By Andrew Hammond and Tarek Amara TUNIS | Fri Oct 21, 2011 7:54pm EDT (Reuters) – The main contenders in Tunisia’s first free election after the fall of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali held final campaign rallies on Friday, with both Islamists and […]
Although Saudi Arabia has been manoeuvring to stymie the “Arab Spring” wherever it can, with the drama of an apparent Iranian conspiracy to murder Adel al-Jubair one might say, taking a bad metaphor further, its Springtime in Riyadh. Quite a few bottles of champagne […]
By Andrew Hammond DUBAI | Sat Oct 8, 2011 2:22pm EDT (Reuters) – Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s declaration in a speech on Saturday that he would leave power “in the coming days” is yet another act of brinkmanship from a leader […]
By Andrew Hammond MANAMA | Wed Oct 5, 2011 7:07pm BST (Reuters) – Bahrain’s Sunni rulers hope their reform promises and tough punishments will deter more pro-democracy protests, but majority Shi’ites are still seething, seeing scant progress on their demands for change […]
One of the critical things the Bahraini government has done since this year’s uprising set off panic that it was nearly game over is to create a discourse challenging the narrative of an oppressed majority demanding democracy and an end to discrimination. […]
By Andrew Hammond MANAMA | Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:13am EDT (Reuters) – Bahrain’s government is prepared to hold more talks with the Shi’ite opposition on political reforms to try to end protests that threaten to hold up the economy, a government […]
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:00 GMT By Andrew Hammond MANAMA, Sept 28 (Reuters) – In the rubbish-strewn streets of Sanabis, the police are on the prowl for the culprits. A group of Shi’ite teenagers and women, some of them mothers, some of […]
In the rubbish-strewn streets of Sanabis, the police are on the prowl for the culprits. A group of Shi’ite teenagers and women, some of them mothers, some of them single, scuttle into a nearby house, putting out the lights as men get […]
By Andrew Hammond MANAMA | Sun Sep 25, 2011 5:10pm BST (Reuters) – Fewer than one in five voters cast ballots in Bahraini by-elections this weekend, a government website showed, after the Shi’ite majority in the Gulf Arab state boycotted the polls […]
By Andrew Hammond MANAMA | Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:44pm EDT (Reuters) – Bahrain’s main opposition boycotted elections on Saturday held to fill parliamentary seats vacated by its members during a crackdown on a mostly Muslim Shi’ite protest movement in the Sunni-ruled […]