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Egypt faces external debt reckoning after borrowing spree

Egypt faces an increasingly tough task raising cash for foreign debt repayments after external borrowing quadrupled over the past eight years

The Need for Equal Footing

Islamist movements across the board are speaking out in favour of involving women more strongly in politics and the working world. Yet women remain marginalised. The Kuwaiti author Ahmad Chehab is still waiting for signs of change in the role of women in modern Islamism

Kuwait's Shifting Tides

The arrival of women on Kuwait's political stage is matched in significance by the quiet rise of Islamists.

It's Not Just Conservative Islamists versus Liberal Reformers

The dissolution of Kuwait's parliament and the calling of early elections reflect developing social and economic fissures in the Gulf emirate.

Taking Hate out of School Textbooks

As an answer to the charge that Kuwait is home to Islamic terrorists, the government wants to revise questionable concepts in school textbooks - against fundamentalist opposition. Lina Hoffman reports

Breathing new life into Tunisia's bagpipes

At his workshop in Tunisia's capital, Khaled ben Khemis pieces together a type of bagpipe once banned from the airwaves, but now embraced by artists infusing its sound into new musical styles.

Malaysia seeks stricter sharia laws for "promoting LGBT lifestyle"

A Malaysian government taskforce has proposed amendments to sharia law that would allow action to be taken against social media users for insulting Islam and "promoting the LGBT lifestyle"

Iran’s disappearing wetlands

Reduce waste of all kinds this Ramadan

While Ramadan should be seen as a month of moderation, a look at food waste suggests otherwise. According to EcoMena, a not-for-profit group that raises environmental awareness in the Middle East, about one-fifth of the food purchased or prepared during Ramadan ends up in the waste bin

Amnesty International Report 2021/22

The Amnesty International Report 2021/22 highlights the human rights situation in 154 countries in 2021. From a human rights perspective, 2021 was largely a story of betrayal and hypocrisy in the corridors of power.