Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Yemeni people carry drinkable water due to the water shortage, affecting daily life ahead of Ramadan, in Sana’a, Yemen on June 16, 2014. (Photo by Sinan Yiter/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Nor Any Drop To Drink

by James Spencer | Jul 11, 2014 | Majalla Blogs

In classical times, Yemen was called Eudaimon Arabia and Arabia Felix (meaning “fortunate”), thanks to the rains which fell on its mountains, almost unique in an otherwise arid Arabian Peninsula. In those days the rains were heavier, so today less groundwater is now...

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Israeli firefighters extinguish a fire that broke out after a rocket hit a petrol station in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod July 11, 2014. (Reuters/Avi Roccah)

Lebanese rockets hit Israel in offensive’s fourth day

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Jul 11, 2014 | Middle East

Jerusalem, AP—Gaza rocket fire struck a gas station and set it ablaze Friday in southern Israel, seriously wounding one person as rocket fire also came from Lebanon for the first time in the four-day offensive. The attack on the gas station in Ashdod looked to be the...

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US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Afghanistan’s presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani (L) before a meeting at the US embassy in Kabul on July 11, 2014. (Reuters/Jim Bourg)

Kerry, other diplomats focus on audit to resolve disputed Afghan vote

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Jul 11, 2014 | World

Kabul, Reuters—US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday Afghanistan’s transition to a self-reliant state hung in the balance after a contested presidential election and urged Afghan officials to focus on auditing the vote count to underpin its legitimacy....

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An investor monitors a screen displaying stock information at the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on June 25, 2014. (Reuters/Stringer)

UAE bourses merger shelved as terms not agreed—sources

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Jul 11, 2014 | Business

Abu Dhabi, Reuters—A planned merger of the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has been shelved for the foreseeable future as terms for the politically sensitive move could not be agreed, sources told Reuters on Thursday. Having...

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Volunteers who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who have taken over Mosul and other northern provinces wave from a truck in Baghdad, on June 18, 2014. (Reuters/Ahmed Saad)

Opinion: The Storming of Baghdad

by Wafiq Al-Samarrai | Jul 11, 2014 | Opinion

They must be either mad or ignorant, those who think that what has happened in Mosul and Tikrit can be repeated in Samarra and Baghdad. They have been told from the outset that these two cities will be difficult to take over for both military and security reasons. Any...