Beirut, AP—Hours-long overnight clashes in a Beirut neighborhood between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have killed one person, prompting Lebanese troops to deploy in the area on Sunday to calm tensions. The gunmen—from rival Sunni groups—exchanged gunfire and rocket-pr
Kuwait, Asharq Al-Awsat—Sources have told Asharq Al-Awsat that the ongoing disagreement between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar will not be addressed at the Arab League meeting scheduled to begin in Kuwait on Sunday, but that mediation efforts would begin soon. A senior Gul
Kuala Lumpur and Perth, Reuters—New French satellite images show possible debris from a missing Malaysian airliner deep in the southern Indian Ocean, Malaysia said on Sunday, adding to growing signs that the plane may have gone down in remote seas off Australia. The latest lead comes as the internat
Algiers, Asharq Al-Awsat—Algerian presidential candidate Abdelaziz Belaid, head of the Front El Moustakbal, says he has no intention of backing out from the forthcoming elections race against sitting president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, scheduled for April 17. Dozens of Algerian presidential candidates h
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Egyptian economy faces three main stumbling blocks on the road to a recovery, according to a number of economic experts who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat. The experts agreed the country’s low productivity—particularly the decline in tourism after the 2011 revolution—
The cultural factors that govern a society’s political and social spheres play significant roles in determining its fate, which is why Egyptians called for an end to reactionary attitudes in the regime following January 25, 2011. For, as much as we seek change, we also strive to adopt a very importa
First off, we must specify what we mean by the “civil current” in Egypt. The term first appeared in the wake of the revolution of January 25, 2011, and has since taken off, gaining in currency even though it does not have any real meaning and is not associated with a clearly-defined entity. Soon, ev
Belbek Air Base, Crimea, AP—Pro-Russian forces stormed a Ukrainian air force base in Crimea, firing shots and smashing through concrete walls with armored personnel carriers. At least one person was wounded, the base commander said. An APC also smashed open the front gate of the Belbek base near the
London/Kuwait City, Asharq Al-Awsat—As the Arab Summit, to be held in Kuwait next week, draws closer, Kuwaiti Information Minister Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Humoud Al Sabah told Asharq Al-Awsat that no single topic should dominate the summit’s agenda. Thirteen heads of state have so far confirmed their
Sana’a, Reuters—Yemeni tribesmen bombed Yemen’s main crude export pipeline on Saturday, forcing oil flows to be stopped, industry sources told Reuters. Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have repeatedly been sabotaged by insurgents or angry tribesmen since anti-government protests creat
London and Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The US Navy on Saturday handed over custody of a renegade oil tanker that escaped Libyan territorial waters with a cargo of crude oil illegally loaded by a rebel-held terminal, according to Libyan state news agency LANA. With the tanker and its crew now in Libyan cu
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—At least 22 people were killed and over 157 injured on Friday as clashes continued between Sunni and Shi’ite militias in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, 53 miles (85 kilometers) north of Beirut. The latest fighting represents the most recent spillover from the ongoing con
Caracas, Reuters—Venezuela’s president said on Friday that street protests for the past month have caused at least 10 billion dollars in damage, accusing hardline foes of carrying out terrorist acts to sabotage public assets. President Nicolás Maduro did not say how the government arrived at t
Istanbul, Reuters—Turkish people faced fresh difficulties in accessing the Internet on Saturday after the government blocked access to Twitter, the site where tweets on a corruption scandal have angered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Twitter was blocked late on Thursday, hours after Erdoğan vo
Moscow, Reuters—President Vladimir Putin signed laws completing Russia’s annexation of Crimea on Friday as investors took fright at a US decision to slap sanctions on his inner circle of money men and security officials. Putin promised to protect a bank partly owned by an old ally, which Washi
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—It was not surprising that the Iraqi novelist Ahmad Saadawi made it onto this year’s shortlist for the coveted International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). The young Iraqi novelist came to immediate fame with the publication of his third novel, Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013
There are cities, states and whole regions that are fated to never stay out of the news for too long—and I don’t mean local, everyday news, but important, sometimes earth-shattering news. These are the places with conflicts that have no hope of being resolved anytime soon. Gaza is one of those
Washington, Asharq Al-Awsat—The US Treasury Department has lifted some of the restrictions on Iranian students and universities as Iran celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year. The removal of these restrictions could lead to student exchanges between the two countries. Under a new General License is
The head of Saudi Arabia’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police, wanted to convey a simple message: society needs authority to deal with chaos. Without authority, he said, people would not even be able to protect their behinds. This controversial st
In the early years after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the US was perceived as friendly. It was only in 1956 that its charismatic first president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, clearly shifted into the Soviet camp (however non-aligned he had claimed to be). While the US put Nasser under pressure for his so
