Features

By Danny Sebright While global markets fluctuated in 2016 due to the combined impact of international disputes, falling oil prices, and political shocks, the UAE has been able to avoid major economic setbacks thanks to its continued development of non-oil based industries. Indeed, the diversification of the UAE’s economy away from oil-based industries has led

The region’s youth are creating new opportunities via social media By Jessy El Murr To say that young Arabs today lack serious opportunities would be the understatement of the century. For millions of Arab youth (about 105 million of them), the outlook consistently looks bleaker. This year’s Arab Human Development Report placed the region’s youth

Many Yemenis find themselves forced to take up farming for a living By Yasser Rayes & Mohammed Al Khayat “This country is terrifying its citizens. It has never occurred to me, not even in my worst nightmares, that a moment would come and force me to take the decision of returning to my far away village,

Daesh attacks civilians, including children fleeing Mosul By Cathy Otten Through a cloud of dust, Esme Jasim, 30 and her two children are carried from a black humvee and laid out on stretchers to be treated in a field clinic on Mosul’s eastern edge. Esme, a biologist from Mosul, can hear her 4-year-old daughter, Shahd screaming

Wildlife in Lebanon suffers from excessive hunting and human ignorance Pictures and story by Mostapha Raad Baloo the Syrian brown bear, does not know if it had any relatives living in the Lebanese wilderness. In fact, Baloo, 18, and his wife Teddy, 13, have been living alone for over a decade now, in a small house

Many Palestinians are forced to live underground By Maher Abukhater On a remote, barren hill overlooking Jordan Valley in the south of Palestine, Fadel Hamamdeh had set up a home in a cave. Hamamdeh, his wife and five children had been living in the cave since the Israeli military authorities told them that their two-room metal

Sustainable energy finance is an untapped potential in the MENA region By Mouayed Makhlouf For the people of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), climate change isn’t some abstract concept. It’s happening now. Drought, rising temperature, and dwindling water supplies have already begun to affect the region and, as global temperatures continue to rise, things are

Can Daraa be a model for the rest of Syria? By Nour Samaha   The recently asphalted main government highway from Damascus to Daraa City is lined with high sand berms to limit any incoming sniper fire. At several intersections, the road has been diverted by large mounds of dirt or cement blocks, blocking travelers from accessing

The man who defied America, defeated by death BY Leila Hatoum At the age of 90, the man who defied 11 U.S. presidents, reportedly overcame over 600 assassination attempts by U.S. intelligence agencies, and brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war, finally succumbed to his death on November 25. With 49 years

Daesh’s underground tunnels derail the retake of Mosul By Suadad Al Salhy When Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi signaled the launch of the offensive to regain Mosul, the last and largest Iraqi city held by the terrorist militant group Daesh on October 16, Iraq’s military general involved in the operation were fairly optimistic. They did