Arabian+Peninsula

Sept 25, 2009

 * Saudi Arabia || 27,601,038 ||
 * Yemen || 23,013,376 ||
 * Syria || 19,747,586 ||
 * Israel || 7,411,000 ||
 * Jordan || 6,198,677 ||
 * United Arab Emirates || 4,798,491 ||
 * Lebanon || 3,971,941 ||
 * Oman || 3,204,897 ||
 * Qatar || 824,789 ||

Sept. 21, 2009
Yemen's current government is under threat from the Houthi rebels in the north of Yemen. This conflict has uprooted over 200,000 civilians since the fighting began in 2004. The only truly safe harbor for these refugees is in Saudi Arabia. However, it has been reported that refugees that fled to Saudi Arabia were rounded up and returned to Yemen even though they are under international law to harbor refugees if they should need to. It's obvious that they don't want refugees, but Saudi Arabia has also been talking of bringing peace back to Yemen. On top of all this commotion are the Somalia refugees seeking refuge from violence in their own country. But they won't see much better in Yemen: one of the poorest, most illiterate, not to mention unstable countries in the Middle-east. Yemen is in a pickle, tying to find places for their civilians as well as immigrants and fighting the rebel Houthi in the North. Where is the help from Saudi Arabia, and US? Yemen's president, Mr. Saleh desperately needs it.

toc =Lebanese Couples of Different Religions Can't Marry At Home=

Sept. 14, 2009
Lebanon does not allow civil marriage and requires religious authorities to oversee marriages. This could be a problem for couples of different religions seeing as how Lebanon has 18 different religions and fewer than 4 million people. But, oddly enough the government will recognize civil marriages outside of their own country. So not everyone is complaining; a travel agent has sold more than a thousand wedding packages which include flying the couple out of the country to get married and then back in after the wedding since he started three years ago. However, the majority of the people are pushing the government to allow civil marriages even though there is not likely to be a change in the foreseeable future.

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