It must be very difficult being a minister in the administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. The leader is constantly making declarations that his ministers immediately must backtrack on the next day.

Iraq has been in a hell of a mess since the US invasion and occupation in 2003. The dictator, Saddam Hussein, was overthrown easily, and it allowed the Shiite majority to take power. There is no doubt that very few Iraqis shed tears over the death of Saddam.

The annual Guide to Sleeping in Airports, which is compiled by Canadian blogger Donna McSherry since 1996, has named Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport as the worst for overall experience. This should not be a surprise to anyone who has gone through it recently.

I read with pleasure the report that the Supreme Judicial Council issued an order to all the courts to not handle marriage dispute issues that have to do with the genealogy of the partners involved.

The results of the first round of municipal elections held across Brazil last Sunday were a blow to the Workers’ Party of former President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva and recently impeached President Dilma Rousseff.

The news of death and destruction coming from Aleppo this week has been relentless. The images and stories of the more than 338 people killed in that city, including more than 100 children, and the huge number of wounded — 846 — (261 of them children) is heartbreaking.

The just-concluded visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif to New York as head of the Saudi delegation to the 71st session of the UN General Assembly came at a time when the Kingdom is facing serious challenges on several fronts in its long relationship with the US.

With the Haj pilgrimage just successfully completed in Makkah with no serious injuries this year, without any Iranian pilgrims, and with Saudi Arabia successfully fighting to stop Iranian domination of Syria and Yemen from taking place, the Iranian government has decided once again to lash out at

The surprise inspection of government offices in Dubai on the morning of Aug. 28 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the UAE’s prime minister and ruler of Dubai, found that many managers were not at their desks working.

The Philippines is experiencing a wave of extrajudicial executions of small drug dealers since the new president of the republic, Rodrigo Duterte, was inaugurated on June 30.