Jamal Khashoggi

With a Saudi-led consortium edging closer to a takeover of Newcastle United from Mike Ashley, there are serious questions as to how their arrival will alter the football landscape, not just in Britain but worldwide. A club the size of Newcastle United won’t come cheap, but the bid from the…

The potential acquisition of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is in the spotlight due to the toxic mix of moral, ethical, legal and governance issues a takeover would raise. Having researched the intersection of sport, business and politics in the Middle East for over a decade, the…

Princess Stephanie of Monaco in The Champions of Magic, 1996. ©ABC/Everett CollectionKim Jong-IlAs heir to the dictatorship of North Korea, film fanatic Kim Jong-iI (he once wrote a treatise titied On the Art of Cinema) became head of his country’s movie industry. He produced patriotic operas and epics, but he…

As the Saudi takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United edges closer to completion, increasing attention has turned to Amanda Staveley, the glamorous UK financier-turned-Middle East powerbroker who is fronting the bid. The £300 million ($US370) takeover of Newcastle could be confirmed as early as this week according to reports,…

The fiancée of murdered Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi has written a letter to the Premier League chief executive Richard Masters expressing her dismay at Newcastle United’s imminent takeover, and has called for officials to step in and block the bid that is being led by the country’s Public Investment…

The kingdom has broken new ground with its decision to rein in controversial sentences involving flogging and the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. But are the changes all they are cracked up to be? Over the past three decades, Saudi Arabia's reform agenda has been driven by a…

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As the English Premier League deliberates whether to accept Saudi Arabia’s offer to purchase a majority stake in Newcastle United, it should be beware of the buyer. Today’s cash infusion could well prove tomorrow’s liability. Morally, politically and economically, English football and Britain’s citizens will pay a very high price…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia's King Salman has ordered an end to the death penalty for crimes committed by minors, according to a statement Sunday by a top official.The decision comes on the heels of another ordering judges to end the practice of flogging, replacing it with jail…

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen’s leading separatist group has declared self-rule in the south, complicating U.N. efforts to end a ruinous conflict and protect the country’s shattered health sector from the spread of COVID-19. FILE PHOTO: Southern Yemeni separatist security members patrol a street during a campaign to seize unlicensed motorcycles…