In countries where gender discrimination is considered a social and religious necessity, the dividing line between male and female is not to be crossed. Men must behave and dress as men, and women as women – or face punishment.  In Saudi Arabia last week, police raided a gathering of...

For the second time in little more than four months the Saudi-led coalition has bombed a funeral gathering in Yemen. An airstrike yesterday hit a house where women had assembled to mourn the death of another woman. At least five of them were killed in the attack and dozens wounded, ...

At a bizarre press conference yesterday, the Trump regime's chief spokesman falsely blamed Iran for an attack on an American warship – an attack that never happened.  The story behind this fictitious incident provides an object lesson in how anonymous sources, a gullible reporter, a...

When Donald Trump issued his now-notorious travel ban on Friday it was couched mainly in terms of protecting the US from terrorism. Framing it in this way gave its racist undertones an aura of respectability, though thankfully there were millions of people who refused to be fooled. Many opponents...

Saudi police have detained six people for the "crime" of attending a mixed-sex party at an apartment in Jeddah, Okaz newspaper reports. The arrests – which were the result on some interesting detective work – reveal that the kingdom's police are in a high state of readiness "to deal...