Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—Syrian government forces continued an advance to recapture rebel-held areas of Homs on Wednesday, with clashes centering on the Old City. The advance of Syrian forces into the city, which they have been besieging for more than two years, comes shortly after government forces
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraq’s economy must diversify to reduce its decades-long reliance on oil as the main contributor to its GDP, said the country’s former planning minister, despite a recent uptick in oil production leading to expectations that OPEC’s second-largest oil producer will be among t
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The kidnappers of Jordan’s ambassador to Libya, Fawaz Al-Itan, have called for the release of an Islamist militant being held in Jordan, Libyan authorities said on Tuesday. Itan was kidnapped on Tuesday morning in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Eyewitnesses told Asharq A
Kramatorsk and Slaviansk, Reuters—Ukrainian government forces and separatist pro-Russian militias staged rival shows of force in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday amid escalating rhetoric on the eve of crucial four-power talks in Geneva on the former Soviet country’s future. Government troops drove
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Egyptian foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires to protest meetings between members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Iranian diplomats. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelati told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Foreign Ministry summoned
Jindo, South Korea, Reuters—Almost 300 people were missing after a ferry sank off South Korea on Wednesday, the coastguard said, in what could be the country’s biggest peacetime disaster in nearly 20 years. The ferry was carrying 459 people, of whom 164 were rescued, coastguard officials said.
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The chief of Saudi Arabia’s national intelligence agency, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, was relieved of his post “at his own request” on Tuesday, according to a royal decree published by the Saudi Press Agency. The royal decree by King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz appointed Prince Band
Regardless of how we characterize the armed conflict that has been taking place in Syria for more than three years between the opposition and the regime, its symptoms are not too dissimilar to the nature of any civil war. A civil war represents the most severe case of self-destruction that any commu
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraq announced on Tuesday that it has closed the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, amid security concerns following the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) gained control of a strategically important dam on the Euphrates River south of Fallujah earlier this month. ISIS, which r
Kabul, Asharq Al-Awsat—When Afghanistan is mentioned, “satellite TV” is perhaps the last thing on anybody’s mind. Nonetheless, the nascent broadcast media has been up and running in the war-ravaged country since the downfall of the Taliban at the hands of the US in 2001. Some of the most prominent c
The more people there are, the more problems they have. We live in a time of peak population saturation; the land is full of people wherever you go. According to estimates, the world population broke the 1 billion mark in 1804. In the 20th century that number more than doubled: in 1927, the global p
A wave of protests has been rocking Lebanon of late, with university students and public sector employees rallying against the high cost of living. Civil defense volunteers taking part in a “Day of revolt” organized by public sector employees last week went as far as threatening to swim off the coas
Strasbourg, Reuters—European lawmakers finally signed off on Tuesday on new laws to make it easier to shut problem banks after long wrangling over rules for an industry blamed for triggering the worst economic slump in a generation. The vote in the European Parliament, shortly before it breaks up fo
Perth, AP—A robotic submarine looking for the lost Malaysian jet began its second mission Tuesday after cutting short its first because the ocean waters where it was sent were too deep, officials said. Monday’s planned 16-hour search lasted just six and none of the data collected by the US Nav
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Flowers are perhaps not the first thing you think of when you think of Baghdad, but for the last five years Iraq’s capital has been hosting an international flower festival which this year has drawn participants from 11 countries and 70 companies, as well as a host of local,
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—A “crisis” between current Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Sadrist movement will erupt following the legislative elections later this month, according to comments by veteran Iraqi MP Hassan Al-Alawi on Monday. Alawi, an independent MP who is running in the April
Addis Ababa, Reuters—South Sudanese rebels said on Tuesday they have seized the capital of oil-producing Unity state, Bentiu, and warned oil firms to pack up and leave within a week. Thousands of people have been killed and more than one million displaced since fighting erupted in South Sudan in the
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—As the mandate for the UN mission for the disputed Sahara region, MINURSO, comes up for renewal at the end of this month, the negotiating process to resolve a dispute that has lingered in some form since the 1970s has intensified. In the Sahara region, Morocco is contesting t
New York, AP—The Washington Post and The Guardian won the Pulitzer Prize in public service for revealing the US government’s sweeping surveillance programs in a blockbuster series of stories based on secret documents supplied by NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The Pulitzer for breaking news was awa
Paris, Asharq Al-Awsat—Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remains committed to securing the release of popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, a “priority” for his government, according to Barghouti’s wife. In an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in Paris during an international tour to
