• Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in quotes

    Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is known for saying things that many would consider unsayable. But his outspoken style and crime-fighting record have made him popular with many Filipinos. Here are some of his most contentious statements: Praising Hitler For most political leaders, praising Adolf Hitler would be inconceivable. But not for Mr Duterte, who has compared his brutal campaign against drug dealers and users to the Holocaust, saying he will kill as many addicts as Hitler did Jews. In comments that sparked global outrage, he told reporters he had been "portrayed to be some cousin of Hitler" by his critics. "Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now, there is three million drug addicts.

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  • Kashmir territories profile

    The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for over six decades. Since India's partition and the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars over the Muslim-majority territory, which both claim in full but control in part. Today it remains one of the most militarised zones in the world. China administers parts of the territory. MEDIA Reporting on Kashmir from both India and Pakistan mainstream media is deeply politicized and reflects the tension between the two countries. Media in Indian-administered Kashmir are generally split between pro- and anti-secessionist. Local journalists work under strict curfews and also face

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  • Swimming feat by Saudi woman to highlight plight of Syrian orphans

    Saudi Gazette report Jeddah — Mariam Saleh Binladin has become the first person from Saudi Arabia to make a solo assisted crossing of the English Channel, the world’s most celebrated open water swim. Mariam took on the Channel swim as part of a series of ultimate endurance challenges to raise awareness about the plight of orphan children from Syria. The story of Mariam’s epic swimming feats will be told in a film documentary ‘I am Mariam Binladin’ to be premiered in December this year. Mariam’s Channel swim was ratified by the Channel Crossing Association (CCA) which permits swimmers to wear wetsuits and receive assistance to ensure a safe crossing. Mariam completed the swim in 11 hours and 41

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  • Blake Lively doesn't want you praising her post-baby body

    Blake Lively says new mums shouldn't feel pressure to lose weight straight after having a baby. She's been on Australian breakfast show Sunrise, where she was complimented on how great she looked in a bikini in her new film The Shallows. The presenter commented on how the film was shot just months after Blake had her first baby. But the 28-year-old called it unfair that slimming down after birth is "so celebrated". "It's like, this is what someone looks like after having a baby," she said. "I think a woman's body after having a baby is pretty amazing. You gave birth to a human being. I would really like to see that celebrated." The ex-Gossip Girl star's now expecting her second child with husband

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  • Video: Cut's 100 Years of Egyptian Beauty Breaks the Internet!

    The latest video of Cut's 100 Years of Beauty series, which has already covered the evolution of beauty in countries such as India, Russia, and Korea, just managed to fit 100 years of Egyptian beauty in less than two minutes of footage. Featured looks are a documentation of Egypt’s political shifts and their effects on Egyptian society and, by extension, Egyptian women’s sense of style.    “The look chosen for the 1910s represented the urban look that women would wear to step outside the home,” researcher Jacinthe Assaad says in a video detailing the research behind each look. According to Assaad, the 20s look is inspired by Egyptian feminist Huda Shaarawi who took off the veil in resistance.

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  • Unpaid Pakistani workers to fly home

    RIYADH: Hundreds of Pakistani construction workers are to fly home from Saudi Arabia this week but without the salaries they have waited months to receive, embassy officials told AFP.A total of 405 Pakistanis owed wages by once-mighty Saudi Oger will fly home from Wednesday courtesy of the Saudi government, said Abdul Shakoor Shaikh, the Pakistani Embassy’s community welfare attache. They are among more than 6,500 Pakistanis who, he said, have not been paid by the construction giant for that past eight or nine months. Large contingents of Filipinos and Indians have also gone months without pay from Saudi Oger, which is led by Lebanon’s billionaire former premier Saad Hariri. In all, more than

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  • 23 Absurdly Fab Photos from Karim El Chiaty & Victoria's Secret Model Ana Beatriz Barros' Wedding

