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UNCIEF defines marriage under the age of eighteen as child marriage. A survey published by the National Council for Women illustrated that in Egypt the percentage of girls being married before the age of 18.

The following link is a link to a twitter post by @Saudiwoman. The link shows an image of a female news anchor in Saudi Arabia. The poster states "I've never seen a woman news anchor (and without a headscarf!) on the Saudi National TV channel before!"

An estimated 100,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war including women, children, and other innocent bystanders. Chemical weaponry creates a different psychological aspect of immense fear that other weapons do not. It's terrifying because you can't see it or smell before it hits you. The weapons kill in minutes and are indiscriminate.

A compelling story about a young girl in Egypt who was married before the age of 17. When asked by others, she does not even know the age she is now. She

This shocking video is of an interview of a young child who was married off at the age of 10, to a 26 year old man. She describes marriage as servitude. Luckily, this is her story of fleeing the marriage 1 week before it being real.

This article talks about to relationship between Middle Eastern conflicts and the actual amount of oil produced. With the result being the same as it was before the conflict.

Article says Christians created a network that will help them reach out to Middle Eastern Christians. Often, Middle East Christians are unwelcome and sometimes persecuted.

This article is about the US not interfering in Syria. It's interesting that they have drawn such conclusions without actually interfering at all. It is also noteworthy that they provided indirect assistance to rebels before coming to such a conclusion.

Satellite views of the nuclear test facilities in Iran. Speculate that Iran has been covering traces of previous activity before the International Atomic Energy Agency came in September of 2015.

This article states that Russia and Iran have been changing the situation in Syria according to their own agendas. It is in Russia and Iran's interests to maintain Assad's rule in Syria. Consequently, the article states that the west should get involved before Russia and Iran have done too much.

This article is about the improvement of education in Yemen. Yemen is a very poor country with a large population growth. These programs have created platforms and finances to attract teachers, advocates for girls groups, advocates for education, and have pushed the literacy rate up towards 90%

Before the deadly raid of his home by the US Special Forces team, Osama Bin Laden was reported to have been notified of the early movements of our present day ISIS. The group was separating itself from Al-Qaeda and murdering Muslims who were not waging jihad.

Egypt is requiring all NGO's to seek permission from a government appointed committee before being able to receive foreign funds. The government is attempting to filter out those organizations that promote the western vision.

Even before the Houthi revolt, Yemen has had a history full of conflict. Yemen used to be two separate states that were each separately controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Britain.

Before the conflict and poverty that has been affecting the nation for years, Yemen was once a center of civilization and wealth. This article outlines the history of this tumultuous country from its beginnings as "Happy Arabia" (as the Romans used to call it) to a country divided.

Including Mr. Boudina, at least 21 fighters trained by the Islamic State in Syria have been dispatched back to Europe with the intention of causing mass murder, according to a Times count based on records from France's domestic intelligence agency. This is the latest news out of Syria and the Islamic State. The European union is very worried about future attacks form these terrorists.

Compiled by faculty members at the German University in Cairo, this working paper series addresses the effect that watsa has on competence and morality in Middle Eastern economics and society. The authors define watsa as, "the intervention of a patron in favor of a client to obtain benefits and/or resources from a third party." In simpler terms it is a system of social networking in Arab culture in which family and social ties play a significant role in the attainment of economic advantages and resources, largely in the hiring process in businesses and organizations. A person applying for a job seeks out watsa to increase their chances of getting hired. Comparable to nepotism and cronyism, but is not restricted to friends and associates, watsa can also involve strangers linked through some social web of people. Watsa runs somewhat parallel to a Chinese concept of guanxi, based on Confucian ethics and focusing on strong collective ties. While guanxi is a part of Chinese ethics it actually defies Muslim ethical values, which advocates hiring the person most capable. In a Jordanian survey, 87% of respondents want watsa eradicated. While we know that unemployment in the Arab region is widespread, we can assume that this motivates people to do anything they can to improve their chances of obtaining a job. However, the practice of watsa as a whole is actually degrading the economic systems in the Arab sates even further. The article explains the linkage between watsa and poor job performance, economic decline, and the festering of injustice and frustration among the masses in Arab countries.

This looks super interesting, but I can't get the link to open. Thanks for writing a thorough summary of it!

This artifact is a reading of Ahmed Fouad Negm's poem, "Who Are They and Who Are We?" This poem was written in light of the Egyptian revolution and is used to compare and contrast the lives of the ruling class with the working class citizens in order to inspire a sense of hope that the working class can over throw the ruling class.

I'm proud to say I got to spend an evening with Negm and a group of mutual friends in Cairo before he passed away. He told legendary jokes in spontaneous verse.

Ninety-eight percent of Egyptians voted yes for a new constitution. Sharia law was debated by the Egyptian Christians. The new constitution is seen as an improvement to the Muslim Brotherhood constitution.