Cairo- Egypt President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi defended mega projects carried out by the government, arguing that the skeptics were seeking to undermine the will of Egyptians. During his participation in the first anniversary of the inauguration of an expansion of the Suez Canal, al-Sisi said that afte
Two days after the leakage of an official ministerial order issued by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, which states that the Shiite militia, known as the Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), will officially become part of the Iraqi army and will play a similar role as the current Iraq
While the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government launched an overhaul to complete their control over the army, judiciary, intelligence institutions, and are preparing for their battle to achieve constitution’s amendments or a new constitution, that may indicate the start of a new
Istanbul- As Mohammed al-Masri surveyed the cluttered room, his father stepped in behind him. “I asked my father, ‘What are you doing here?’ ” Masri said, recalling an exchange that took place more than 20 years ago in eastern Afghanistan. His father’s response was cryptic: “When you grow up, God wi
On Saturday, Houthis and the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh jointly announced the formation of a supreme council of 10 members to govern Yemen in rotation. Both parties will rotate the position of the president and the vice president. But what does this new insurgents’ step mean? The sure thing
When the Tunisian President Beji Qaid Sebsi surprised his people two months ago by announcing the initiative of composing a national unity government and said that the country needs a strong trauma, no one expected that he will nominate the Local Affairs Minister Youssef al-Shahed as Prime Minister
Aden- U.N. envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed announced on Saturday the end of Yemen peace talks in Kuwait, but said negotiation between the two Yemeni warring sides will resume within a month. “We depart Kuwait today but the Yemen peace talks continue. The structure and mechanism will change d
Aden – Yemeni National Army Forces, backed by the coalition air forces, began a wide-ranged military operation in Nihm district. The operation called “Liberation is our Pledge” comes as a response to the insurgents’ violations. A Yemeni military source told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the operati
London – Director Fernando Meirelles was faced with a great challenge when he was assigned to orchestrate the Rio Olympics opening ceremony. The director of the award-winning film “City of God” and “The Constant Gardener” is known for dealing with crime and violence in his films. So what it is that
A leading Iranian Sunni Muslim cleric said that the recent execution of Sunnis could possibly lead to sectarian tensions in the Gulf region, while Tehran allegedly claimed that it was merely taking a tough stance on foreign-backed terrorism. Iran executed up to 20 Sunnis after accusing them of attac
The town of Tor Al-Baha, described by its governor Ulwan Al-Atri as the first line of defence for the temporary capital Aden, is suffering from poverty, unemployment and a lack of food after violent military confrontations between Popular Resistance forces and the rebels have been ongoing since the
Opposition fighters in Syria pressed on with an intense offensive launched against a major pro-regime armed complex in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday, following gains on Friday, to try to end a siege of opposition-held areas in the city’s east. Syrian opposition combatants are
Yemen’s legitimate government has asked international financial institutions to prevent central bank officials from accessing state funds held in overseas banks, the state-run sabanew.net news agency reported on August 8. The measure comes to prevent the Yemen crisis from aggravating, where a
The Sudanese government announced the closure of schools associated with Turkish opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen’s movement which is known as a “parallel entity”. The closure is a response to the Turkish government’s request to close the schools, and they will be turned into schools run by a Sudan
Southern Sudan yesterday rejected UN accusations that its soldiers raped and killed civilians during the ethnic violence that erupted in the capital Juba and elsewhere last month. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein said on Thursday that “We have documented at least
Riyadh- Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) statistics have revealed the pick-up of Saudi factories number up to 5% in the end of 2015 compared with its total in the end of 2013. Total number of factories reached around 7,000 end of 2015 compared with 6,670 factories in 2013, which indicates that S
Tel Aviv- A large task-force at the Israel Prison Service (IPS) attacked hundreds of Palestinian prisoners carrying out assaults against them and transferring inmates out of prisons. The wave of attacks will cause unrest potentially leading to a blow-back and the return of protests among prisoners.
Cairo- The army loyal to the government based in the east Libya announced breaking off relations with commander of 204 tanks brigade and the defense minister-designate of the UN-proposed government Colonel Al-Mahdi Al-Barghathi. The commander of the Libyan National Army Khalifa Haftar issued a resol
The distance between Jeddah and Taif, the city of roses, grapes and pomegranates, is a hundred kilometres and you can travel between the two cities by either aeroplane or car. I was going to interview King Faisal bin Abdulaziz (may he rest in peace) and for this reason I was accompanied by a photogr
Tel Aviv- Israel’s former President Shimon Peres has announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution. Peres, 93, called in Jaffa for the prompt resumption of the negotiations that have led to an agreement over the bor
