Slideshows

Check out our panel of Lebanon's best "babe" of 2011.

It's official, South Sudan is now a new country...

While she was rarely without a male entourage or following - having married at least 4 times in life and 14 times on the big screen- she ended her life (possibly suicidally though more likely suspiciously) as do we all, quite starkly alone, and under the violent extreme dramatic finsih of a balcony fall in London that left her dead. She was still at the time married to Maher Awad.

Salafi Islam is a disparate, ill-defined notion which describes many millions of puritanical Muslims, most of whom are not violent.

Click to view the latest entertainment news in the Arab World.

While Colonel Moammar Gaddafi's days may be numbered, he will be missed by many. Not least by Al Bawaba's entertainment channels, if just for his 'Qaddafisms': Though Gaddafi himself still does not seem about to take his last curtain call, he might soon get caught out or beaten by the overwhelming tide of opposition and NATO's strikes- as witnessed in the Yemeni leader's eventual begrudging departure. The Edtiors at Al Bawaba might secretly miss him, but we shan't be sorry to see the back of a tyant who has unleashed a magnitude of force and carnage on his own people.

Sabah, the Lebanese octogenarian queen, our darling singing and acting classic diva, who was born the less exotic 'Janet', soon shed her given names, Gergi Fighali, in favor of the stage name Sabah. She is among the most prolific Arab singers, with a reported 3,500 songs to her repertoire. Prolific in entertainment and in her private life too- through much publicised multiple marriages. Reportedly married a good 9 times, the figure is disputed in the minefield of reportage and data concerning such a celebrity, who has not helped the matter by pulling off a few stunt marriages just to keep us on our toes!

The outing of Israeli-American spy found in Tahrir Square just this month has tickled our spy sensors awake and got us craving some spy drama found only in a bygone era. Still, inpsired to revisit the not-so- ancient anals of Egyptian spy game history, we hark back to a recent spy ring in the region- specifically an Egypt/ Israel ring discovered 2009 and 2010.

The 'Gay Girl in Damascus' it turns out was neither in Damascus nor gay or female, for that matter. This story has had the media world in a bit of a frenzy in the last fortnight. It is the story of an American man in the UK studying for his masters in Middle East studies who, while distracting himself from his thesis, distracted the whole internet and news worlds with him. But while detracting us from real news on the Syrian ground, this blog fantasist also threw into relief some long-coming issues on credibility, trust and changing nature of journalism. Follow the story in pictures of so-called Amina Abdallah Araf Omari as it unfolded.

While the Arab world has been subverting the system and making some noise, Palestinians have been subdued, by and large, as the spotlight abandoned them. At the same time as unrest rages in the wider Arab world, Israel steals the opportunity to pursue its Jerusalem dream.