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Drought in Europe: Opportunity for Middle East olive oil producers

'Olive oil has become gold'. In Tunisia, the price for a kilo of extra virgin is up more than 100 percent from a year ago and demand for bulk olive oil in Turkey is so high that the government just rolled out a tax of $.20 cents for every kilo exported abroad.

New NYC art gallery focuses on Arab and Islamic art

The recently opened Institute of Arab and Islamic Art, an independent, non-profit in New York's West Village, is dedicated to advancing the artistic and cultural dialogue between NYC and the Arab and Islamic world.

Iraq: thousands of dead fish wash up amid on-going drought

Controversial patchwork history

The decision by Netflix' latest documentary series to portray Cleopatra as an Egyptian and thereby an African ruler is partly aimed at rehabilitating her as a historical figure. But good intentions don't always produce good results, as Shady Lewis Botros argues

Al-Azhar, a Catholic monastery...and the Dalai Lama

Palme d’Or winner "Boy from Heaven" is a classic crossover film in which cultural elements are mixed together in haphazard and random fashion. Shady Lewis Botros bemoans the director’s use of various formulaic and cliche-ridden templates dominant in global mass culture

Assad versus Makhlouf

The power struggle between the Syrian regime and Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and one of the richest men in Syria, is coming to a head now that the state has ordered the confiscation of Makhlouf's assets. Commentary by Shafeeq Ghabra

How Assad's family and others have filled their European coffers

Dubbed the "Butcher of Hama", Syria's Rifaat al-Assad is accused of embezzling millions in European real estate. Like him, many regional rulers have preferred to keep their European properties quiet. Tom Allinson reports

No Holds Barred

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad intends to have himself confirmed in office for a further seven years in early June. The regime's propaganda machinery is running flat out in advance of the election. Since the beginning of the revolution, the Syrian powers-that-be have been working hard to turn both domestic and international public opinion in their favour. By Martina Sabra

City of roses, city of torture

The case of the Belgian-Moroccan national Ali Aarrass shines a spotlight on persistent human rights violations and the existence of torture prisons in Morocco. While the monarchy remains silent, the public deliberately looks the other way. By Susanne Kaiser