Around him stood an entourage of fierce-looking, dark-skinned barefoot men in similar attire, each with a sword or dagger bound to his waist by a gold-encrusted belt.

ECONOMIST: Colonel Bill Eddy

But she snaps out of her dreaminess to become an impulsive young woman bent on revenge, hacking at her hair with her sword in the hope that she will be taken more seriously by the men whose world she has chosen to share.

ECONOMIST: A maid for all reasons

An officer with a drawn sword marched in front as he walked with President Mahmoud Abbas in front of a row of men.

BBC: Obama tries to reassure Palestinians