Famous French writer Claude Askolovitch recently described France’s culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, as “barbaric.” Why would he use such a harsh term? Well, the reason is that during recent televised comments, the minister admitted she hadn’t read a single book for two years. Moreover, she was una
The United Arab Emirates has become the second Gulf country after Saudi Arabia to designate the Yemeni Houthi movement’s Ansar Allah a terrorist group. This step is significant on many levels, especially as it reorganizes relations in a region which has faced many dangerous political changes. The gr
Ma’rib and Al-Hudaydah, Asharq Al-Awsat—As clashes continued in the Yemeni oil-rich central province of Ma’rib between members of the Shi’ite Houthi movement and tribal fighters, the latter have threatened to attack petroleum installations and power plants in the province, should the Houthis be succ
London, AP—Chickens were being killed in the Netherlands, and Britain was preparing to kill ducks, after two cases of bird flu were discovered in Europe—but officials insisted Monday that the risk to public health was very low. British officials said they were investigating a case of the H5 bird flu
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—An Iraqi military operation to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will be launched at the start of the new year, Iraq’s Nineveh governorate council has announced. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, council member Ghazwan Hamid said around 80,000 troops wi
Benghazi, Asharq Al-Awsat—The border between Libya and Egypt has become highly porous and dangerous Asharq Al-Awsat has found, in its first installment in a series on the conflict currently raging between forces loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar and extremist militias. At the border crossing nea
Brisbane, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz met with world leaders on Sunday at the close of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in the Australian city of Brisbane, as the leaders approved a number of measures designed to add more than 2 trillion US dollars to the global economy b
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have ended an internal dispute with fellow member-state Qatar, agreeing to return their ambassadors to Doha after a seven-month absence. In a joint GCC statement on Sunday evening, following an emergen
Tokyo, AP—Japan’s economy unexpectedly slipped back into recession as housing and business investment dropped following a sales tax hike, hobbling its ability to help drive the global recovery. The world’s third-largest economy contracted at a 1.6 percent annual pace in the July-Septembe
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will begin exporting oil through under Baghdad’s supervision once it receives a loan it says was promised from the Iraqi government, as part of an agreement reached between the two sides on Thursday, senior Kurdish officials told Asharq
The Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar has revealed that Hezbollah is seeking to “recruit Christian, Sunni Muslim, and Druze youth, as well as providing them with training and weapons to confront the danger of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] and sister groups.” Hezbollah is addressing the youth
Paris, Asharq Al-Awsat—Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika returned to Algiers on Saturday, following a 48-hour brief stay at a hospital in France. The reasons for his admittance were not made public by either the French or the Algerian authorities. French newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré, however,
Brisbane, AP—Under pressure to jolt the lethargic world economy back to life, leaders of G20 nations on Sunday finalized a plan to boost global GDP by more than 2 trillion US dollars over five years. The fanfare, however, was overshadowed by tensions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and West
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—A meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders is being held on Sunday in the Saudi capital Riyadh, ahead of the GCC’s annual summit due to take place in Doha next month, a senior Kuwaiti source told Asharq Al-Awsat. The Bahrain News Agency confirmed that the summit was
Brisbane, Asharq Al-Awsat—The lack of solutions to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East are threatening stability in the region and beyond and hindering global economic growth, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz said on Saturday during his speech to world leaders at the G20 Summit in B
Dubai, AP—The United Arab Emirates designated the Muslim Brotherhood and dozens of other Islamist groups as terrorist organizations on Saturday, ratcheting up the pressure on the group by lumping it together with extremists such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group and the Al-Nusra Fr
Cairo and Beirut, Reuters—Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants fighting in both countries claimed in a video posted online on Sunday that they had beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig. The video did not show the beheading but showed a masked man standing with a decapitated head covered
Brisbane, AP—Russian President Vladimir Putin made an early exit on Sunday from a two-day summit of world leaders where he was roundly criticized over Russia’s escalating aggression in Ukraine, but brushed off suggestions that he had felt pressured. Putin was the first leader to fly out of Bri
Here in the Australian city of Brisbane, where the annual G20 Summit is being held, all eyes were set on the speech by Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, who is heading Saudi Arabia’s delegation on behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz. The summit comes as oil
The announcement made by Turkish Labor Minister Faruk Çelik to grant Syrian refugees in Turkey something more than just tents and blankets was a positive one. These refugees will now be registered as temporary residents and the government will help them obtain jobs in sectors that suffer from labor
