Deputy touts his health on internet
Reuters Apr 3, 08 4:25 AM CDT
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Seven years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is alive and well, according to his deputy. "Sheik Osama bin Laden is in good health. The ill-intentioned always try to circulate false reports about him being sick," said Ayman al-Zawahiri in a 104-minute recording posted on the internet. The comments were in response to questions from the public solicited by web sites linked to al-Qaeda.
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Book Review
Author examines
bin Laden's roots, Saudi clan's ties to US
New York Times Apr 1, 08 1:20 PM CDT
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Osama is the most famous of the bin Ladens, but he’s also the clan's black sheep. In his new book, The bin Ladens , Steve Coll explores the sprawling family, which is so different from its most famous scion that Osama’s war takes on a Freudian dimension. The book "possesses the novelistic energy of a rags-to-riches family epic," Michiko Kakutani raves in today's Times.
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Rival Palestinian factions bicker over control of Gaza
Reuters Mar 23, 08 8:02 PM CDT
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In a second attempt to mend fences, rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas agreed to resume direct talks today to resolve disputes and revive their failed coalition. A Hamas official called the deal “a new beginning and the start of a new stage,” but just hours after signing the Yemeni-sponsored Sanaa Declaration, the factions returned to feuding, Reuters reports.
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Men-free Luthan Hotel 'meeting a very big demand' in conservative Muslim kingdom
Independent (UK) Mar 21, 08 5:21 PM CDT
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Saudi Arabia’s first hotel catering exclusively to women—right down to its plush spa—opened this week in Riyadh, the Independent reports. The conservative kingdom enforces strict Islamic segregation of sexes in public, but women can stay at the Luthan Hotel without a male guardian—nor any men on the premises at all—and without needing to stick to tough dress standards.
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Islam's holy ground could be ready to open up
Time Mar 20, 08 10:37 AM CDT
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Pope Benedict XVI is lobbying Saudi Arabia to let a Catholic church on its soil, Time reports. The Vatican confirms that it's discussing forging diplomatic relations with the Saudis, but a house of worship would be a major coup in a country where all religions besides Sunni Islam are banned.
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YouTube clip shows woman driver
calling for change in law
BBC Mar 11, 08 7:15 PM CDT
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Activists have posted a video online to protest the Saudi ban on women drivers, the BBC reports. Made to honor International Women’s Day, the 3-minute clip on YouTube follows protester Wajeha Huwaider as she turns onto a forbidden highway and discusses the legality of the ban. “Many women in this society are able to drive cars,” Huwaider says as she drives.
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Geography forces balancing act; gas wealth make it a player
Bloomberg Mar 5, 08 7:00 PM CST
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The challenges of being Qatar, a peninsular nation bordering Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, could be a hint of the diplomatic discourse to come, Bloomberg reports. The emirate cannily attends to the demands of its Saudi and Iranian neighbors, and it hosts US military forces; it also has learned to use its natural-gas wealth to avoid favoring one side exclusively.
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UPDATED
Cartel president blames 'mismanagement' of US economy for rising prices
Wall Street Journal Mar 5, 08 3:57 PM CST
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Crude oil rose to a record $104.52 a barrel today after OPEC decided to hold production steady. “The oil market is currently stable,” said Saudi Arabia’s oil minister. “There is no need to increase even one barrel of oil.” The cartel blamed sky-high prices on “tremendous speculation,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Oil futures were up $5 on the day.
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American schools to help develop science and technology graduate school
San Jose Mercury News Mar 5, 08 2:45 AM CST
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Berkeley and Stanford University will help choose faculty and develop curricula for a new university in Saudi Arabia, reports the San Jose Mercury News . The graduate-level King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, funded by a $10 billion gift from the king, will focus on fields like petrochemicals and nano-technology when it opens in September 2009. University of California administrators said they agreed to the deal only with assurances that women would be treated equally.
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OPINION
Money coming in during presidency raises concerns over quid pro quo
Mother Jones Mar 4, 08 2:40 PM CST
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President Bush's coy refusal to name the mystery donors helping to erect his $200 million presidential library is problematic, writes David Corn in Mother Jones' MoJo blog. Though the law doesn't require him to reveal names, his actions raise serious ethical questions. "What's problematic is the prospect of a sitting president obtaining foreign cash for a pet project and not disclosing it," argues Corn.
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Prosecutors say they exhibited 'bad' behavior to woo girls at malls
BBC Feb 23, 08 1:03 PM CST
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Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested 57 young men accused of flirting with girls at shopping malls in Mecca, the BBC reports. Prosecutors say the men wore indecent clothing, played loud music, and danced to attract the girls’ attention. The arrests were prompted by Saudi’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which runs its powerful religious police.
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Prince threatened to withhold terror info; predicted 'another 7/7'
Guardian (UK) Feb 15, 08 9:37 AM CST
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The Saudi royal family threatened to withhold information about planned terrorist attacks on London unless British authorities suspended an investigation into corrupt arms deals, court documents show. Prince Bandar flew to London in December 2006 to warn investigators they faced "another 7/7," referring to the four bombs that killed 52 people in 2005, reports the Guardian .
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