( Editor's Note: Al Bawaba FYI is a new series , where we give you the fast-take on the news of the moment. Enjoy!) By now, you know the story. Early on January 23, 90-year-old King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia passed away in Riyadh after a brief battle with pneumonia, closing a decade-long rule in the KSA. Ushered into his place on the throne is his half-brother, Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. No spring chicken himself, the 79-year-old is rumored to be suffering from dementia. Such an appointment is no stranger ...

How much rent do you pay for your humble abode here in the Middle East? Think it’s too pricey? Wondering what you could get for the same amount of money elsewhere in the region? For a long time chat about rent in the region has been equivalent to weather chat in the West – a good conversation opener and a daily necessity! But talk of rent is hotter now than it’s ever been. How much one pays often defines how bearable the cost of living in Arab countries is for ...

Dubai rang in 2015 with a splendiferous fireworks display ; the spectacular photos from New Year’s Eve made noise among social media users across the web. The best images were captured by Daniel Cheong, a photography “hobbyist” (a telecom worker by day) based in Dubai. Al Bawaba caught up with Cheong to find out more about the man behind the lense. How does someone who only recently got serious about cameras produce such consistently knock-out portraits of the UAE’s most populous/ photographed/photogenic city? The man behind the lense Cheong’s journey ...

On the surface, world leaders linking arms in unity after three days of terrorist attacks in France gave a cosy picture of peace and defiance against those daring to obstruct freedom of speech. Their faces were plastered across television screens and newspapers as they linked up with three million people who lined the streets in Paris in solidarity against the fatal shootings of ten Charlie Hebdo staff members, two police officers and four supermarket hostages. But of all the faces, it was Benjamin Netanyahu’s that stood out most - for ...