Author
Articles by Javier Hughes
Society & Culture
How to follow the Saudi Pro League: clubs, derbies, tickets
Eighteen clubs, an August-to-May season, a Riyadh derby with a global following and a broadcasting setup that changed regional football viewing: a practical guide to watching the Saudi Pro League from inside the kingdom or abroad.
Javier Hughes
Society & Culture
Ibn, bint, Abu: how Arabic names work
Abu Mohammed means father of Mohammed; ibn and bint chain a lineage; the al- is not always the same al-. A practical decoder for reading, filing and pronouncing Arabic names across MENA.
Javier Hughes
Society & Culture
MENA's grand museums: what to see, from the Grand Egyptian to Louvre Abu Dhabi
The Grand Egyptian Museum fully opened in November 2025 with Tutankhamun's complete collection on display; Louvre Abu Dhabi and Doha's Museum of Islamic Art anchor the Gulf's museum decade. A visitor's guide to the region's major museums.
Javier Hughes
Society & Culture
Can a Moroccan and an Omani understand each other? Arabic dialects, explained
In Modern Standard Arabic, yes. In their spoken dialects, often not without switching. How the Arabic language actually works across MENA: fusha, Darija, Egyptian media reach and the lingua franca that saves every conversation.
Javier Hughes
Society & Culture
Why MENA's weekends don't match, and who moved them
The UAE went to Saturday-Sunday in 2022 to align with world markets; Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain shifted to Friday-Saturday for the same reason a decade earlier; Egypt and the Maghreb simply differ. A map of the region's days off.
Javier Hughes