Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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In a photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, (L), speaks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mouallem in Damascus, Syria, on November 11, 2014. (AP Photo/SANA)

EU divided on de Mistura’s Aleppo ceasefire plan: diplomat

by Michel Abu Najm | Dec 20, 2014 | Middle East

Paris, Asharq Al-Awsat—EU countries are divided over the UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura’s proposal to suspend hostilities between government and opposition forces in northern Syria, as Britain and France demand strong guarantees for the plan’s sound implementation,...

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Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces flash victory signs as they drive near the front lines in Zumar, Iraq, on December 19, 2014.
(AP Photo/Zana Ahmed)

Iraq clashes with ISIS delay evacuation of Yazidis

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 20, 2014 | Middle East

Baghdad, AP—Sporadic clashes between Iraqi Kurdish fighters and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists, as well as other logistics problems, are delaying the evacuation of the last Yazidis still trapped on Mount Sinjar, an Iraqi lawmaker said Friday....

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A visitor looks at a photograph of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro at an exhibition at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, United States, on December 18, 2014. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

No word yet from Fidel amid historic US-Cuba shift

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 20, 2014 | World

Havana, AP—Everyone in Cuba is talking about the startling turn in relations with the United States, with one notable exception: Fidel Castro. So far, the larger-than-life retired Cuban leader has made no public comment on the biggest news in years—that the US and his...

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In this photo taken on Dec. 13, 2012, a National Intelligence Service agent covered her face with a mask sits in front of her computers as officers from police and national election commission visit her to collect evidence from her computers at her home in Seoul, South Korea. Source: AP Photo/Im Hun-Jung

Opinion: The Dangerous Wars of the Future

by Osman Mirghani | Dec 20, 2014 | Opinion

The Internet has affected almost all aspects of our lives. Our online dependence has increased to a point where it has become difficult to imagine what our lives would be like without this technology. According to a recent International Telecommunication Union (ITU)...

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A worker walks on an oil pipeline at Khurmala oilfield on the outskirts of the city of Arbil, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ – Tags: POLITICS ENERGY)

Opinion: Tumbling Oil Prices and Assad’s Friends

by Tariq Alhomayed | Dec 20, 2014 | Opinion

As oil prices continue to fall, it is evident that a state of paranoia has afflicted Iran and Russia—two allies of the government of Bashar Al-Assad. Tehran and Moscow have issued similar statements in terms of their condemnation of plummeting oil prices, both...