The National • 28th April 2022

Beyond Yerevan: touring Armenia's unexplored wilderness

On the streets of Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, harsh Soviet structures belie the centuries-old history, rich culture and breathtaking wilderness that this small Caucasian country has to offer. Home to at least six microclimates, the 30,000-square-kilometre, landlocked territory of only three million people offers scenery and outdoor adventures that are unrivalled even in much larger countries.

The Times • 18th April 2022

Khashoggi fiancée’s fury over trial move to Riyadh

The fiancée of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said yesterday that she was angry “against everything” after she lost an appeal to overturn a Turkish court’s decision to move the trial of his alleged killers to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018. The case, which opened in 2020, was halted when Riyadh refused to send the 26 suspects to stand trial.

The Times • 6th April 2022

Roman Abramovich ‘asking Hollywood friends for help’ as sanctions hit hard

After Russia invaded Ukraine, Roman Abramovich found himself cast in the role of international peace negotiator. Now the oligarch is said to be struggling with another unexpected turn, as a billionaire going cap-in-hand to US friends for a loan.

The Times • 2nd April 2022

After a week of Isis terror, holiday clash puts Israel on high alert for Hamas violence

Israel has been caught “off-guard” by a spate of Isis attacks that have put the country on its highest state of alert since riots last year, security officials have warned. Lone wolf and copycat attacks attributed to Isis have seen the death of 11 Israelis in one week across three separate attacks in what Naftali Bennett, the country’s prime minister, has called “a new wave of terrorism”.

The Telegraph • 27th March 2022

How Dubai became the last safe haven for rich Russians

In the bathroom of Dubai’s Caviar Kaspia restaurant, a statuesque Russian blonde reapplies her make-up from her Gucci handbag and checks her diamonds in the mirror. Anastasia, as she introduces herself, is new in town, having moved to Dubai with her husband she describes simply as a “businessman”. Moscow is home, she says, but they have arrived in the desert emirate to see out the Ukraine war.

The Times • 22nd March 2022

Freed Isis sympathiser kills four in knife rampage

Four Israelis were killed and at least two others seriously injured yesterday when a former prisoner with Isis sympathies went on a stabbing rampage before being shot dead by a passer-by. Israeli police said the attacker arrived at a petrol station in the southern city of Beersheba and stabbed a woman before getting in a car and running over a man riding on a bicycle. He left the car again and stabbed a man and a woman before being pursued by witnesses, one of whom shot him.

The Times • 14th March 2022

Iran claims revenge on Israel with missile strike on Iraqi city of Arbil

Iran has fired at least a dozen missiles into the Iraqi city of Arbil, striking areas close to a new United States consulate. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that Sunday morning’s attack was targeting bases being used by for training by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.

The Times • 23rd February 2022

Oxygen therapy helps brain repair itself after PTSD

When you’re feeling low, getting a dose of fresh air is a well-known restorative for mind, body and soul. Now a group of Israeli scientists have taken that premise to the extreme, claiming that they can significantly reduce the severity of post-traumatic stress disorder by immersing sufferers in oxygen-rich conditions that help “heal” the mind.

The Times • 8th February 2022

Dubai security row grounds Israeli flights

Israeli airlines are suspending flights to and from Dubai after a clash between the secret police service Shin Bet and its Emirati counterparts. The dispute about security is the first big hiccup in the “normalisation” agreement that led to Israel’s recognition by some Gulf states in 2020.

The Times • 31st January 2022

Abu Dhabi expats left shaken after attempted missile strike by Houthis

When he woke up to the sound of explosions at 4.20am, Dean Williams immediately feared the worst. He had been living in Abu Dhabi with his wife for nearly 12 years, but as the building shook, he began to question whether they were still safe living in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates capital.

Time • 17th January 2022

Eco Activist Sagarika Sriram Is Making Change Through Small Actions

Sagarika Sriram was just 10 years old when she started reading newspaper stories about a planet in peril—one about a whale that washed ashore after an oil spill, another about turtles found with plastic in their stomachs. She knew right then that she wanted to do something to take action, and joined an environmental group that organized cleanup campaigns in her home city of Dubai.

The Times • 27th December 2021

Iran executes 100 young people a year, human rights group says

Human rights groups estimate that as many as 100 youngsters are secretly executed in Iran each year in breach of international law, with more than 85 currently on death row for crimes allegedly committed as children.

The Times • 18th December 2021

Qatari feminist Noof al-Maadeed ‘locked up in psychiatric hospital’

A Qatari women’s rights activist is allegedly being held in a psychiatric hospital against her will, a family member claims, raising fears over her safety. Noof al-Maadeed, 23, fled to Britain in 2019 after years of domestic violence, documenting her escape from Qatar on social media. She returned on October 13, with her silence on social media raising fears the activist had either been detained or killed.

The National • 20th November 2021

On-board Flynas's first international flight to AlUla

Direct flights from the UAE to the historical destination of AlUla in Saudi Arabia launched this weekend, opening up one of the Gulf’s most mysterious and untouched destinations, dubbed “the world’s largest living museum”.

Business Traveller ME • 1st November 2021

Larnaca Making Waves

This small coastal Cypriot city is emerging as a diversified business hub with a mega port and marine project putting it on the regional transportation map.

The Times • 18th October 2021

Opening night in Dubai for the QE2, now the world’s largest floating nightclub

Beautiful women in designer gear stepped out of Lamborghinis, Bugattis and Ferraris alongside stylishly dressed young men last night, eager to set foot in Float Dubai, the emirate’s latest nightspot, where a bottle of Dom Perignon starts at £975 on a champagne list that goes up to £78,000 for a Methuselah (six litres) of Dom Perignon Rosé Gold.

The Times • 4th October 2021

Hundreds of cheetahs a year smuggled from Africa as pets for palaces

Saudi Arabian royals and their ultra-rich friends are driving a boom in smuggling cheetahs from Africa as the ultimate status symbol, an investigation has revealed.

Business Traveller ME • 1st October 2021

Europe's Best Kept Secret

Armenia is a hidden gem brimming with travel and trade possibilities.

The Telegraph • 24th September 2021

Israeli police to be permanently based in UAE in historic first

Israel is setting up a permanent police presence in the UAE to tackle a surge in Israeli gangsters in the Gulf state, an unprecedented act of co-operation after the two nations formalised ties just a year ago.

The Times • 21st September 2021

Party ships will stop Qatar 2022 World Cup fans going dry in the desert

Doha is basing its tournament on a Californian music festival with A-list musicians and parties on a seafront studded with skyscrapers. Doha has ordered the country, which is dry to Muslims, to triple the number of bars for foreigners.