Migrant workers who move to Saudi Arabia in the hope of a better life and a higher income can instead expect to be faced with torture, unfair trials and forced confessions if they are accused of crimes, according to a scathing Human Rights Watch report released yesterday.
The report,... » read this article
Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, who rules Saudi Arabia in place of his ailing half-brother, King Fahd, is sitting under huge crystal chandeliers in a luxurious hall the size of a football pitch, listening to the problems and complaints of his subjects. In the middle of a... » read this article
Craig Whitlock in London and Renae Merle in Washington , Sydney Morning Herald
The three Americans killed or kidnapped by Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia in the past week were probably selected as targets days or weeks in advance and singled out because of their work as military contractors, United States and Saudi officials said.
Authorities continued to search for the kidnapped... » read this article
Craig Whitlock in London and Renae Merle in Washington , Sydney Morning Herald
The three Americans killed or kidnapped by Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia in the past week were probably selected as targets days or weeks in advance and singled out because of their work as military contractors, United States and Saudi officials said.
Authorities continued to search for the kidnapped... » read this article
Saudi Arabia is beginning to look like a society under siege.
At Riyadh's trendiest shopping mall on a quiet afternoon last month, security officers were stopping vehicles entering the parking garage, opening hoods and trunks in search of explosives. At the Marriott Hotel, near the Petroleum Ministry, and at... » read this article
Saudi Arabia is beginning to look like a society under siege.
At Riyadh's trendiest shopping mall on a quiet afternoon last month, security officers were stopping vehicles entering the parking garage, opening hoods and trunks in search of explosives. At the Marriott Hotel, near the Petroleum Ministry, and at... » read this article
Last autumn I visited a Sufi shrine just outside Peshawar in the North West Frontier province of Pakistan. Rahman Baba was a 17th-century mystic poet, and his tomb has for centuries been a place where musicians and poets have gathered. A friend who lived nearby in the 1980s advised... » read this article
Last autumn I visited a Sufi shrine just outside Peshawar in the North West Frontier province of Pakistan. Rahman Baba was a 17th-century mystic poet, and his tomb has for centuries been a place where musicians and poets have gathered. A friend who lived nearby in the 1980s advised... » read this article
KARACHI - The recent spate of militant attacks in Saudi Arabia has largely been attributed to the work of al-Qaeda, and some cells purporting to represent the terror organization have even claimed responsibility for some of the bloodshed.
However, intelligence sources of Pakistani origin in Saudi Arabia tell Asia... » read this article
KARACHI - The recent spate of militant attacks in Saudi Arabia has largely been attributed to the work of al-Qaeda, and some cells purporting to represent the terror organization have even claimed responsibility for some of the bloodshed.
However, intelligence sources of Pakistani origin in Saudi Arabia tell Asia... » read this article
Long before the latest violence erupted, Saudi Arabia's immaculately suited spokesmen were out on the stump, telling anyone who would listen that the situation in the country was completely under control. They're now doing it again - only this time nobody believes them.
All the signs suggest that in the... » read this article
Long before the latest violence erupted, Saudi Arabia's immaculately suited spokesmen were out on the stump, telling anyone who would listen that the situation in the country was completely under control. They're now doing it again - only this time nobody believes them.
All the signs suggest that in the... » read this article
The bloody attacks on foreigners in Khobar, the center of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, were apparently carried out by four young men. The attackers were methodical, efficient and, up to a point, even polite. They asked potential victims their religion and, if satisfied that they were Muslims, asked... » read this article
The bloody attacks on foreigners in Khobar, the center of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, were apparently carried out by four young men. The attackers were methodical, efficient and, up to a point, even polite. They asked potential victims their religion and, if satisfied that they were Muslims, asked... » read this article
KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Thirty-five people, mostly foreigners, have been killed over the past six weeks in a dramatic, new style of terror attacks for this kingdom: bodies dragged on streets, traffic police blown up in their offices, hotel guests taken hostage and a chef shot outside an... » read this article
KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Thirty-five people, mostly foreigners, have been killed over the past six weeks in a dramatic, new style of terror attacks for this kingdom: bodies dragged on streets, traffic police blown up in their offices, hotel guests taken hostage and a chef shot outside an... » read this article
When the terrorists who have identified themselves as members of al-Qa'ida took their hostages in Khobar last weekend, they were meticulous in choosing their targets. Muslims were allowed to leave; only foreign "infidels" were held and some were killed.
But the killers had another target: the ruling royal family.... » read this article
When the terrorists who have identified themselves as members of al-Qa'ida took their hostages in Khobar last weekend, they were meticulous in choosing their targets. Muslims were allowed to leave; only foreign "infidels" were held and some were killed.
But the killers had another target: the ruling royal family.... » read this article
It was the latest in a series of ruthless attacks on foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, targeting the employees of foreign oil companies. In each case the gunmen have aimed to slaughter as many non-Muslims as possible.
At 7.30 on Saturday morning, they chose the city of Khobar, an... » read this article
It is only a few days since Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador to Britain, wrote an angry letter to The Independent. Terrorism, he insisted, poses no serious threat to the peace and security of the oil-rich kingdom despite the pessimistic tone of British media commentary.
Prince Turki will... » read this article
The Islamic Republic of Iran busted a spy racket linked with the US intelligence agency CIA and arrested 30 people for operating an internet network to gather secret data.
In 2006, America's Central Intelligence Agency,...
US steps up pressure on Israel
The
United States has stepped up pressure on Israel over its plans to build
more settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, despite an apology from
the Israeli prime minister...
Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill MilitantsUnder the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track...
Participants at an
otherwise informative discussion on "Iran at a Crossroads" at the Senate on
Wednesday seemed at pains to barricade the doors against the proverbial
elephant being admitted into the room - in this...
Johannesburg – You see it the moment you walk off the plane: a mammoth
soccer ball hanging from the ceiling of Johannesburg International
Airport festooned with yellow banners that read, "2010 Let's Go! WORLD
CUP!"...
UNHCR said Friday it was extremely worried about the worsening
situation for civilians in Somalia, where fresh outbreaks of relentless
and indiscriminate fighting are ravaging Mogadishu and other areas of
the country.
"We are especially...
A revolution makes a difference. For the corporate media, however,
what happens to people's lives and dignity goes by the boards, focused
as they often are on stories aimed at casting Venezuela as a pariah...
The Mexican government is moving ahead with an ambititous new plan
to surround the Lacandona Forest in Chiapas, Mexico, with oil palm
plantations; while disguising the forest around the plantations with
various eco-tourism sites.
In...
"Condemn" is not a word that rolls trippingly
off the tongue of a U.S. politician addressing anything having to do
with actions, however objectionable, by Israel.
So it was no
surprise that close observers of...
GAZA CITY - A
half-finished two-story building in central Gaza City is one of the few
places providing support to amputees, most of them civilian victims of
the Israel-Palestinian conflict, as they try and come...