Greater Middle East
Saudi Court upholds lashing for blogger
A Saudi court upheld the sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for pro-secular blogger Raif Badawi for "insulting Islam through electronic channels."
Tag: Saudi Arabia
Greater Middle East
Nuclear strike in Yemen? No, but the truth is bad
Conspiranoid websites air disturbing footage of a huge mushroom cloud exploding near Yemen's capital—apparently an under-reported air-strike on a weapons depot.
Iraq
ISIS franchise: Nigeria to Yemen to Pakistan
Over the past two months, the ISIS international franchise has made gains from West Africa to the Indian subcontinent, with militants in several countries proclaiming for the "caliphate."
Greater Middle East
Yemen war fuels dope-for-guns trade
Both sides in Yemen's bitter Sunni-Shi'ite divide—equally intolerant of hashish-smokers and khat-chewers—are turning to the dope trade to fund their arsenals.
Europe
UN meeting on anti-Semitism… Oy vey
The UN hearings on anti-Semitism will certainly enflame anti-Semitism—affording Israel the opportunity for propaganda exploitation, and for Jew-haters to exploit the backlash.
Greater Middle East
Saudi blogger to be flogged for blasphemy
Blogger Raif Badawi, convicted of "offenses to Islamic precepts" in Saudi Arabia, is to receieve 1,000 lashes at the start of his 15-year prison term.
Planet Watch
Behind oil slump: shale boom or geopolitics?
Experts tell us the North American shale oil boom is responsible for low prices despite Middle East unrest. But the price slump serves Western aims of weakening Russia and Iran.
Greater Middle East
Yemen: Saudis suspend aid as Houthi power grows
A failed US commando raid on al-Qaeda in Yemen comes as Saudi Arabia has suspended aid to the country in response to the growing power of Shi'ite Houthi militants.
Greater Middle East
Saudi Arabia: mourners repudiate sectarian terror
Hundreds of thousands from across Saudi Arabia converged on a village for the funeral for victims of a sectarian attack, chanting "Sunnis and Shi'ites, we are brothers!"
Greater Middle East
Saudi women’s rights campaigner arrested: report
Saudi Arabian rights activists reported that authorities had arrested Suad al-Shamari, a prominent women's rights advocate, for insulting Islam.
Greater Middle East
Saudi court sentences lawyers for public criticisms
A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced three lawyers to between five and eight years in prison for accusing the country's justice system of arbitrary detentions on Twitter.
Greater Middle East
Saudi Arabia sentences Shi’ite cleric to death
Sh'iite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was convicted of sedition and other charges in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to death—posing greater sectarian tensions in the Gulf states.