The 2015 UN Climate Change Conference is underway in Paris aiming to forge a binding environmental agreement that involves all nations. At its core is the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that keeps the planet’s mean temperature below a 2°C increase (compared to pre-industrial times). It's a race against the clock. This is the first year global temperatures rose 1 °C higher than the historic average. But only 26% of us in the Middle East are worried about global warming, said a recent Pew Research ...

Baby, it’s cold outside. Winter blues got you down? Avoid the airport queues and keep your money in your wallet, and instead live vicariously through the exotic travels of your favorite Arab stars. Scan this Al Bawaba overview of the region’s top celebrities and their best spent holidays of 2015. I t’s fun to window shop on their R&R choices, and it may inspire a superstar holiday of your own!

UAE footballer Ahmed Khalil poses for photographers on his arrival at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)'s Annual Awards ceremony in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi on November 29, 2015. AFP PHOTO / SAJJAD HUSSAIN

Weary of all the frightening news? Since 1896, the banner of the New York Times has declared “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” A noble ambition, but impossible task. The irony at the core of all media is that objective reporting is beholden to subjective editorial decisions. So what gets reported? Humans of New York blogger Brandon Stanton sees a public appetite for sex, violence, conflict and puppies - and mainstream media delivers on all four. But personal videos, tweets, blogs, a dedicated radio show (the Pope), and a ...

Not long ago, a typical Al Qaeda video was grainy footage of Osama bin Laden murmuring in a rural Afghan cave. Now, militant Sunnis have upped their game. Daesh runs some of the best social media campaigns in the world, with high-definition videos, radio broadcasts, video games and a glossy monthly magazine. And it's working: So far, over 20,000 foreign fighters are estimated to have traveled to the "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq.

Mercedes-AMG's British driver Lewis Hamilton races during the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit on November 23, 2014. AFP PHOTO / MARWAN NAAMANI