INTERNATIONAL

The overthrow of the Saudi royals is finally a possibility. In an excerpt from a new Brookings Institution briefing book for Obama’s second term, Bruce Riedel on what a catastrophe it would be for Obama. Saudi Arabia is the world’s last absolute monarchy. Like Louis XIV, King Abdullah has complete authority to do as he likes. But while a revolution …

Children like this boy in Gaza face the worst of water scarcity. Credit: Eva Bartlett/IPS   ABU DHABI, Jan 16 2013 (IPS) – The volatile politics of the Middle East have long been dominated by the fluctuating fortunes of a single commodity: oil.   But when the oil-blessed region runs out of water, there could be a change in the …

  In October 2011, 16-year-old Tariq Aziz attended a gathering in Islamabad where he was taught how to use a video camera so he could document the drones that were constantly circling over his Pakistani village, terrorizing and killing his family and neighbors. Two days later, when Aziz was driving with his 12-year-old cousin to a village near his home …

  Islam requires mother should” breast feed” the child for two years. In this case mother   failed in her duty to feed her baby as requested by Hoy Quran.   The execution of housemaid Rizana Nafeek who languished in Death Row, in one of the most inhuman environment, in a Saudi prison for almost seven years is nothing but sheer barbarism of …

Essam al-Erian says all those who occupied Palestine ‘will have to return to their homelands,’ including Egypt A senior Egyptian official who also serves as an adviser to President Mohammed Morsi on Tuesday expressed the opinion that Israel would not be around in 10 years. The remark by Essam al-Erian, the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice …

  Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr speaks during a press conference in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan 1, 2013. The anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr voiced support for Iraqi Sunni protesters who have been rallying against the country’s Shiite-dominated central government and said the demonstrators have the right to demonstrate as …