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Twitter's hashtags offer a quick and easy way to find out what people are saying on a given topic. But for those who dislike what is being said there's also a quick and easy way to obstruct the discussion: they can summon an army of bots to flood the hashtag with irrelevant tweets.
This is a… Read more
Contractors in Saudi Arabia have begun levelling the ground for a new section of the Haramain high-speed rail line, with instructions to have it completed within three weeks.
The new track, several hundred metres in length, will bypass Jeddah station which was badly damaged by fire on 29… Read more
Saudi Arabia's high-speed railway linking the holy cities of Mecca and Medina took 10 years to build and cost more than $16 billion. It was meant to be a triumph of design and engineering but on Sunday, less than a year after carrying its first paying passengers, the line was shut down when one of… Read more
The United States has concluded that the Assad regime carried out a chemical attack in north-western Syria last May, secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced on Thursday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, he said:
"This attack was part of the Assad… Read more
The Egyptian authorities have issued a notice to accredited foreign journalists based in Cairo. Basically it seeks to restrict their reporting of demonstrations by demanding compliance with some rather bizarre "professional standards" -- presumably with the threat of expulsion if they disobey… Read more
Twitter announced on Friday that it has closed down a series of accounts connected with the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as part of its effort to shed more light on "state-backed information operations".
Regarding the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, it said:
"We have removed a network of 271… Read more
The political crisis in Algeria is about to take a turn for the worse as the authorities attempt subdue street protests ahead of a presidential election. On Wednesday Gaïd Salah, the army's chief of staff, ordered police to stop buses and cars transporting demonstrators into the capital for what… Read more
Writing in the New York Times on Monday, Martin Griffiths, the UN's special envoy for Yemen, outlined "seven elements" that "will necessarily underpin any agreement to end the war". The components for a peace deal are "in plain sight", Griffiths said – and few would disagree with them as… Read more
In a controversial move aimed at ending seven months of street protests, the Algerian authorities announced on Sunday that a presidential election will be held on 12 December. The announcement – which appears to have been made at the behest of Gaïd Salah, the country's influential… Read more
A banner from Friday's protests says "Transitional government ... No to military rule". Photo via @addadhakimnidha
The protests in Algeria that began in February show no signs of fizzling out. On Friday, for the 30th week in succession, tens of thousands demonstrated in the capital and other… 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
