Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team's German driver Nico Rosberg celebrates at the end of the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit on November 27, 2016. Nico Rosberg won his maiden Formula One world title by securing second place behind his Mercedes arch-rival Lewis Hamilton in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP

Want to kickstart your Arabic conversational skills ? Move beyond the basics of marhaba (hi!), yalla (let's go!), and walla (OMG!), with eight useful phrases that will make you instantly appear more fluent. Learning Arabic usually involves a choice beween the classical/standard language and a local/colloquial version, a decision made more complicated by the range of regional dialects to choose from (Wikipedia counts 31 variations). Ba-see-ta! (no problem!). Take a shortcut with these terms that are fairly universal in the Arabic-speaking world , easily learned (we include Arabic spelling and ...

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team's German driver Nico Rosberg (L) and British driver Lewis Hamilton (R) pose for a picture during the drivers press conference ahead of the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit on November 24, 2016. ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP

Libya is rarely covered in the mainstream news, but that doesn’t mean the North African country is stable with nothing to report on. Quite the opposite in fact. Five years after the start of social unrest and the NATO intervention that lead to the ousting and killing of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi, Libya remains without a single government, embroiled in political divisions and violent infighting. Successive governments and parliaments have failed to secure a national consensus and prevent secessionist trends, especially between the west and east, leaving the country on ...

We have waited almost a decade for it. Finally, our favorite mother-daughter TV series is coming back to our screens on November 25. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that we're talking about Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, the iconic show celebrating the chronicles of a precocious teenager, Rory, and her unconventional single mom, Lorelai, living in the picturesque town of Stars Hollow. The show and its characters were as much loved in the Middle East as they were internationally. But it was the relationship ...

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors' Leonardo Rodrigues Pereira celebrates his 2nd goal against Al Ain during the AFC Champions League Final 1st Leg football match in Jeonju on November 19, 2016. Brazilian forward Leonardo hit a blistering second-half double as Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors came from behind to beat Al Ain 2-1 and grab the initiative in the two-legged AFC Champions League final on November 19. YONHAP / AFP

President-elect Trump has announced political pundit and academic Walid Phares as his choice for Middle East advisor. Phares told Al Arabiya that he met Trump last December while he was pitching his consultancy services to five Republican presidential candidates, the Lebanese-born Maronite Christian has positioned himself as an expert on the threat of radical Islam. He’s a prolific writer with a bent towards Islamophobia, and a frequent guest on Fox News. Last August, the CATO Institute – a think tank dedicated to public policy research – decried then- candidate Trump ...

The Middle East is famous for its ancient civilizations, poetry , and exporting the three most powerful world religions. When it comes to athletics, however, it is not been able to compete with the great sporting nations of Jamaica, with its sprinters , or Brazil with its footballers. But times have changed, and Middle Eastern/North African countries won a brilliant 32 medals at the recent summer Olympics. Many in the region get very emotionally involved when it comes to sport - as the Egyptian Sport Minister, Khaled Abdel Aziz, found ...

Iraq's Amjed Attwan (L) is tackled by UAE's Khamis Esmaeel during the 2018 World Cup qualifying football match between Iraq and the United Arab Emirates at Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi on November 15, 2016. Karim Sahib / AFP

Over the years, global militant groups have done a good job of getting the public to associate their name with terrifying images of wars and explosions. But most of these groups picked a perfectly innocent Arabic word, then misappropriated it until the true meaning is lost to most people. Let’s call a spade a spade - why name your group “the students” when you really impose brutal treatment of women and religious minorities? Why not give yourselves a truly scary name? Here are the Arabic language’s most misunderstood words, explained.

Insha’allah, masha'allah, alhamdulillah - can an Arab ever open their mouth without bringing Allah into the conversation? But hold on there! Seems religiosity infuses all languages in equal measure. Consider the cultural influence of the Bible on the English language, specifically the King James Version, an edition written in common English, popular since its first printing in 1611, and still used extensively today. Arab speakers learning colloquial English phrases might be surprised to learn that their origins are found in Christian scripture. OMG, see how many you use on a ...