Asia’s dark underbelly: Conflicts threaten long-term stability and development
James M. Dorsey | A host of conflicts, stretching across the Asian landmass from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and northwest China, are likely...
Saudis ban botox lips for Camels at beauty pageant
AFP | Huddled together on a dusty racetrack, Saudi judges scrutinise pouty lips and shapely humps in a high-stakes camel beauty pageant mired in scandal after botox and cosmetic...
Saudi government to tighten fundraising laws to promote moderate Islam
James M Dorsey | A Saudi draft law could constitute a first indication that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vow to return the kingdom to...
Gulf crisis continues to fuel the fire in Syria and Iran
James M Dorsey | Turkish allegations of Saudi, Emirati and Egyptian support for the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) threaten to turn Turkey’s military offensive...
Is Saudi inspired ultra-conservatism leading to worsening Shiite conditions in Malaysia?
James M Dorsey | Allegedly kidnapped, forty-three-year old Malaysian activist Amri Che Mat, a foreign exchange trader and mountain climber, has not been heard of...
Is the Saudi Crown Prince still encouraging moderate Islam?
James M Dorsey | Recent Algerian media reports detailing Saudi propagation of a quietist, apolitical yet supremacist and anti-pluralistic form of Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism raises...
Is Gulf crisis turning Qatar into the region’s Israel?
James M Dorsey | Prominent US constitutional lawyer and scholar Alan M. Dershowitz raised eyebrows when he described Qatar as “the Israel of the Gulf...
Palestinian President seeks EU support after US row
AFP | Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will seek EU support in Brussels on Monday amid bitter acrimony with the United States, but he looks unlikely...
Israeli PM says he does not consider Pakistan an enemy
News Analysis | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that his country is not an enemy of Pakistan and that the South Asian nation...
US vs Islamic Radicals: Protagonists deliberately using historical ideologies to clash?
Zahid Mehmood | For the West, Muslims are medieval zealots, while Muslims often see the West as their enemy. These two presumptions have led many...
Saudi Arabia announces $2 billion bailout for Yemen government
AFP | Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that it would transfer $2 billion to Yemen's central bank, following desperate calls for funding from the war-torn...
Over 20 million Yemenis in need of aid: UN
AFP | More than three-quarters of Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian aid as the war between rebels and the Saudi-backed government nears its...