MANAMA/DUBAI: Bahrain's government and a jailed Shia rights activist who is on hunger strike are playing a game of brinkmanship as his health deteriorates days before the Formula One Grand Prix, a showcase event for the Gulf state as its grapples (...)
MANAMA: Bahrain is installing video cameras in police stations to try to clean up its human rights image after crushing a pro-democracy uprising last year, but activists say off-camera abuse continues in other locations.
At Al-Hoora station in (...)
DUBAI: Shia Muslims clashed with riot police in villages across Bahrain on Thursday, the anniversary of a government crackdown last year on a pro-democracy uprising in the Gulf Arab state.
Witnesses said youths and police faced off in Shia areas (...)
MANAMA: Tens of thousands of Bahrainis demonstrated outside the capital Manama on Friday to demand urgent political reforms, a year after the Gulf Arab state crushed an uprising, witnesses said.
The protestors began marching along a highway near (...)
MAMAMA: Bahrain's King Hamad dismissed the country's opposition movement as disunited and said the threat of Iran had compelled him to call in foreign troops to crush last year's uprising.
"In a sense there is no 'opposition' in Bahrain, as the (...)
MANAMA: The funeral march for Mohammed Yaacoub had barely ended last week when police and protesters faced off in the town of Sitra, an impoverished district of Bahrain that has borne the brunt of a year of unrest.
Teenagers using scarves to mask (...)
MANAMA: Bahraini opposition parties, launching a week-long 'sit-in' for political reforms at a mass rally, swore on Sunday to take their campaign to the centre of last year's democracy protest in the capital Manama.
"This is a dress rehearsal for (...)
MANAMA: The academic who investigated abuses during Bahrain's crackdown on pro-democracy protests last year returns this week to a Gulf Arab country still racked by violence, to assess how far the government has followed through on reforms he (...)
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates cabinet announced on Sunday it would liberalize trade in 12 commodities, saying this would help market stability, state news agency WAM reported.
"The 12 items that are being liberalized include livestock and dairy (...)
DUBAI: A military court in Bahrain has sentenced a bodybuilder and two sportsmen to one year in prison for taking part in pro-democracy protests that the Gulf Arab state crushed earlier this year, a lawyer said.
The three, all members of (...)
DUBAI: In a defiant show of unity, Bahrain opposition parties have jointly denounced the Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab island as a police state and demanded a transition to a constitutional monarchy.
Five groups, including the main Shia party Wefaq and (...)
DUBAI: Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahri urged Algerians in a video released on Islamist websites on Wednesday to follow the example of Libyans and revolt against their leaders.
He also attacked military rulers in his native Egypt for maintaining (...)
MANAMA: A Bahrain military court upheld life sentences on Wednesday against Shiite opposition leaders for organizing protests earlier this year that threatened the Sunni monarchy's grip on power, the state news agency said.
The national security (...)
MANAMA: Bahrain's main opposition boycotted elections on Saturday held to fill parliamentary seats vacated by its members during a crackdown on a mostly Muslim Shi'ite protest movement in the Sunni-ruled monarchy.
The low turnout by Shia voters (...)
CAIRO: An attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo last week could set back political gains since Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising this year, as the ruling army council takes measures to tighten security around the (...)
DUBAI: Arabs reacted strongly on Monday to the deaths of dozens of Syrians in Hama at the hands of the Syrian army but most Arab governments kept silent, apparently fearing the power of protest movements that have spread throughout the region this (...)
DUBAI: At a recent conference in Abu Dhabi, a confidant of the emirate's crown prince vented his frustration over the downfall of a major ally who Gulf Arab rulers once thought was as entrenched in power as they are.
"How could someone do this to (...)
CAIRO: Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass defended himself on Wednesday from a wave of criticism over looting at the Egyptian Museum during the revolution last month and accusations of corruption in his ministry.
Hawass initially played down (...)
CAIRO: For a country with 5,000 years of history, Egypt's fall into a deep social, economic and political malaise during the three decades of Hosni Mubarak's rule had a particularly bitter sting to it.
Egyptians like to call their country "umm (...)
CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak looked likely to step down on Thursday in response to more than two weeks of nationwide protests against his 30-year rule.
Asked if Mubarak would step down, an Egyptian official told Reuters: "Most (...)
CAIRO: Egypt has a plan and timetable for the peaceful transfer of power, the vice president said on Tuesday, adding that the government will not pursue protesters who have been demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down now.
"The president (...)
CAIRO: Egyptian protesters say they fear security forces will take revenge on them for continuing their campaign in central Cairo for President Hosni Mubarak's ousting, despite official promises to the contrary.
Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said (...)
TUNIS: Veteran Tunisian politician Ahmed Mestiri said on Wednesday he hoped to head a "council of wise men" which would be established to guide Tunisia to democracy from the authoritarian state it was under its ousted leader.
Mestiri said he and (...)
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is anxious to show its allies there will be no power vacuum in the world's biggest oil exporter as health problems beset its octogenarian rulers, but the danger of open disputes over succession remains.
King Abdullah heads to (...)
DUBAI: An International Monetary Fund official has praised Yemen, under U.S. pressure to battle al Qaeda militancy in the impoverished country, over an improvement in public finances, saying it would help stabilize its currency.
"Important (...)