conservatism has become part of nationalist discourse.… Read more
19th May 2016
A month after the US State Department published its annual country-by-country report on human rights, the Moroccan government has suddenly erupted in fury over the section about Morocco.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry denounced the report as a list of "inventions" and "lies" and accused the US… Read more
17th May 2016
Saudi Arabia is not only denying that its forces have committed war crimes in Yemen; it is now also denying that human rights organisations have been on the ground investigating them.
Interviewed on NPR radio yesterday, General Ahmad Asiri, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, was asked … Read more
16th May 2016
Today Queen Elizabeth will deliver her annual speech to the British parliament setting out the government's programme for the next 12 months. High on the list of proposals is a renewed effort to combat "extremism", and one idea is to establish a register of "extremists" – similar to the register of… Read more
12th May 2016
This is a short extract from "Democracy in the Middle East", an essay written by the Egyptian president while studying as a Brigadier General at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania in 2006.
Because the government exercises control over the media, the media serves no accountability role for… Read more
11th May 2016
Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent of the Independent newspaper, detests the internet and has often said so: "To hell with the web, it’s got no responsibility" (2008), "We should stop drinking this digital poison" (2013) and "Our addiction to the internet is as harmful as any drug" (2014).
"A… Read more
9th May 2016
There are signs that the Egyptian authorities are becoming slightly more cooperative in their dealings with Italy over death of Giulio Regeni.
Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian studying for a doctorate at Cambridge University, disappeared in Cairo on January 25. Nine days later his body – showing… Read more
3rd May 2016
The number of job losses at the Binladin construction firm in Saudi Arabia has now reached 89,000, according to company sources cited by al-Watan newspaper.
Some 77,000 expatriate workers have been dismissed and issued with exit visas – an increase on the 50,000 figure reported at the weekend. In… Read more
30th April 2016
Newspapers in Saudi Arabia are reporting that the kingdom's largest construction firm, the Saudi Binladin Group, has axed 50,000 employees – thought to be about a quarter of its workforce.
The move comes just days after the king's favourite son, Prince Mohammed by Salman, announced ambitious plans … Read more
28th April 2016
The recent Arab Youth Survey – widely reported by the world's media and personally endorsed by the ruler of Dubai – made a number of important claims.
One was that a majority of young Arabs (52%) agree that "religion plays too big of a role in the Middle East". This was highlighted in the survey as… 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