    You might have noticed people making the move to Sahel, Gouna, and other such dreamy beachy lands during the Eid weekend, but what about the mysterious case of Mykonos? Why were our social media feeds suddenly flooded with images of the Greek tropical island? A coincidence? We think not. Everyone in the country (or world) has been buzzing – about what can only be described as the biggest, most glam wedding of the year where Brazilian Victoria’s Secret supermodel Ana Beatriz Barros tied the knot with Egyptian-Greek billionaire Karim El Chiati. You could say a few celebrities made an appearance. Nothing special. A slew of luxurious villas held over 400 guests who flew from all over the world for

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  • Viewpoint: How India's response to Pakistan weakens Sharif

    As Delhi explores its options to respond to the attack in Uri, which killed 19 soldiers in one of the worst terror attacks in Kashmir in recent years, the Modi government seems to be making a strong case for strategic restraint. Amidst growing demands, especially from his ruling BJP party's rank-and-file, for strong action against Pakistan - who India blames for the attack - the Indian prime minister managed to turn attention from incessant warmongering towards long-term challenges facing the region. Pakistan has strongly denied involvement in the Uri attack. In his speech to his party cadres, Mr Modi challenged ordinary Pakistani's to a race on development as opposed to one on military engagement.

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  • Concerted effort to combat Iran lies urged

    ABHA: A recent US study said Iran annually spends nearly $950 million to improve its image and distort the image of the GCC countries in the US media. Meanwhile, a study recently published by Ali Al-Qarni, titled “The image of Saudi Arabia in the world: A survey study on samples of academics and media professionals in the Kingdom,” said the image of Islam has been negatively affected as a result of Western campaigns, notably Zionist campaigns in the US, which were never addressed except by the Saudi diplomatic institutions. Commenting on this, the head of the College of Information and Communications of Post-Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at Imam Mohammed Islamic University, Mohammed Al-Subaihi, said: “We cannot deny that the Iranian media is organizing media campaigns whose expenses are fully paid in an exaggerated manner.

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  • Bloomberg names Saudi prince in influential list

    Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz has been ranked 42nd on the list of Bloomberg’s 50 Most Influential People in the world of finance. Bloomberg said that the 31-year old prince has drawn up a plan to transform the world’s biggest crude exporter into a diversified economy fit for the next era, almost eight decades after oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia.

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  • Love Island will return for a third series

    Good news for fans of Love Island - ITV has announced it will be back next year. Bosses have ordered a third season of one of the summer's most talked about shows. Its second run is thought to have doubled last year's viewing figures, with an average of 1.3 million people watching each episode. "We can't wait to do it all again next year," said ITV Studios creative director Richard Cowles. Although the series officially finished last night with Nathan Massey and Cara De La Hoyde crowned champions, it will return for a special episode on Sunday 17 July. Love Island: Heading Home will follow the islanders as they're reunited at the wrap party. Which will no doubt mean clashes as exes come face-to-face

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  • Two Muslim Women Kicked Off JetBlue Flight for ‘Staring’ at Flight Attendant

    In what would have been a shocking but is now an all-too-familiar Islamophobic incident, two Muslim women were led off a passenger plane as a flight attendant did not like the way the women ‘stared’ at her, according to DailyMail. On Saturday, two Muslim women in hijabs onboard JetBlue Flight 487 between Boston and Los Angeles were escorted out of the airliner by police as one of the flight attendants was concerned about the way the two women were looking at her. A video showing the two women being escorted out for questioning was posted on YouTube on Monday by Mark Frauenfelder, taken by his friend Sharon Kessler. In regards to the incident, Kessler told DailyMail that "it was a terrible moment

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  • Saudi women file petition to end male guardianship system

    A petition signed by more than 14,000 Saudi women calling for an end to the country's male guardianship system is being handed to the government. Women must have the consent of a male guardian to travel abroad, and often need permission to work or study. Support for the first large-scale campaign on the issue grew online in response to a trending Twitter hashtag. Activist Aziza Al-Yousef told the BBC she felt "very proud" of the campaign, but now needed a response. In the deeply conservative Islamic kingdom, a woman must have permission from her father, brother or other male relative - in the case of a widow, sometimes her son - to obtain a passport, marry or leave the country. Many workplaces

