Archive: saudi arabia
3rd March 2011
A group of religious extremists disrupted the annual Riyadh Book Fair yesterday, accusing both visitors and organisers of "immoral practices" and confronting the Saudi culture minister, whose department organises the event.
Arab News suggests the troublemakers were members of the religious police… Read more
22nd February 2011
My talk at Café Diplo last night. Read it here.
Posted by Brian Whitaker, 22 Feb 2011
2nd January 2011
The Saudi ministry of culture and information has finally issued its long-threatened regulations "to protect society from erroneous practices in electronic publishing".
Along with most Arab regimes, the Saudis are nervously aware that the internet and other forms of electronic communication have… Read more
19th December 2010
Saudi newspapers are continuing to portray Thursday night's rioting in the holy city of Madina as an outbreak of youthful vandalism. Meanwhile, police are claiming it was triggered by "an argument between teenagers during a football match".
Eight hundred people are said to have taken part in the… Read more
18th December 2010
A large riot broke out in the Saudi city of Madinah on Thursday night. Arab News says:
According to some eyewitnesses, the trouble started when some teenagers and youths in al-Osbah neighborhood and residents of nearby districts began throwing stones at one another at about 10 p.m. on Thursday.… Read more
14th December 2010
An article in The Economist, talking about China's business relations with Saudi Arabia, mentions that the new Mashair railway (also known as the Mecca Metro) was built by the Chinese.
The dual-track railway, which links Mecca with the holy sites of Mina, Muzdalifah and Mount Arafat, opened in… Read more
13th December 2010
The Saudi Gazette reports on a bizarre legal battle that ensued after a 37-year-old woman from Madina asked permission to marry and her father refused – apparently on the grounds that her proposed husband was a foreigner from a neighbouring Arab country (even though he belonged to the same tribe… Read more
7th December 2010
A Saudi law professor was arrested on Sunday after writing a article that discussed possible rifts within the royal family, and their political implications for the kingdom.
Dr Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Abdulkarim, who teaches jurisprudence at the Imam Mohammed bin Saud University, was seized from… Read more
20th November 2010
Several decades after the last cinema in Saudi Arabia closed its doors to save the kingdom from sin, a new one is opening at a shopping complex in Dammam. Al-Hayat reports (in Arabic) that it has five screens and there will be separate showings for men and women. It will specialise in cartoons… Read more
12th November 2010
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia was elected to the executive board of UN Women, a new body which merges the activities of four previously separate UN agencies – with a vastly increased budget of at least $500m a year.
Saudi Arabia's inclusion in the 41-member board of an organisation that will promote… 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
