Myths about rapid spread of the Black Death influenced by single “literary tale”, experts show
Myths about how the Black Death travelled quickly across Asia, ravaging Silk Route communities, date back to a single fourteenth-century...
Middle East
Moving exhibition shows encroachment of smartphone addiction into rural Iran
A moving new exhibition shows the encroachment of smartphone addiction into rural Iran, and the surreal impact of the internet...
Taliban “maintaining a balancing act” in relationships with other local jihadi groups, study shows
Taliban leaders have chosen to maintain a delicate balancing act in their relationships with other local violent jihadi groups since...
Major new archaeological excavations to trace early Islamic history in Saudi Arabia
Major new work by an international team of archaeologists will shed new light on early Islamic history in Saudi Arabia....
Lebanon crisis driving parents to seek unregulated “shadow” education, study shows
Political and social crisis in Lebanon has forced parents to seek unregulated “shadow” education for their children, a new study...
Tsinghua University confers rare honorary professorship on Exeter Dean
One of the world’s foremost experts on Middle Eastern politics has been awarded a rare visiting professorship by Tsinghua University....
Internal displacement in Syria used to reshape the country’s political and social landscape, new study shows
Internal displacement in Syria was used by the Assad regime to reshape the country’s political and social landscape, a new...
Lebanon multidimensional crisis diminishing trust in public education and worsening inequality, study shows
Diminished trust in public education in crisis-hit Lebanon is worsening inequality in the country and forcing parents to make difficult...
Plague transmission may have begun a century before the Black Death, study shows
Evidence from 13th-century chroniclers and physicians indicates plague may have been involved in epidemics a century before the Black Death, a...