The craziest news I’ve heard all week…
TYLER, Texas - A man killed his girlfriend, then filleted and cooked parts of her body before calling police to tell them what he was doing, authorities said Sunday. Christopher Lee McCuin, 25, called 911 on Saturday and told an emergency dispatcher he had killed Jana Shearer, 21, and […]

…heartless people…
AMMAN - The authorities said they will intensify measures to prevent retailers from stockpiling oil derivatives as several distributors of fuel and gas were reportedly arrested and referred to court Saturday…Officials said the new measures are meant to curb a trend among some petrol station owners and gas cylinder distributors to turn back customers […]

And this is how the story ends…
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has pardoned the teenage victim of a gang rape who was sentenced to 200 lashes and jailed for six months in a case that caused an international outcry.
If confirmed, the pardon would represent a rare occasion where a Saudi ruler has publicly challenged the […]

Here’s a collection of some of my delicious links I’ve been looking at these past few days:
- “Ahmadinejad” a film by Oliver Stone: Finally, a movie that will bring together America and Iran’s far right hatred of Oliver Stone.
- Young chimp beats college students: And these were Japanese college students!
- The 50 Richest Arabs: […]

By now, everyone has heard of the Saudi girl of Qatif, who was gang raped by seven men who found her in a car with an unrelated male in 2006. By now, everyone has also heard that she was sentenced by the court to initially receive 90 lashes for being in the car in the […]

Ammoun News reported yesterday, that a GAM worker discovered a new born baby in a plastic garbage bag, just beneath the Abdoun suspension bridge. The worker heard the baby’s cries and found him shivering and blue from the cold. This is the second newborn that’s been found in the garbage in the past 2 and […]

It’s a slow news day, but a proud day, for the human race…
Man in India Marries Dog As Atonement
NEW DELHI (AP) — A man in southern India married a female dog in a traditional Hindu ceremony as an attempt to atone for stoning two other dogs to death — an act he believes cursed him […]

I was in the Jofa area this past weekend with my family when apparently this incident took place. The Jordan Times reports, in a rather confusingly-written article, that two 20-year old British female tourists were raped during their short stay in the Jordan Valley over the Eid weekend. From what I understood, the story involves […]

Black Iris PSA: After reading this, please resist the strong urge to punch a nearby wall; you’ll only break a fist.
AMMAN - The Criminal Court has sentenced a 27-year-old man to 10 years in prison after convicting him of murdering four of his sisters in Salt last year.
The tribunal declared N. M. guilty of committing […]

Many people are already aware of the story that has grasped the heartstrings of Jordanians these past few weeks. A baby girl was found in a trash bin and almost crashed by a compressor had it not been for the grace of God. The search began for her parents soon after. I was surprised (if […]

AMMAN - The Criminal Court has sentenced a 22-year-old man to 6 years and 8 months in prison after convicting him of engaging in consensual sex with a minor in November 2006 in an Amman neighbourhood.
The tribunal declared Khalid I., a Zarqa resident, guilty of engaging in sexual activities with his 17-year-old female relative 83 […]

I’ve had my own run-ins with bad hospitals in Jordan. But this is a story about the Prince Hamzah Hospital: a public hospital, and a “new and improved” one at that! Sadly, it is a reflection of the current disparaging state of the public health system that is available to most of the country that […]

An interesting hour on a slow Friday afternoon.

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A professor at Egypt’s Islamic Al-Azhar university on Monday retracted a controversial religious edict which states that a woman can only be left alone with a strange man if she breastfeeds him.
Ezzat Attia, president of the university’s Hadith department which studies traditions based on the Prophet Mohammed’s words and deeds, withdrew his fatwa and apologised […]

Wednesday April 24th. 8th honor crime victim. Amman-Zarqa highway. Brother kills 30-year-old sister because she had been missing from the family home for 1 week. 5 bullets.
Truck driver on his way to Aqaba sees a relative of his; a 14 year old boy. Stops and tells him he’ll drive him home. Takes him to a […]

A reader of the Black Iris shifted my attention towards an article in yesterday’s Al-Ghad about a Palestinian in east Gaza whose Internet cafe was targeted recently by an extremist group calling itself the “swords of justice” or “swords of righteousness”, or whatever latest creative names these goons have come up with. The cafe is […]