society | AW

Morocco

Moroccan activists gather during a demonstration in Casablanca against threats to a group of teenage Belgian volunteers who wore shorts while working at a construction site in the south of the country. (AFP)

Belgian volunteers in shorts spark controversy about radicalisation in Morocco

Saudi Arabia

Saudi women arrive at Abha Airport in the popular Saudi mountain resort of the same name. (AFP)

Saudi women gain new freedoms, including right to travel, access to work opportunities

Egypt

The Bent Pyramid marked a turning point from the step-sided pyramids to the smooth-sided ones. (Joan Carles Tarda)

Egypt’s famous Bent Pyramid, a marvel of ancient geometry

Marc Espanol-34622

Iraq

Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration demanding better public services and jobs in Basra, last March. (AP)

Iraq’s growing community of atheists no longer peripheral

Gulf

A vendor reads a newspaper as he sells melons and watermelons in a market in Riyadh. (Reuters)

Distribution of print newspapers halted in Saudi Arabia

Muslims

An Egyptian-American family and their friends enjoy dinner at their house in Manalapan, New Jersey. (Reuters)

Why Arabs in the West cannot integrate into host societies

Khulud Abu Homos

TV and film production veteran Khulud Abu Homos. (Courtesy of Khulud Abu Homos)

The changing face of region’s TV landscape

Khadija Hamouchi

Egypt

People ride a small boat past an oil spill in the Nile River in Cairo. (AFP)

Cairo needs more awareness, strict regulations to protect environment

Hassan Abdel Zaher

Iraq

Iraqi TV drama star Mahmoud Abu al-Abbas, center, and actors prepare to perform their roles in "The Hotel, at a filming location in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP)

TV drama ‘Al Funduq’ stirs controversy in Iraq