For better or for worse, England’s influence in the Middle East has endured for well over a century. Gone are the days of beige linen suits, Balfour’s botched declaration and bomb-making tips courtesy of T.E. Lawrence. However, little England continues to spread its quirky charm, wielding a softer breed of cultural power, through its most famous exports, the lads on tour. And the ladettes. Showing a joyous disdain for local customs , the English have shagged, binged, insulted and groped their way into prisons the whole region over.

On the weekend of 19 April 2013 while all eyes were fixed firmly on the U.S.’s east coast, in the wake of the Boston marathon bombings, it was business as usual in the Middle East. Audiences tuned into the Bostonian drama unfolding, transfixed to every twist, turn, tip-off and tweet and the Massachusetts suburb of Watertown hogged the headlines from East to West. It’s no surprise we were gripped: just when we were sure it was a domestic issue, some Chechen flavor was thrown into the melting pot to re-awaken ...

Talent shows and controversy come hand in hand so its hardly surprising that the Middle East’s latest batch of singing competitions have kept the drama coming thick and fast, week after week. With TV talent shows springing up across the region, wannabe stars are upping their game to make sure that their performances aren’t forgotten. From the usual serving of diva strops and surprise winners, to disappearing contestants and landmark performances, 2013 has brought more moving moments and whacky wannabes to our screens than ever before. Here are Al Bawaba’s ...

Runners in Boston last night may have found themselves on shaky ground when explosive devices blasted them off their marathon course on the home stretch to the finishing line, but over in a different part of the globe, a natural disaster has shaken the Persian-Pakistani belt to its core. A powerful 7.8-magnitude quake has wreaked havoc with lives and livelihoods in the Near East. The quake struck Iran near the border with Pakistan just a week after an earlier and milder tremor shook the country. The last earthquake to rock ...

Political comebacks come in many guises and have the tendency to take us by surprise. Take former British PM Tony Blair, who having initiated the war in Iraq somehow landed the position of UN Middle East peace envoy, even as coalition forces continued to patrol Baghdad. Hugo Chavez has come back from the grave to seemingly steer his tea boy to victory in Venezuela’s Sunday election. But what of Hosni Mubarak? Despised by his people, wasting away in a Cairo hospital prison, the ousted Egyptian President appeared on the edge ...

A report released on Thursday documenting widespread deliberate and indiscriminate attacks by Bashar Al-Assad against Syrian civilians has revealed the shocking means to which the embattled President will go to cling on to power. The Human Rights Watch study found that since July 2012, 4,300 civilians have been killed by their own government, with many thousands more injured and entire towns reduced to rubble. The government-led chaos has been exacerbated by some opposition groups, who have used heavy weaponry and bombs in attacking civilians areas. Such warfare has rendered public ...

April 8, 2013 saw the Kissinger Cables break into the wiki-sphere , causing little commotion. Thanks to the intelligence-leaker’s latest filing job (an archiving of already public files) of the notorious shuttle diplomat’s arguably dubious dealings, the US foreign policy power-broker who flourished through his behind the scenes ground-work was thrust into a limelight he might be less than comfortable rehabilitating. The smooth operator Henry Kissinger , whose contributions to Middle East peace were never overt, might wonder if it was all for nothing, as another secretary of state - ...

Combining the cultural sensitivity of the FEMEN girls with a sinister nod to Iran's Israel-bashing President, Anonymous Arab hackers spent Sunday, the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, attempting to "wipe Israel off the internet" with #OpIsrael. Early Sunday, Israeli Cyber bureau spokesman Yitzhak Ben Yisrael said that #OpIsrael had failed , as only a handful of government sites were hacked for a brief period of time, but the attacks continued in to the afternoon.The #OpIsrael site itself was briefly hacked by Israeli retaliatory activists, who posted pro-Israeli history as well ...

They promised an international bare breasted revolution and FEMEN’s flashers are certainly giving it their all. Sour security guards at Tunisian embassies across the world have come face to face with a barrage of boobs. So far, so blonde: we’ve yet to see any action in the Arab world but it’s probably a case of shoddy web connections rather than mass indifference to FEMEN’s crusade. Check out the latest from Topless Jihad events in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Ukraine, as the Eurochicks show their support for Amina Tyler ...

From far, far away in a European corner of the globe comes an alternative call to Jihad. This is not just Jihad; this is Topless Jihad . Women of miscellaneous heritage but from the collective ‘sextremists’ FEMEN - strewn between hubs in the Ukraine, Sweden and Paris - are enjoining their supporters to strip off in the battle with the ‘Islamists’. The Ukrainian feminist protest group are known for their topless tactics in their struggle against man- made injustice. According to their website, they "defend with their breast sexual and ...

Hailing from the nation that prides itself on its rambunctious sense of humour, Bassem Youssef has kept Egypt's liberals laughing throughout a tricky period of transition . The self-styled Jon Stewart of Egyptian television has firmly stuck his satirical boot into the country's leadership, as they struggle with economic and political challenges in the tumultuous post-revolutionary climate. A demi-god among his supporters, Bassem's polarising brand of humour has made him enemies among the country's conservative Islamist political class. Public denouncements of the star were followed by an arrest warrant being ...