Blog archive all
10th December 2009
The NewsYemen website, which was destroyed by a hacker last month, is back in business with a limited service in Arabic only. The website has blamed the Yemeni authorities for destroying its data.
In a press release, NewsYemen says it met the Yemeni telecommunications minister on Saturday and he… Read more
10th December 2009
Kuwait's prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah, is due to face a no-confidence motion in parliament next week following six hours' questioning by MPs behind closed doors.
The questioning of Sheikh Nasser – who is the emir's nephew – was an unprecedented political event in Kuwait… Read more
9th December 2009
It began with a caricature of Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, floundering in a sea of debt. At the Sunday Times, they probably thought nothing of it: far less flattering images of politicians appear day after day in the world's press. But in Dubai it proved too much for the… Read more
9th December 2009
The Egyptian authorities seem to be worried about the growing number of women adopting the niqab – the face veil traditionally worn in the Gulf countries. Its use is relatively new in Egypt, and it tends to be favoured by those of a Wahhabi/Salafi religious disposition.
Various news sources are… Read more
9th December 2009
Following the unlamented closure of the government-run Syria Times last year, a new English-language daily is being launched in Damascus today.
It's called Baladna English and it's produced by the United Group, already publishes the Arabic-language Baladna.
So far, there's nothing on its website … Read more
8th December 2009
Egypt's opposition parties have become so fixated on campaigning against the succession of President Mubarak's son that they are losing sight of other issues crucial to their political future, Amr Hamzawy of the Carnegie Middle East Centre says in an article for The National:
While opposition… Read more
7th December 2009
Reverberations continue in Saudi Arabia over the tragic floodsin Jeddah. Though some expect the inquiry ordered by King Abdullah to result in the usual whitewash, others detect a breakthrough in holding public officials accountable.
The Saudi Jeans blog notes the unusually strong language of the… Read more
6th December 2009
“Things have just gotten a lot more interesting,” the Arabist blogsays, commenting on news that Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the IAEA and Nobel peace prize winner, is thinking or running for the Egyptian presidency in 2011. The Arabist continues:
This may peter out in smoke, but … ElBaradei’s… Read more
6th December 2009
An interesting spat has broken out between New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and Stephen Walt, Harvard professor of international affairs (and co-author of that controversial book, The Israel Lobby).
In a column prompted by the Fort Hood shootings, Friedman suggested that the man accused of… Read more
5th December 2009
Reporting the start of the official inquiry into the Jeddah floods, Sebastian Usher of the BBC says: “Some in Saudi Arabia have described what is happening with the public mood as a turning point – with Saudis for once forcing the authorities to take responsibility for their mistakes.”
It is not… 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
