The recent cases of death occurring when the police detains or attempts to arrest suspects calls for a cool and collected appraisal. Nothing would be more dangerous than to jump to conclusions before the whole truth is established. That’s why a judicial review of these cases is needed to set the record ... More

There is a culture clash. That much we should acknowledge. Synthetically managed plastic pop stars singing about private matters is not a necessary intrusion. Revealing enough to make your grandmother blush is not exactly the preferred role model for our children. But just like the young boy forced to undress in the locker room ... More

Nobody can dispute that Jordanians are currently facing tough challenges due to an unprecedented economic crisis and a budget deficit of more than JD1.1 billion. The prime minister has repeatedly urged austerity measures and expenditure control, which is the right thing to do in such circumstances. But despite his calls, ... More

As a child in early 1940s Palestine, I grew up in a small village of 1,500 people with its roots in biblical times. I would like to tell a childhood anecdote that I recalled as I was reading the news the other day. Life was simple, tranquil and often hard, but despite the lack of modern amenities or even what was then ... More

A Muslim family sits across from me in a café in a largely Muslim Asia country. An older woman shyly hunches over and desperately trying to avoid eye contact with the giant plasma screen TV, blazing loud music on the popular music video channel, MTV. The scantily dressed presenter introduces her “top song” for the week. ... More

Recession? What recession? My head keeps buzzing that question every time I am living the nightmare of finding a parking space at a shopping mall on a weekend. But I guess that is just one face of many in these times 
of recession. It has hit some of us very hard, I know. There are people who lost their jobs last year and ... More

The NYU Stern School’s professor of business, Tunku Varadarajan, is trying to be clever. But watching the Hoover Institution’s own version of Michael Steele falling flat on his face would be entertaining if it wasn’t so potentially dangerous to the well-being of both visible minorities and American principles. Writing ... More

Anchored on the west side of Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed expressway is one of the city’s architectural jewels, a four decade-old building that was constructed to house Dubai Petroleum’s headquarters on the order of the late Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, father of the current ruler of Dubai. Last year this beautiful ... More

Glamour is only skin deep. Beauty is timeless. It is a sublimity that radiates from within, from behind, from under the surface. Yet in our post-modern condition we continue to be fixated with surfaces. While our concern for magnification and granular focus on the micro-scale has reached nano proportions, it remains ... More

At first I thought it was a cat rustling in the huge pile of rubbish. The mound of chip bags, plastic bottles, car parts and nappies began to swell and crackle in front of me, and out rolled … a little boy. About three years old, he sat on the edge of the small mound of garbage, fiddling with a plastic straw and looking ... More

Using fists instead of brains to solve problems has become a trademark in Jordan. One hears about violent incidents over social, family or political issues almost every day. But the phenomenon is new in Jordan where, in the past, feuds were solved in different peaceful ... More

The trial of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader and alleged war criminal, began yesterday at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Karadzic is accused of playing a key role in the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, which began in April 1992, and ordering the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and ... More

While flicking channels on television the other day, I inadvertently found myself watching a heated argument between a Jordanian parliamentarian and a lawyer over the role of “market makers” in misleading small Jordanian investors. This is not something I want to elaborate on since I don’t necessarily understand it and, ... More

When I worked in banking I used to stuff myself inside a pair of tights, put on a business suit and hop into my low-heel pumps to race to the train. Summertime on the New York subway in rush-hour was enough of a challenge, but in that outfit it was oppressive. So was wearing a full abaya to middle school in the Saudi ... More

This week, a father killed his daughter in Sweimeh by stabbing her 16 times with a sword after he apparently received a doctor’s confirmation she was pregnant. This is the latest episode of what has come to be called as “honor crimes.” The Information and Research Centre-King Hussein Foundation (IRC), an action and ... More

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. So if point B is what you need, why not just reach out and grab it if you can? Why follow the route of protocol or etiquette? Why take the high road of principle if the low road will get you there quicker? Why take a detour around sacred ground when walking on the ... More

This week, the Arab World will be participating in a vote that on its face may seem insignificant to the many problems that plague the Middle East but could begin a process of changing the United States. The vote will take place Friday in Copenhagen where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide which of four ... More

Jordan, like many other Arab countries, seems to be having a hard ¬time understanding and dealing with the idea of public service broadcasting. After decades of government-owned and controlled radio and television stations, under King Abdullah, Jordan began a new era of opening up the airwaves to the private sector. The Audio ... More

Walking the thin line of life and attempting not to tip to one side is an intricate game. It’s similar to wearing a pair of stiletto high heels. You strut like you rule the world from your new-found, elevated perspective, but you are disregarding the risk of falling down and losing your sense of perspective. Naturally, ... More

This past May, Lebanon’s delegation of five high school students traveled to New York to compete in the Tenth Annual High School Conference organized by the United Nations Association of the U.S. There, Lebanon’s students successfully debated their way to win three diplomacy awards and became one of the top five delegations ... More