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If you follow the news from Yemen you have almost certainly come across reports from Reuters' long-serving correspondent in Sana'a, Mohamed Sudam. You may not have been aware, though, that over many years he has also combined his work for one of the world's leading news agencies with another job –… Read more
For the second time this year, the Arab League – usually regarded as one of the world's most ineffectual and divided organisations – has shown a surprising sense of unity and purpose with regard to one of its own members' behaviour.
In March it called for a no-fly zone over Libya… Read more
Several prominent human rights groups in Egypt have turned down an invitation from the authorities to take part in discussions about the constituent assembly which will draft a new constitution. They say the government and the ruling military council must first "prove their respect for the dignity… Read more
Following my blog post yesterday, I received this comment from an Arab journalist (who asked not to be identified because of relatives living in Saudi Arabia):
I certainly agree with your cautious and calculated approach to the Arab Spring, especially your description that "it is a gradual… Read more
Under the headline "The future of tyranny", Mamoun Fandy asks some searching questions about the Arab Spring in an article for Asharq Alawsat.
"The talk about the future of tyranny, its manifestations, branches, and the extent of its longevity in various forms has not started yet in earnest," he… Read more
How stable is Jordan? That is the question addressed in a new report from the Brookings Doha Centre. In common with many of its regional neighbours, Jordan has witnessed street protests since the Arab Spring began, but nothing on a dramatic scale, and King Abdullah has been trying to fend… Read more
In an outspoken column for Arab News, Saudi journalist Samar Fatany calls for a revival of ijtihad – the practice of independent interpretation of Islamic scripture. This may sound like ordinary common sense but in the Saudi context it's highly controversial and goes to the… Read more
It's not every day that the President's Office of the Bahrain Information Affairs Authority of goes to the trouble of sending me an email informing me that one of the kingdom's more elderly citizens has died of a heart attack – but it happened yesterday.
Ali Hassan Al-Daihi, aged 78, "had… Read more
Largely unnoticed in the midst of other events, it was the turn of Syria to come up for scrutiny by the UN Human Rights Council last month, under the periodic review system.
As part of the review process each country has to submit a self-assessment report describing its efforts in the… Read more
The Bahrain-based Gulf Daily News has finally got around toreporting the arrest of a businessman in Britain, in connection with a $6m bribery case involving Bahrain's government-controlled aluminium company, Alba.
The Gulf Daily News says the alleged recipient of the bribes "cannot be named… 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
