Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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A billboard for the film “The Interview” is displayed on December 19, 2014 in Venice, California. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images/AFP)

Obama says Sony hack not an act of war

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 21, 2014 | World

Washington, Reuters—US President Barack Obama moved to prevent US anger at North Korea from spiraling out of control on Sunday by saying the massive hacking of Sony Pictures was not an act of war but instead was cyber-vandalism. Washington’s longstanding dispute...

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Iraqi security forces are deployed during a military operation to regain control of the villages around the town of Beiji, north of Baghdad, Iraq, on December 8, 2014. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

ISIS could retake Iraqi oil refinery town: MP

by Hamza Mustafa | Dec 21, 2014 | Middle East

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Iraqi city of Baiji is in danger of falling back into the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to an Iraqi MP, less than one month after it was liberated by the Iraqi army from the clutches of the extremist group....

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Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ibrahim Naimi speaks to journalists prior to the start of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Thursday Nov. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Saudi’s Naimi says prices will stimulate demand, confident market will recover

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 21, 2014 | Business

Abu Dhabi, Reuters—Saudi Arabia’s oil minister on Sunday defended OPEC’s decision to keep output steady despite the biggest market slump in years, saying current prices would help global economic growth and petroleum demand, while Arab states would escape...

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Egyptian President Sisi (R) receives Qatari envoy Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani and the head of the Saudi Royal Court Khalid Al-Tuwaijiri in Cairo on December 21, 2014 (Egyptian presidency)

Sisi and Emir of Qatar to meet in Riyadh: sources

by Abdul Sattar Hatita and Sawsan Abu-Husain | Dec 21, 2014 | Middle East

Cairo, Dammam and Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will meet with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani in the near future, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday, as tensions between the two countries appear to be...

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Tunisians walk past a polling station in Tunis, Tunisia, on December 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Ilyess Osmane)

Tunisians vote in historic presidential run-off

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 21, 2014 | Middle East

Tunis, Reuters—Tunisians voted on Sunday in a presidential run-off election that completes the country’s transition to full democracy nearly four years after an uprising which ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. With a new progressive constitution and a...