Locally...

This is one way to "reconcile" things, I guess... Certainly makes having any further discussion a moot point.

A little "blood money" goes a long way. Looks like Habib Shah won't be facing the executioner, after all.

Ya' just gotta shake your head in bewilderment, sometimes... This pathetic child young woman just wants a divorce and she can't get one. Honestly, the culture here, in The Sandbox, is difficult for me to even comprehend, sometimes. If this 19-year old girl was married six years ago, she was ONLY 13!!! And her own father forced her to marry a man who was SIXTY-ONE years older than her?!? Oh, sure. She got a "big dowry," for it: SR130,000 [$34,852.54 in U.S. currency]. Unfathomable. [Eleven sentences to the entire article and one of them has to state, "After which she was still a virgin." Guess that must be a pertinent part of the entire story, or it wouldn't have been included as one of those eleven...]

Drugs and alcohol are "haram," in The Sandbox. Drug smugglers are executed, and the if your are caught smuggling alcohol you are immediately be thrown in jail. That doesn't seem to be enough of a deterrent, apparently, as "smugglers" continue to try to get contraband in here. [Obviously, there must be some sort of demand for it, or there wouldn't be any reason to try to get the supply in. Right?] Hmmph. Guess this is why Customs officials felt the need to scrutinize so carefully the dog food I had sent here!

...this probably won't fall under the category of "need to know." I'm not even going to comment, except to say that I'm surprised it was even published!