ADEN – ISIS militants claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing outside Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s residence in the southern city of Aden on Thursday that killed at least six people. Officials said Hadi was inside his residence at the Maashiq Palace at the time of t
Reuters – Oil prices will average just over $40 this year, the biggest cut to monthly forecasts in a year, as an influx of Iranian barrels hits an already-saturated world market, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The survey of 29 economists and analysts forecast benchmark North Sea Brent crude
MOSCOW – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on Friday played down expectations that Russia could coordinate with OPEC to arrest the fall in oil prices by reducing production, saying the state would not intervene to balance the market. Oil prices have jumped in the past 48 hours af
LONDON – An EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined ISIS in Syria is suspected of planting a bomb on a Russian passenger plane that was blown out of Egypt’s skies in late October, according to sources familiar with the matter. So far Egypt has publicly said it has found no evidence that th
Washington, Asharq Al-Awsat – Robert Malley has one of the toughest jobs in Washington; he is responsible for getting the struggling campaign against ISIS on track and is also the White House’s coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. In an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Ma
In a series of meetings conducted in Libya, Asharq Al-Awsat focused on the details of money and arm conflicts between leaders of different militias in Tripoli. Informed sources talked about a meeting that was held between two top leaders of Libyan militias during which they discussed the process of
Iranian and European opponents of Iranian policies yesterday chose to organise demonstrations in six western countries; Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Belgium and Canada in response to the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Paris yesterday at the beginning of his tour of Europe which is c
BAGHDAD- Iraqi authorities have uncovered a mass grave in Ramadi containing at least 40 bodies, including women and children, apparently killed by ISIS insurgents when they seized the city in May, police and provincial officials said. Footage posted on the Facebook page of the provincial police on W
BEIRUT – The powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its local allies have drawn up plans for a major attack to seize the final stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border held by ISIS fighters, a YPG source familiar with the plan said on Thursday. Such an offensive could deprive ISIS fighters of a l
Britain has decided to take in some unaccompanied refugee children from Syria, North Africa and other conflict areas, the Home Office (interior ministry) said on Thursday, without specifying an exact number. The British government has already pledged to receive 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. More t
CAIRO – Egyptian security has found nothing suspicious on board a passenger plane that was held up for searches at Cairo airport on Thursday afternoon following a bomb threat, security sources said. The EgyptAir plane had been due to depart for Istanbul at 1355 (1155 GMT) but was halted after
ADEN – A suicide car bomb killed seven people outside Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Rabbu Hadi’s residence in the southern city of Aden on Thursday, local officials and eyewitnesses said. “A suicide car bomb targeted a security checkpoint about 500 metres (yards) from the Maas
MOSCOW – Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem will head a government delegation at peace talks with the country’s opposition later this week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Wednesday. Preparations for the latest efforts to end Syria’s five-year-old civi
The Iranian President’s visit to France on the 27th and 28th of January raises once again the question of the relationship between France, the homeland of human rights with repressive dictatorships. The French are not misled by the Iranian regime and believe overwhelmingly that it is a repressive re
Brussels- Saudi Arabia has ranked 48th in the Transparency International Index (TI) organization, in terms of its anti-corruption drive; thus, upward seven positions compared to 55th in 2014 with a score of 52 compared to 49 in the previous year, according to the TI Corruption Perception Index (CPI)
Kabul- The Iranian growing presence in the region is not recent, and can be traced back to decades ago, ever since the revolution successfully took over Iran. Evidently, after war ripping through its bordering neighbor, Iran took advantage of recruiting an approximate two million Afghani refugees, s
The 15th Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF) organizing committee revealed that the forum’s activities will be in keeping with King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s vision for the national transformation program. The forum also highlights the Council of Economic and Development Affairs’ program aiming at reinforcing
ANKARA – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan laid out his case for a new constitution and a more powerful presidency on Thursday, saying it was not a matter of personal ambition but a necessity in a country whose parliamentary system he said was out of date. Erdogan, who won Turkey’s first
ZURICH – The number of foreigners moving to Switzerland fell last year while emigration rose, bringing a second consecutive slowdown in net immigration, although the number of requests for asylum jumped by two-thirds. Nearly a quarter of Switzerland’s population is foreign and immigratio
BESMAYA – U.S.-led coalition forces training Iraqi soldiers to fight ISIS are applying lessons from last month’s recapture of Ramadi to prepare the army to retake the northern city of Mosul later this year. Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism forces pushed the insurgents out of most of
