Riyadh- The Saudi kingdom’s General Authority for Entertainment officially announced a four-year project to launch the Kingdom’s first entertainment theme park. Mr. Ahmed Bin Aqeel Al Khatib, the kingdom’s royal advisor for the Authority for Entertainment, revealed that the anticipated theme p
London- Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s notorious special task force commander Qasem Soleimani reiterated his defense of the Syria war Iran is fighting at his comrade-in-arms Hossein Hamadani’s memorial service. Qasem Soleimani is an Iranian senior military officer in the Army of the Guardians of the
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a surpise choice after Colombians voted against his peace deal in a referendum. Announcing their decision in Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel committee praised Santos’ “resolute efforts to bring the country’s more
“Catastrophic” is the word several U.S. officials use privately to discuss the latest developments in Syria, in which a savage Russian bombing campaign has brought Aleppo near the point of surrender. Yet even as members of the Obama administration acknowledge the horror, they remain wary of options
Rabat- Moroccans went to the polls on Friday to elect a new parliament, which is made up of 395 seats. The elections are considered to be the second held since the Moroccan constitutional referendum in 2011. Around 16 million Moroccans are eligible to vote, with 30 parties competing for seats. Turno
Russia said Friday its security forces killed six militants in the volatile North Caucasus including an envoy from ISIS who had spent time in Syria and had been planning terrorist attacks. Special forces of the FSB security police “neutralized” four fighters in Nazran, the largest city i
Libya- As a four wheel vehicle mounted by three fighters and a 14.5 machine gun departed from Sirte’s port, a trail of nine similar automobiles followed. Soldiers riding the convoy raised ‘V’ signs and chanted quotes of victory—they had just returned from battle with ISIS’ ultra-hardline militants.
Forty-four Afghan troops visiting the United States for military training have gone missing in less than two years, presumably in an effort to live and work illegally in America, Pentagon officials said. Although the number of disappearances is relatively small — some 2,200 Afghan troops have
Has the style of football improved? José Mourinho’s declaration that he would be aggressive and play front-foot football is largely the story of his opening seven games. There have been some stodgy and low days – the 3-1 defeat at Watford chief among them – but in the main United are not the dull, o
Washington, Brussels – International donors have pledged $15.2 billion in aid to help Afghanistan until 2020. The European Union, co-hosting a donor conference in Brussels, struggled to raise the funds, given the increasingly powerful insurgency and widespread corruption in Afghanistan. Over 7
Turkish police have detained a suspected militant from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who is believed to have carried out a “motorbike bomb” attack that wounded 10 people near an Istanbul police station, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday. The woman suspect was c
Aden, Jeddah-Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi rebels have accepted a 72-hour ceasefire truce. But, based on previous experiences, several observers informed about the situation in the country have expressed doubt about Houthis’ respect of the truce. The sources said rebels accepted
Riyadh- Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday it will pay for the treatment of 150 Syrian children injured in Aleppo. Treatment will take place in border hospitals in Turkey, according to a press statement issued by the Kingdom’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The statement said that injured
Moscow, Beirut-U.S. diplomats and officials revealed on Thursday that President Barack Obama was in the process of introducing more sanctions against the Assad regime, saying those sanctions would first be implemented at the U.N. level against parties responsible for using chemical weapons in their
Riyadh–Turkish Development Minister Lutfi Elvan said that Turkey and Saudi Arabia were examining practical measures to face the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which was adopted by the U.S. Congress in September. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Thursday, the Turk
Cairo-The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its fiscal report uncovering that global debt had increased to $152 trillion at the end of last year, a new record that countries must face. The report said that global public and private debts had reached 225 percent of global GDP, an increas
Those following the development of Russo-Iranian relations may have been surprised by the current intensification of exchanges between the two neighbors. Since the start of this year, the two sides have exchanged no fewer than 40 high-level official visits including some at ministerial and president
U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura for Syria sounded an offer on Thursday to go to eastern Aleppo and escort up to 1,000 anti-regime fighters out of the city to try to bring an end to bombardment by Russian and Syrian forces. Mr. Mistura said history would judge Syria and Russia if they used the
A bomb attached to a motorbike detonated close a police station in southwest Istanbul on Thursday . Ten people were wounded by the blast, the provincial governor said. The blast occurred in the Yenibosna neighborhood, several kilometers from Istanbul Ataturk Airport, the country’s largest. Tel
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday officially and collectively nominated former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres to be the next Secretary-General, recommending that the 193-member General Assembly appoint him for five years from Jan. 1, 2017. Guterres was prime minister of Por