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  • Dubai airport grounds flights due to 'drone activity'

    Dubai International Airport was forced to ground flights for half an hour due to a drone flying in the area, the airport says. It said airspace around the airport closed just after 0800 local time (0400 GMT) on Wednesday because of "unauthorised drone activity". Arrivals resumed at 0835, with full operations restarting by 0907. It is not the first time drones have delayed flights at the airport, one of the world's busiest. "We remind all [drone] operators that activities are not permitted within 5km (3.11 miles) of any airport or landing area,'' Dubai Airports said on Twitter. On June 12 a similar incident saw Dubai International Airport close for 69 minutes. In the wake of the incident, authorities

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  • Michelle Obama: We need an adult in the White House

    Michelle Obama criticizes Hillary Clinton's opponent Donald Trump while campaigning for Clinton in Pennsylvania.

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  • Petition seeks full rights for Saudi women

    RIYADH: Thousands of Saudis have signed a petition urging an end to the guardianship system that gives men control over the study, marriage and travel of female relatives, activists said yesterday. The petition calls for the kingdom’s women to be treated “as a full citizen, and decide an age where she will be an adult and will be responsible for her own acts”, said campaigner Aziza Al-Yousef of Riyadh. The retired university professor told AFP that she tried unsuccessfully to deliver the petition containing 14,700 names to the Royal Court on Monday. The activists will now send it by mail as requested. Saudi Arabia has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, and is the only country

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  • How has India changed a year after Dadri beef lynching?

    It has been a year since a Muslim man in northern India was lynched over rumours that his family had slaughtered a cow and eaten beef. Hindus consider cows to be sacred, and for many, eating beef is taboo. The slaughter of cows is also banned in many Indian states. But Mohammad Akhlaq's death sparked widespread outrage and contributed to changing the social and political discourse of the country. The BBC's Ayeshea Perera looks at some of the most significant things that happened in India following his death. The 'intolerance' furore Perhaps the largest fallout of Mohammad Akhlaq's death in Uttar Pradesh state was the accusation of "intolerance" that began to haunt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's

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  • Saudi Arabia vs Dubai: The 2020 Race For The World’s Tallest Tower

    It seems like Dubai is bored of smashing Guinness World Records, as flagship developer Emaar Properties announces plans to construct the world’s tallest tower, surpassing the Burj Khalifa that currently holds the current world record, but will Saudi Arabia steal the title? The race is on as property developer Emaar has announced plans to build a new tower, with an estimated cost of $1 billion, that will stand a ‘notch’ taller than 830-metre Burj Khalifa. The proposed project expects completion by 2020, which coincidentally will be the same year that Dubai will host the World Expo Trading Fair. The announcement explained that Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls is expected to devote

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  • Dubai becomes increasingly attractive to Chinese investors

    DUBAI: Dubai’s housing market has always had high profile investors that kept the port city’s real estate sector afloat through the thick and thin.Previously, the top investors in Dubai’s real estate market happened to be British and Indian citizens. But a group of fresh investors from China have surfaced in the emirate’s real estate market and they mean serious business. Chinese investors are especially drawn to Dubai’s realty sector after the trend of affordable properties took over the port city’s housing market. Here are some reasons why Chinese investors are ignoring the traditionally fruitful Western real estate markets and are betting their fortunes on Dubai’s lucrative realty sector.

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  • Are Children Being Exploited to Loot Millions of Dollars Worth of Egyptian Artifacts?

    This story is not about Egyptian heritage; it’s the story of mafia-like organisations taking the lives of Egyptian children to loot millions of dollars in ancient artifacts. According to a report by Live Science, more than 25 children exploited by gangs reportedly died last year, as they were recruited to seek relics across underground shafts in Abusir el-Malek - relics which were eventually sold on the black market. The investigative report, published on August 9th, states that over $143 million worth of artifacts were exported to the United States since 2011. Most of them, gold coins looted from tombs and ancient sites, made their way into New York, but they were not taken to museums - they were destined for personal or commercial use, as documents by the US Census Bureau indicate.

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