Rome, Reuters—Italy’s navy has rescued more than 4,000 migrants from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily in the past four days and several other rescue operations are still ongoing, officials said on Friday. This week’s warm spring weather has brought calm seas and
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—“We saw the document, but our hope remains strong. We cannot easily accept that my father was executed. Until we receive his corpse, we will not consider him dead,” the daughter of Kazahia Shahwan told Asharq Al-Awsat. Her father was just one of many Lebanese nationals who we
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—As speculation about the expected presidential candidacy of popular Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi continues to grow, the secretary-general of the Presidential Supreme Electoral Commission, Hamdan Fahmy, said the delays in the election process were due to “tech
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egypt is a country known for civil disobedience based on economic troubles, and particularly the day-to-day difficulty ordinary people have affording the necessities of life: there were the bread riots of the 1970s, and during the 2011 revolution one of the most popular slogan
Ankara, Reuters—Turkey’s courts have blocked access to Twitter days before elections as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan battles a corruption scandal that has seen social media platforms awash with alleged evidence of government wrongdoing. The ban came hours after a defiant Erdoğan&#
Brussels, Reuters—The European Union and Ukraine signed the core elements of a political association agreement on Friday, committing to the same deal former president Viktor Yanukovich rejected last November, a move which led to his overthrow. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, EU leaders He
Beirut, Reuters—Lebanon’s parliament gave a newly-formed cabinet a vote of confidence on Thursday, ending almost a year of political deadlock during which the country has been pulled further into the civil war in neighboring Syria. The approval—by 96 of the 101 parliamentarians who at
According to opinion polls, the most likely outcome in the local elections in Turkey in less than two weeks’ time is that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party will deal a heavy blow to the opposition and disappoint those who hope to oust him from politics. The other possible scenario is that Erd
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—In his second media appearance since he announced his intention to quit politics, Iraqi Shi’ite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr called on the people of Iraq to participate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections to prevent “thieves” and “beneficiaries” from
Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia is in the planning stages of making more than 90,000 mosques across the Kingdom more eco-friendly, utilizing solar and other renewable sources of energy as part of a bid to put green building on the national stage. The initiative was agreed following a joint meet
With Russian President Vladimir Putin determined to annex Crimea—and perhaps other chunks of territory around Kharkov and Donetsk—the crisis he has triggered goes beyond the fate of Ukraine as an independent nation. The world now faces a bigger danger: that of Russia becoming a rogue sta
Beirut, Reuters—More than half of Syria’s declared chemical weapons arsenal has been shipped out or destroyed within the country, the head of the international team overseeing the disarmament process said on Thursday. Sigrid Kaag, head of the joint mission of the United Nations and Organisatio
Baghdad and London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The ongoing dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad appeared to widen this week when a leading Kurdish political figure is reported to have confirmed that KRG President Massoud Barzani is preparing for independence for Kurdistan. Kurdis
Doha, Reuters—Qatar is likely to reschedule about 15 percent of its planned building projects for coming years and go over budget, amid a push to complete preparations for the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, sources familiar with government policy said. After it won the right to host the World Cup
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution imposing sanctions on illegal oil exports from Libya, including authorizing the boarding and searching of oil tankers suspected of carrying oil from rebel-held ports in Libya. The move comes after US Navy SEALS boarded
Sydney/Kuala Lumpur, Reuters—Search aircraft and ships are investigating two objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing for 12 days with 239 people on board, officials said on Thursday. Australian officials said the objects were
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef has once more found himself at the center of controversy this week following accusations that he plagiarized an op-ed published in privately owned Egyptian newspaper Al-Shorouk. Youssef immediately apologized for the “inadvertent mistake,” say
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iran was willing to address concerns that one of its nuclear reactors could be used to create a nuclear weapon, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. Speaking after the conclusion of the latest round of talks between Iran and representatives of the P5+1 world powe
Earlier this week, the Syrian revolution marked its third anniversary. But in some Western quarters the word “revolution” has given way to “civil war,” despite the fact that the Syrian revolution is perhaps the only real revolution in modern Arab history. “Civil war,” then? Why not? It is a comforta
Caracas, Reuters—Opposition activists in the slums of eastern Caracas hope to unseat President Nicolas Maduro, but not by blocking streets or burning tires. They plan to build parks and fix roads to show that the opposition can do more for poor neighborhoods than the ruling socialists. The capital&#
