*Three of the most senior clerics in Najaf–Ali Sistani, Muhammad Sa`id al-Hakim and Bahr al-`Ulum met for the past two days. They agreed that security […]

The death toll of the bombings in Casablanca as I write is being given as over 20, with 60 wounded. Casablanca is the Mediterranean commercial […]

*Baghdad mosques are emerging as safe places for civil society dialogue, according to Abd al-Latif al-Sa`dun in al-Hayat. In the Mosque of Umm al-Tabul in […]

*Iranian President Khatami praised Lebanon for its traditions of multiculturalism and its brave resistance to Israeli occupation. He said it was impossible for a major […]

*What I am hearing is that one of the targets of the Riyadh bombing was the Saudi Arabian National Guard, which is headed by Prince […]

Update: The death toll of the Riyadh blasts is 20 noncombatants, with 194 injured. Nine of the dead are Americans. Nine bombers were killed by […]

*Four huge blasts shook an eastern suburb of Riyadh where many foreigners lived on Monday night/Tuesday morning. As I write, three are dead (reportedly two […]

*The Shiite leader Ayatollah Baqir al-Hakim, newly returned from Iran, has said, “We reject an imposed government,” and, “I fear neither the Americans nor the […]

*The American team in Iraq is being shaken up big time. Barbara Bodine, a long-time diplomat and Arabist, who has effectively been the US mayor […]