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Bronze ore smelting workshops, burial grounds, clay homes, stone tools and anvils are among the items unearthed last year in archaeological digs. Several excavations at sites across Sharjah, including in Mleiha, Al Faya, Wadi Al Hilo, Tell Abraq and Dibba Al Hisn, revealed a wealth of discoveries dating from half a million years ago. In Mleiha, in the central region of the emirate, a Belgian team from Ghent University found remains of homes made of clay containing pottery, as well as burial grounds... Carbon testing showed the finds dated back between 8,000BC and the Islamic era, the authority said, though...

By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann January 06, 2016 One thing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have in common -- they both like to have big things named after them. The latest batch of emails released by the State Department uncovers a massive ego trip by the former secretary of state. Anxious to etch her name in glass, as well as in history, she and her closest aides raised $37 million from corporations and foreign governments to build a U.S. Diplomacy Center to be named after Clinton. In a Feb. 1, 2013 email -- the last days of Clinton's tenure...

Iran reveals true face by defending terror acts: KSA Published -- Sunday 3 January 2016 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry on Sunday said Tehran revealed its true face "by its defense of terrorist acts" after Iran criticized the Kingdom's execution of a Shiite cleric convicted of terrorism charges. In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the ministry accused Tehran of "blind sectarianism" and said Iran's reaction only shows that it is a "partner in their crimes in the entire region." The ministry summoned Iran's ambassador to the kingdom to protest Iran's criticism of the execution, saying it...

Saudi Arabia stews in policy hell: Spengler By David P. Goldman on January 3, 2016 in David P. Goldman, Spengler, China, Middle East, AT Top Writers Last week's mass executions in Saudi Arabia suggest panic at the highest level of the monarchy. The action is without precedent, even by the grim standards of Saudi repression. In 1980 Riyadh killed 63 jihadists who had attacked the Grand Mosque of Mecca, but that was fresh after the event. Most of the 47 prisoners shot and beheaded on Jan. 2 had sat in Saudi jails for a decade. The decision to kill the...

Saudi Arabia has announced that it is severing diplomatic ties with Iran following Saturday's attack of its embassy in Tehran during protests. Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, made the announcement on Sunday as the foreign ministry announced that it would ask the Iranian diplomatic mission to leave the kingdom within 48 hours. The Saudi foreign ministry has also announced that the staff of its diplomatic mission have been evacuated, and are now on their way back to Saudi.

BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers. The surprise move, announced in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protestors in response. Mr. Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow...

When we tell you that Iran (biblical Elam) will soon wipe Saudi Arabia off the face of the map, you better believe it, Isaiah 21 confirmed it and it will be done. Today Iran's Ayatullah threatens: "I have no doubt that this pure blood will stain the collar of the House of Saud and wipe them from the pages of history," says Iran's Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami. The threat with complete annihilation came as result when King Salman of Saudi Arabia today executed an Ayatullah figure named Nimr Al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia. So like birth pangs, this speeds up the end...

The Latest: Iran politician predicts 'maelstrom' in Saudi RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - The latest developments following Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 people, including a prominent opposition Shiite cleric who had rallied demonstrations in the kingdom (All times local). /snip In comments posted on Iranian state television's website, Ali Larijani said, "Nimr's martyrdom will put Saudi Arabia in a maelstrom. Saudi will not pass through this maelstrom."

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continued his diatribe against Saudi Arabia following the execution of of prominent Shi’ite Cleric Nimr-Al-Nimr. “The hand of God will take vengeance against Saudi leaders,” Khamenei said on Sunday morning. Khamenei told Iranian national TV that “for the unjust spilling of blood of this holy man, who suffered and was downtrodden, there will no doubt be heavenly vengeance taken upon Saudi politicians.” Khamenei also said that it was “a political mistake” taken by the Saudis, who are the greatest political and religious rival to Iran in the Persian gulf. Additionally, Khamenei’s website published an...

