Middle East

US warns UNESCO to stay out of Palestine debate

By BRADLEY KLAPPER BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic The Obama administration warned the U.N. cultural agency to stay out of the question of Palestinian statehood or face the consequences, as American lawmakers were threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in U.S. funding if the organization agrees […]

Charities using e-systems to mobilize funds

By GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Most charitable societies in the Kingdom have shifted from traditional to electronic donation collection systems after finding out that donors prefer such methods to give money. Khaled Al-Serhttp://www.themuslimtimes.org/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=postaihy, director general of the International Research and Studies Center, said his organization had played a […]

Inspirational calligraphy wows Jeddawis

By MARIAM NIHAL, MARIAM.NIHAL@ARABNEWS.COM For centuries calligraphy has joined the dots between contemplation, opinions, perception of art and poetry with Islam. A beautiful depiction of the words of Allah is granted a blank canvas where artists with their dreams, intellect and born genius paint them to life. Arabic script has […]

Fear of an Islamic Planet

by JOHN FEFFER Foreign Policy in Focus. Institute of Policy Studies. It’s easy to make fun of Michele Bachmann: her history gaffes, her Christian extremism, her ludicrous political positions. Journalists, though, would be sad to see her leave the Republican primary race, since she can be reliably counted on to […]

Al-Makkiah: The multicultural Saudi Arabia

By ROBERTA FEDELE, LIFE.STYLE@ARABNEWS.COM Saudi Arabia is generally associated with the idea of a closed society, eager to preserve its own traditions from external cultural influences. For different reasons, Western countries too are starting to suffer from fear of cultural contamination. However, even in such peculiar context, it is possible to find […]

Pilgrims served Zamzam on arrival

By BADEA ABU AL-NAJA | ARAB NEWS MAKKAH: The Al-Zamazima Office, which serves Zamzam water, has started the implementation of this year’s Haj plan. The plan aims to provide the blessed water to pilgrims from the moment of their arrival in Saudi Arabia until their departure, the office’s head Sulaiman […]

Switzerland sends election supplies to Tunisia

Switzerland has donated 12,000 ballot boxes to Tunisia to help the North African country conduct constituent assembly elections later this month. The Tunisian elections will coincide with Switzerland’s parliamentary elections on October 23. These will be Tunisia’s first free elections since the fall of ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali […]