Yemeni forces have resumed air-strikes against Al Qaeda in the country’s tribal regions. The U.S. recently pledged $150 million in military aid to train and equip Yemeni security forces. The move was meant to help fight a group called Al Qaeda

NPR: A Test for Saudi Arabia’s Terrorist Rehab program

Feb 15th, 2010

In a recent audio statement, the group behind the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airline called on Muslims to attack Americans wherever they find them. The man who was speaking for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, Said Ali

NPR: Saudis Lukewarm To Karzai’s Taliban Peace Plan

Feb 4th, 2010

Afghan president Hamid Karzai met the king of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday night to ask for help with his plan to make peace with the Taliban. Saudi Arabia is one of three countries that recognized the Taliban when it controlled Afghanistan in the

NPR: Saudi Arabia Claims Victory Over Yemeni Rebels

Jan 28th, 2010

Saudi Arabia is declaring victory in its three month war against tribal rebels in neighboring Yemen. The rebels say they have withdrawn from Saudi territory and they’ve offered a ceasefire. But gunfire and mortar shelling are still audible from

NPR: Sorcery Charges On The Rise In Saudi Arabia

Dec 21st, 2009

Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death a Lebanese man who hosted a popular TV show where he gave callers advice and sometimes predicted the future. His charge? Sorcery. Human rights groups say such cases are on the rise in the strictly religious c

NPR: Saudi Arabia Tries to Stall Global Emissions Limits

Dec 10th, 2009

One major trouble-maker at the Copenhagen climate conference this week is Saudi Arabia. The oil-producing giant has long played what many environmental groups call an obstructionist role in climate-change negotiations. Saudis fear that reducing

Sometimes It’s Good to Leave the House

Dec 6th, 2009

Learned about carpets today, from Abdullah, the son of a son of a carpet-seller, in the souk al-Zill, down in old Riyadh. I liked the red ones made by Turkmen tribes. Apparently red is cheap and so is wool. I loved the white, delicate rugs of Q

NPR: Saudis Flee Border Fighting With Yemen Rebels

Dec 3rd, 2009

My story about Saudi involvement in Yemen civil war aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition” today:At the Saudi-Yemen borderWith Wael and the goats at the refugee camp in Jizan

NPR: Ambitious New University Opens In Saudi Arabia

Nov 16th, 2009

With a $10 billion endowment, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is one of the wealthiest universities in the world. The idea is to foster research that will diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy, and to be an oasis

NPR: Flu Threat Looms As Mecca Readies For Pilgrims

Nov 6th, 2009

Anxious health officials in Saudi Arabia say that for the first time in recorded history, a global pandemic could affect the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.Hajj and swine flu

NPR: Saudis Question ‘Soft’ Strategy Toward Militants

Oct 15th, 2009

In August, a known member of Al Qaeda attempted to assassinate the counter-terrorism chief in Saudi Arabia. The bomber’s ability to conceal his weapon inside his body worries Western security analysts. The attack is also having an impact inside

NPR: Will Saudi Arabia Lift The Veil For Tourism? by Kelly McEvers

Aug 8th, 2009

You might not think of Saudi Arabia as a major tourist destination. But the vast Arabian peninsula is home to a number of natural and historic sites, including an ancient Nabatean city second only to Petra, in Jordan. While the Saudi government

NPR: Water Resources Dwindle For Dairy Farm In Saudi Arabia

Jun 14th, 2009

We take you to one of the biggest dairy farms in the world. Catch is, it’s in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert. The dairy was founded decades ago, when Arab countries wanted to become self-sufficient. These days the question isn’t whether

NPR: Sectarian Tensions Rise In Persian Gulf Region

Apr 9th, 2009

In eastern Saudi Arabia, a Shiite cleric recently said the oil-rich province should secede from the kingdom if discrimination against Shiites continues. And just next door in the island nation of Bahrain, Shiites are protesting almost nightly a

Working: The Marriage Broker

Feb 12th, 2009

Let’s say you’re a single man living in South Korea and you want to get married. There’s a shortage of girls in your country, because your culture favors male children. What do you do? You go to Vietnam, where there’s a surplus of girls … and b

Working: The Pirate

Oct 30th, 2008

It’s really hard to be a pirate.Agus the pirate

Working: The Sex Worker

Aug 14th, 2008

Where there’s oil, there’s money. Where there’s money, there’re men. Where there’re men, there are prostitutes. Welcome to Baku, one of the world’s newest oil-boom towns, a place where sex workers like “Samanta” flee their own troubled countrie

Working: The Smuggler

Apr 3rd, 2008

We know that the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Iran, banning the sale of American good there, among other things. We also know that American goods find their way into Iran anyway. How? Often by way of Dubai — Iran’s neighbor across the Persian

Working: The Cadaver-handler

Mar 3rd, 2008

I read about these guys in Yaroslav Trofimov’s book, Faith at War, a compilation of his articles for the Wall Street Journal in the Islamic world after 9/11. The idea was this: Nearly one-fourth of Saudi Arabia’s population is made up of foreig

Working: The Fixer

Apr 3rd, 2007

I met this guy in Beirut, just after the Israel-Hezbollah war in late 2006. He was my first profile for the award-winning Marketplace series, “Working.” I enjoyed my time with him … until I realized he was a crook. Tarek the fixer