Israel's Supreme Court has upheld a law banning Palestinians who spouse Israelis from getting Israeli citizenship. Civil rights activists had petitioned the court to annul the law, saying it was unconstitutional. "Human rights do not prescribe national suicide," Bbc.co.uk quotes judge Asher Grunis writing in the judgement as saying. The law was introduced in 2003, with its supporters expressing security concerns and the need to ensure Israel remains a Jewis... Read more »

Yemeni women's rights activist Tawakul Karman along with Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee has been won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. "We want to point to the role of women and the inferior role of women and how this role can be improved," Aljazeera.net quotes the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute Geir Lundestad as saying. Tawakul Karman dedicated the award to the Yemeni people and the Arab Spring. "This is f... Read more »

Qatar can postpone the 2017 world athletics championships for a late September date in case of winning bid, IAAF President Lamine Diack said today. This to be done to avoid the summer desert heat.Diack also informed that Barcelona, Spain, had decided at the last moment to drop out of the bid process, leaving only the Qatari capital to compete London. British capital announced last month that it will launch a bid led by Sebastian Coe, the organizing committe... Read more »

According to aid workers Somalia is now facing a fully-fledged humanitarian catastrophe. "We are no longer talking about a humanitarian crisis or a humanitarian emergency," Middle-east-online.com.quotes Jens Oppermann, the country director of Action Against Hunger (Action Contre La Faim, ACF) as saying. "We are seeing this as a humanitarian catastrophe," he concluded. Thousands of Somalis have fled in recent few months to neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya in ... Read more »

Saudi authorities made a decision on Monday to free on bail Manal al-Sharif. She was jailed for 10 days for breaking the ultra-conservative kingdom's ban on women driving. "We were informed today of the decision to free Manal on bail. The procedural steps towards her release are under way," Middle-east-online.com quotes the lawyer Adnan al-Saleh as saying. Sharif, a 32-year-old computer-security consultant, was detained on May 22 after posting on YouTube a ... Read more »

Abu Dhabi: Real Estate professionals from across the globe have their eyes focussed on Abu Dhabi, with a number of companies set to announce, invest and sign on the dotted line at this year’s highly anticipated Cityscape Abu Dhabi 2011. Taking place from 17-20 April, exhibitors from the region and around the world will be taking part in this year’s event, and a number of participants have already announced that they plan on utilising the platform to communi... Read more »

Yemeni poet Abdul Aziz Al Zaraei has been awarded as the new "Prince of Poets" in a thrilling finale broadcast live on TV from Raha Beach Theatre in Abu-Dabi. Twenty poets from seventeen countries of Arab world have been competing for the prestigious “Prince of Poets” title in Abu Dhabi in the last three months. The five finalists were: Jordan’s Mohammed Turki Hijazi, Oman’s Mountazar Al Moussawi, Yemen’s Abdul Aziz Al-Zaraei, Iraq’s Najah Al Arsan and Egyp... Read more »

Yesterday Intercontinental Hotel in Abu Dhabi hosted press conference on upcoming exhibition “The Dawn of History: Revealing the Ancient Past of Abu Dhabi” that will start on 2nd February, 2011. It was held by Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Advisor for Culture and Heritage in the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. “The excavations of the Danish archeologist in 1959-1961 provided the first glimpse of a time 4,000-5,000 years ago when this part of the Arab... Read more »

The world footballers' union supposes the 2022 World Cup in Qatar should be held in January instead of June or July. The president of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, backed a possible switch to the winter 2022. He "does not foresee any insurmountable problems in this regard", bbc.co.uk quotes Blatter as saying. In the vote in Zurich on 2 December, Qatar beat Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to host the World Cup, which is traditionally held in summer... Read more »

Lebanon has suffered from heavy rainfall and severe winds. The storm hit the country after several months of drought. A 45-year-old woman was killed in her car in the northern city of Tripoli. At the international airport of Beirut four small parked planes were flipped over and destroyed by the wind on Saturday which topped 60 miles per hour. Several flights had to be grounded in neighbouring airports such as Damascus due to the rough weather condit... Read more »