Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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A general view of the meeting of leaders during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Doha on December 9, 2014.
(AFP Photo/STR)

Gulf leaders announce joint naval, police forces

by Fahd Al-Zayabi | Dec 10, 2014 | Middle East

Doha, Asharq Al-Awsat—Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states concluded the 35th session of the GCC Supreme Council summit in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday, agreeing to the formation of joint naval and police forces. The GCC...

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Syrian refugee children at a makeshift settlement in Qab Elias in the Beqaa valley, Lebanon, on December 8, 2014. (Reuters/Mohamed Azakir)

UN says rich nations pledge to take 100,000 Syrian refugees

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 10, 2014 | Middle East

Geneva, Thomson Reuters Foundation—The UN refugee agency said on Tuesday that Western governments had heeded a call to take in more Syrian refugees from neighboring countries and estimated that, in all, more than 100,000 places would be offered in the coming months....

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Oscar Pistorius is seen at the High Court in Pretoria on September 12, 2014 where he was found guilty of culpable homicide.
(AFP Photo/Alon Skuy)

South Africa prosecutors win bid to appeal Pistorius conviction

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 10, 2014 | World

Pretoria, Reuters—South African prosecutors on Wednesday won their bid to appeal the culpable homicide verdict handed down to Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and will now seek a murder conviction. Pistorius,...

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Members of the Iraqi anti-terrorism forces wave the national flag in celebration after securing a checkpoint from Sunni militants in the village of Badriyah, 10 miles west of Mosul on August 19, 2014. (AFP Photo/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)

Baghdad preparing to liberate Mosul from ISIS: sources

by Dalshad Abdullah | Dec 10, 2014 | Middle East

Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Baghdad has transferred its first shipment of arms to the forces fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh, in preparation for a military offensive to liberate the city of Mosul, the Nineveh...

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Syrian Kurds stand behind a barbed wire fence that marks the Turkey-Syria border on the outskirts of Kobani, seen from the Turkish side of the border on November 14, 2014. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Opinion: Freezing the Syrian Crisis

by Ali Ibrahim | Dec 10, 2014 | Opinion

Some may find the ideas promoted by the UN’s Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura frustrating, despite the fact they are highly realistic and pragmatic. His proposal to “freeze” the fighting in northern Syria before moving on to a political solution to the...