Saudi Arabia's mass execution of 47 prisoners — including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr — triggered unrest across the Middle East on Saturday, particularly in Iran, where protesters stormed and ransacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Photos and video footage posted on Twitter by Iranian journalist Sobhan Hassanvand showed a mob of angry demonstrators smashing windows and setting fire to the Saudi diplomatic outpost in the Iranian capital. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also condemned the executions. "I'm shocked & saddened at Sheikh Nimr's execution by Saudi authorities," he wrote on Twitter. "Peaceful opposition is a fundamental right. Repression does...

Saudi Arabia has faced global condemnation after it was revealed on 2 January, that 47 people at prisons around the country, including 56-year-old al Nimr, were executed. Most of the detainees had been captured after a series of attacks by al Qaeda between 2003 and 2006. Mr Nimr, who was a driving force behind the anti-government protests, was found guilty of a number of terrorism-related charges in 2014, including incitement of vandalism and sectarian strife, failing to obey or pledge allegiance to King Abdullah (then monarch of Saudi Arabia), calling for the collapse of the state, and insulting relatives and...

Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to part of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday after Saudi Arabia executed an outspoken Shiite cleric who had criticized the kingdom’s treatment of its Shiite minority. Protesters broke furniture and smashed windows in an annex to the embassy, said a witness who was reached by telephone from Tehran. The protesters also set fire to the room, said the witness, who would provide only his first name, Abolfazl, because he had been involved in the protest. The police arrived and cleared the embassy grounds of protesters and extinguished the fire, he said.

Iranian protesters broke into the Saudi embassy in Tehran after launching several Molotov cocktails into the building. The rally in front of the embassy was triggered by Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Cairo (dpa) - Saudi Arabia on Saturday came under blistering criticism from the region's Shiites shortly after it executed a top Shiite cleric known for his activism against the Sunni government. Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 people the Saudi government said it had executed earlier on Saturday after their convictions on terrorism-related charges. Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional Shiite rival, criticized al-Nimr's execution, saying it was politically and religiously motivated. "Instead of focusing on [Islamic State] terrorists threatening the region and the whole world, the Saudis execute a prominent figure like al-Nimr," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jaber Ansari said, referring to...

Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 'terrorists' in one day including top Shiite cleric triggers wave of protests across Middle East and around the world Saudi Arabia has executed 47 people convicted of 'terrorism' today, including a prominent Shiite cleric behind anti-government protests, according to the interior ministry. Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a 56-year-old cleric was a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in the Sunni-ruled kingdom's east, where the Shiite minority complains of marginalisation. Scores of Shi'ite Muslims marched through the Qatif district of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province in protest at the execution of cleric Nimr...

The Islamic State released a new audio message Saturday purportedly of its leader taunting the U.S. for not sending troops to fight the so-called "caliphate" in the Middle East. In the 24-minute audio, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said the U.S. won't come to fight the extremists because "their hearts are full of fear from the mujahideen." The message was al-Baghdadi's first since May, and comes amid battlefield setbacks that ISIS has recently faced. "America and its allies dream of destroying the caliphate through their proxies and henchmen, and whenever an alliance of theirs fails or a tail is cut, they hasten...

Is Saudi Arabia to blame for the rise of the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIL)? It is commonly claimed that Wahhabism, the strict form of Islam originating in the Kingdom - and the Saudi state's aggressive promotion of it - has fuelled terrorism. Saudi Arabia is also accused of funding IS, either directly or by failing to prevent private donors from sending money to the group. But Saudi Arabia rejects both accusations, and has announced the formation of a new Islamic anti-terrorism coalition.

This week, Saudi Arabia announced that it was forming a new "Islamic military alliance" devoted to fighting global terrorism. The plan stemmed from the "keenness of the Muslim world to fight this disease, which affected the Islamic world first, before the international community as a whole," Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman told reporters during a rare news conference.In many ways, this alliance seems designed to calm Western critics who have frequently complained that the Muslim world isn't doing enough to combat terrorism and extremism. However, the details of the planned alliance are more than a little...

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday the creation of a massive anti-ISIS terror fighting intiative that joins together 34 nations. Among the nations that have united, Reuters reported: "Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and several Gulf Arab and African states. "The countries here mentioned have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, with a joint operations center based in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations," said a statement reported by the state news agency SPA. The countries that united to fight ISIS said in the joint statement they...