Petra Tabeling News Today

Daniel Barenboim is on tour with his Israeli-Arab orchestra in times of war. He regards it as an "independent republic" – and he has a message to pass on that is otherwise all but drowned out by the noise of the battlefield. By Sonja Zekri

In 1970, when Sultan Qaboos came to power, Oman had only two schools, not one of them for girls. Today, the country's public university protects itself from the female onslaught with a men's quota. Charlotte Wiedemann reports

Shirin Neshat is probably Iran's best-known artist. In her suggestive, mythologically charged photographs and films, she often deals with gender differences in the Islamic world and, as a result, is frequently accused of using clichés. By Amin Farzanefar

Shirin Neshat is probably Iran's best-known artist. In her suggestive, mythologically charged photographs and films, she often deals with gender differences in the Islamic world and, as a result, is frequently accused of using clichés. By Amin Farzanefar

The world community and local politics should pay more heed to Afghan culture, says Farhad Darya, the internationally known pop star and UN ambassador. He explained the reasons in an interview with Eleonore von Bothmer, and also talked about the power of music

Mona Khalaf, former Director of the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World, Lebanon, admonishes that Arab women have not yet come out of the private sphere of family and clan and into the public sphere. A portrait by Diala Gemayel

As the pioneers of a young music scene, DAM are the first Palestinian hip hoppers to gain international recognition. Their rap challenges extremism and violence. Stefan Franzen spoke with Tamer Nafar, the founder of the trio from Lod near Tel Aviv

States in the Gulf like Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi-Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are nowhere near achieving the implementation of equal rights for women in society. Foreign female workers in particular are almost treated like slaves

Edward Said published his seminal work Orientalism thirty years ago. For western academics, the book emerged as the manifesto of theoretical decolonisation – but how was his intellectual legacy received in the Arab world? Markus Schmitz has the answers

Emotions are running high in Turkey due to a new television series that supposedly paints an embarrassing picture of the private life of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, thus tarnishing the image of the Ottoman Empire. Jürgen Gottschlich in Istanbul has the details