Jakarta, AP—Hundreds of migrants abandoned at sea by smugglers in Southeast Asia have reached land and relative safety in the past two days. But an estimated 6,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar remain trapped in crowded, wooden boats, migrant officials and activists said Monday. Wit
Al-Khobar, Asharq Al-Awsat—Demand for oil will continue to rise for the next 25 years, driven by emerging economies, particularly those from Asia, according to Omar Abdul-Hamid, the director of OPEC’s Research Division. “News of the end of oil has been exaggerated,” Abdul-Hamid said in a recent inte
Manama, Asharq Al-Awsat—Authorities have arrested five more suspects involved in an attempt to smuggle high-grade explosives into Saudi Arabia, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said on Saturday. Bahrain’s Public Security Chief Maj Gen. Tariq Al-Hassan said the five suspects had been arrested in Bahrain i
Riyadh and Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi movement announced on Sunday it has accepted the offer of a five-day humanitarian ceasefire in the country that was offered by the anti-Houthi Saudi-led coalition on Friday. Yemen news agency SABA, which is currently controlled by
US President Barack Obama is known for his persuasive talents. Indeed, the upcoming Camp David summit may not only ease the minds of the invited Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders and calm the anger aroused by the impending Iranian nuclear agreement; it may also help turn a new page in the histo
London, Reuters—David Cameron can thank Britain’s winner-takes-all voting system for handing him an outright majority in parliament on just 37 percent of the vote. But by boosting the power of Scottish nationalists, it has also intensified one of his biggest headaches. The results of Thursday&
Can a country be at war while at the same time seek to improve its growth, development and services? Or to put it another way: Can you hold the sword in one hand, and the pen and ruler in the other? A well-established and stable state can do this, moving seamlessly between war and peace. […]
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—In a recent video posted on the Internet, Karim Wasfi, an Iraqi musician and the former conductor of Iraq’s National Symphony Orchestra, walks into a car bomb site in Baghdad with his cello and starts playing a sad, haunting melody he had especially composed for the purpose&
Baghdad, Reuters—Fifty inmates and 12 policemen were killed when a riot erupted and dozens escaped from an Iraqi prison holding hundreds of people jailed for acts of terrorism, security and police officials said on Saturday. The deaths occurred on site at the Al-Khalis prison, about 50 miles (80 kil
Cairo, Reuters—An Egyptian court sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to three years in jail without parole on Saturday in the retrial of a corruption case. Mubarak, who ruled Egypt with an iron fist for 30 years, and his sons Gamal and Alaa may not have to serve any jail time f
Asmara, Eritrea, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Arab League is moving closer to forming a joint Arab military force to deal with the conflicts raging in the region, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shokri has said. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of a state visit to Eritrea, he acknowledged t
Pyongyang, AP—North Korea said Saturday that it successfully test-fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine in what would be the latest display of the country’s advancing military capabilities. Hours after the announcement, South Korean military officials said the North fired
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia has reiterated that its domestic security is a “red-line” in response to the latest advances of Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi rebels across Yemen. Responding to the Houthis’ recent offensives in Yemen, including rockets being fired at the Saudi border ci
Jeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudia Cargo confirmed the delivery of a new Boeing 777 aircraft this month to expand its fleet to 13 planes, part of plans to outcompete other carriers from the Gulf, Saudia Cargo’s Chief Executive Nabil Khoja said. Khoja said Saudia Cargo, the Saudi national carrier’s air c
Beirut, AP—Syrian activists and a doctor reported Thursday of new suspected chemical attacks in the northwestern province of Idlib, leaving several dozens of people suffering from asphyxiation. Mohammed Tennari, a doctor who testified before the UN Security Council last month after treating a number
London, Reuters—Prime Minister David Cameron won an emphatic election victory in Britain, overturning predictions that the vote would be the closest in decades to sweep into office for another five years, with his Labour opponents in tatters. The sterling currency and share prices soared on a result
With the Turkish general election campaign starting in earnest, one might expect a range of issues to be treated by rival candidates and parties. A modernizing, fairly complex and ambitious nation, Turkey faces many issues, especially at this time of conflict and uncertainty in the Middle East. And,
The Yemeni crisis involves several parties, but it can be summed up as being a conflict between forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthi rebels on one hand, and Yemen’s legitimate government on the other, backed by the Saudi-led alliance. In addition to this, Al-Qaeda
Aden, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s government-in-exile on Wednesday called on Arab and international allies to intervene immediately in the war-torn state after the Houthi movement captured one of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s last strongholds, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians. Over
Ankara, Reuters—Iran has released a Marshall-Islands flagged container ship and its crew which were seized last month in one of the world’s major oil shipping lanes, the Students News Agency ISNA quoted a foreign ministry official as saying on Thursday. The vessel was diverted on April 2
