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West Asia
Briton faces death in Saudi Arabia over wine
Karl Andree, has been in prison in Saudi Arabia since August 2014 after being caught with homemade wine. His one-year sentence has been completed, but he is still behind bars awaiting punishment. The 74 years old British man is awaiting his punishment of 350 lashes according to Saudi flogging law.…
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West Asia
Hajj: a political issue or a holy mission?
Following last month’s stampede and the crane disaster before that, Saudi Arabia is facing a lot of criticism concerning its ability to organize hajj and ensure people’s safety, especially from its rival, Iran. As Iran started calling for the hajj to be managed by other Islamic states after at least…
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West Asia
Twelve Arab innovators become science stars on TV
Twelve of the Arab world’s most promising and remarkable young innovators beat thousands of rival applicants to be selected as candidates on the seventh season of Stars of Science, Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development ‘s (QF) “edutainment reality” TV program on MBC4. This selection concludes the casting…
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West Asia
Twin bombings rock Ankara
Two powerful bombs exploded at a peace rally near the main train station in Ankara on Saturday morning, killing over 100 people and wounding 246 others in the deadliest attack in the Turkish capital in recent memory. The victims were attending a lunchtime peace march calling for an end to…
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West Asia
Aziz Sancar, Turkey’s first Nobel in science
In its second Nobel Prize win, Turkey secured its first Nobel in science, most specifically, chemistry, with Aziz Sancar. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair. Sancar, 69 years, holds both American and Turkish citizenship, has…
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West Asia
Jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi wins PEN Pinter prize
Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who was jailed, fined and publicly lashed after being convicted of charges including “violating Islamic values and propagating liberal thought” has been named co-winner of the 2015 PEN Pinter prize. Badawi was convicted of insulting Islam in 2012, and fined £175,000, and is currently serving a 10-year sentence in…
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West Asia
China prepares to join the fight against ISIS
Al-Masdar Al-Arabi reported that Chinese military advisers are expected to join with their Russian counterparts in weeks. It comes after China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that Chinese and Iraqi foreign ministers agreed to offer intelligence and personal training in September 2014. As China breaks it’s long history of non-interference, due…
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West Asia
Yazidi women and their struggle against ISIS
After their husbands and families were killed, Yazidi women started taking it upon themselves to defend themselves and their territories from ISIS forces. Whether they were fighting women or refugees in one of the camps or women who were tortured by ISIS and managed to escape them, they all have…
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West Asia
Disocvering new rooms in Tutankhamun’s tomb
The Egyptian pharaoh queen Nefertiti could be buried in two newly-discovered rooms in King Tutankhamun’s tomb, according to a British archaeologist. Nicholas Reeves said on Egyptian TV that two extra rooms had been found hidden in the walls of the tomb. Egyptian officials say they hope to give the go-ahead to…
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West Asia
France investigates Asaad’s crimes against humanity
France has launched a probe into Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for alleged crimes against humanity, a judicial source said Wednesday, after world powers sparred at the United Nations over the embattled leader’s fate. Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiry on September 15 into alleged crimes committed by the Syrian…
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