Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraq’s Turkmen should have their own forces in order to repel Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacks on their areas, a senior Turkmen figure told Asharq Al-Awsat. In exclusive comments to Asharq Al-Awsat the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front Arshad Al-Salihi said Iraq’
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—There have been renewed calls for negotiations between senior Lebanese politicians ahead of a January deadline after parliament failed, for the 16th time of asking, to elect a new head of state this week. The Lebanese parliamentary speaker postponed the new session unti
Tunis, Reuters—Tunisia’s government sees economic growth accelerating to 3 percent in 2015 from an estimated 2.5 percent this year while the budget deficit is expected to narrow, according to a budget bill passed by parliament on Thursday. The 29 billion dinar (15.69 billion US dollar) budget
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is planning to take measures to ward off foreign attempts to interfere in the affairs of the region off the back of the organization’s 35th annual session in Doha earlier this week, an informed Gulf source told Asharq Al-Awsat. A GCC p
Washington, Reuters—The US House of Representatives averted a government shutdown on Thursday, narrowly passing a 1.1 trillion US dollar spending bill despite strenuous Democratic objections to controversial financial provisions. The vote followed a long day of drama and discord on Capitol Hill that
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—The high death toll among Kurdish forces over the past six month is due to the fact that the Peshmerga are the only “effective” fighting force in the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), senior Peshmerga officials have told Asharq Al-Awsat. In comme
What do you do when your ambitions are bigger than the resources you have to pursue them? The Tehran leadership must have asked itself this question when drafting the national budget for the next year (according to the Iranian calendar), which starts on March 21. Since his election, President Hassan
Kabul, Reuters—A teenage suicide bomber targeted a packed auditorium at a French-run high school in Afghanistan’s capital on Thursday, killing at least one person, hours after another attack left six Afghan soldiers dead on the outskirts of Kabul, officials said. The Afghan capital has been hi
Khobar, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia said this week that it will not reduce oil output in response to a surplus that has sent global prices tumbling. “Why should I cut production?” Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali Al-Naimi, said during a UN meeting on global climate ch
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—France has blocked an attempt by Britain to impose UN sanctions on Libya’s renegade general Khalifa Haftar, a high-level Libyan government source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday. A minister in the Tobruk-based government led by Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thani, speaking to A
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Gulf states are considering adopting the terror lists issued by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait’s Interior Minister Sheikh Mohamed Al-Khalid Al-Sabah said on Wednesday. In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, Kuwait’s Interior Minister said that Gulf Coo
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s air defenses are now under control of the Houthi movement after the Shi’ite militia took control of Daylami Air Base, home of the country’s main missile system close to the capital Sana’a, military sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday. A high-level military
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia is set to send a delegation to Baghdad within a few weeks to choose a location for its embassy in coordination with the Iraqi government, a foreign ministry source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday. “A technical, non-political, delegation will visit Iraq to check
Hong Kong, Reuters—Hong Kong workers cleared large parts of the main pro-democracy protest site on Thursday as police hauled activists away one by one, marking an end to more than two months of street demonstrations that have choked parts of the Chinese-controlled city. Groups of up to four police s
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—For many years Beirut’s Badaro Street was known as the beating heart of the city. Then the Lebanese civil war broke out in 1975. The vibrant neighbourhood was caught up in the thick of the fighting, sitting only a few yards away from the green line. After a long period of sil
In my youth I sometimes heard and read somewhat racist jokes, and watched movies and TV series that created and underlined certain stereotypes about the peoples of the world, all the while being well aware of how Arabs were themselves being stereotyped, especially in the West. In those days the most
The arrest of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’s ex-wife and daughter in Lebanon led some to think that this would be the weapon that would finally bring the most famous terrorist in the world to his knees. However, instead of the terrorists releasing the Lebanese soldiers and policemen they abducted earlier th
In the largest ever Saudi cabinet reshuffle, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz issued a royal order appointing nine new ministers earlier this week. This represents a massive change of the collective face of government’s leadership. The reshuffle includes the appoin
Turmusiya, West Bank, Reuters—A Palestinian minister died on Wednesday shortly after an Israeli border policeman shoved and grabbed him by the throat during a protest in the West Bank, an incident Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described as barbaric. Ziad Abu Ein, 55, a minister without portfol
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani is able to freely enter and exit Iraq despite being under an international travel ban, a member of Iraq’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee alleged on Tuesday. In comments to Asharq Al
