BEIRUT: Sheikh Abu Abdullah Zahed, a Lebanese Muslim cleric with influence amongst radical youth, is part of a growing effort to push the uprising in Syria towards militant Islam.
Hardline Sunni Muslims in Lebanon are maneuvering for influence (...)
BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, fighting an 11-month uprising against his rule, has ordered a referendum on a new constitution on Feb. 26, state television reported on Wednesday.
The president, under pressure from protests against four (...)
BEIRUT: Syrian protesters turned out in force to greet Arab monitors in one flashpoint town in the early days of their mission. But the observers never showed up, one activist said. Instead, security forces fired on the crowd.
Arab foreign (...)
BEIRUT: The commander of Syrian armed rebels said on Tuesday he was dissatisfied with Arab monitors' progress in halting a military crackdown on protests and threatened to wait only a few days before escalating operations with a new style of (...)
BEIRUT: Arab League peace monitors arrived in the Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday for a first look after tanks were seen leaving the hotbed of anti-government unrest where hundreds have been killed during nine months of military crackdowns on (...)
BEIRUT: Thirteen people were killed as Syrian armored forces battled opponents of President Bashar Al-Assad in Homs on Monday, residents said, ahead of a planned visit by Arab League monitors to verify whether he is ending a violent crackdown on (...)
BEIRUT: Arab banking officials warned that regional unrest and the world financial crisis had created an economic "state of emergency", and called for a special aid fund backed by wealthy Arab states to help recovery.
Speaking at the opening of (...)
SANAA: By nightfall, thousands of anti-government protesters in a scrappy tent city in Yemen's capital Sanaa catch their breath and begin to cheer musicians clambering onto a rickety stage.
"Let's give a round of applause for the big hit, "Mother (...)
SANAA: Even if negotiators manage to prise President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, Yemen's descent into anarchy and deprivation looks irreversible, posing vast risks for its people and their neighbours, not least oil giant Saudi (...)
SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh suggested that he would step down within days, a promise he has made three times already this year, and analysts said it was yet another stalling tactic in a succession crisis that has spread turmoil (...)
SANAA: Mortar fire killed two Yemenis and wounded six in Sanaa on Tuesday in what appeared to be fresh fighting in the capital between soldiers loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and forces siding with anti-government protesters.
Elsewhere, a (...)
SANAA: Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in an interview published on Friday that he will only step down if key rivals do not take over, a stance that could further hinder a long-stalled deal to ease him out of power.
"Because if we (...)
SANAA: Tens of thousands of Yemenis protested in Sanaa on Wednesday against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's return from Saudi Arabia, while opposition tribesmen said they had downed a warplane outside the capital and captured its pilot.
Waving (...)
ADEN/SANAA: Yemen's defense minister survived a suicide bomb attack on his convoy in the south on Tuesday, while thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital repeating their calls for the president to quit.
The blast in Aden wounded (...)
SANAA: Protesters in Sanaa are preparing for a long, messy revolt after President Ali Abdullah Saleh offered no clear path to a handover on his return to Yemen from three months of convalescence after an attempt on his life.
Saleh, who returned (...)
SANAA: President Ali Abdullah Saleh unexpectedly returned to Yemen on Friday after three months in Saudi Arabia, calling for a ceasefire between his supporters and opponents after five days of fierce fighting in the capital.
Saleh's reappearance (...)
SANAA: At least 20 protesters were killed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday, when security forces opened fire on one of the biggest demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in recent months, a Reuters witness said.
Scores were (...)
ABU DHABI: Syria plans to sell the oil European customers cannot take under a new EU import ban to Russia or China and will be unharmed by western sanctions as long as its own energy needs are met, Syria's finance minister said on Wednesday.
The (...)
MANAMA: Shouting "down with King Hamad", thousands of Bahrainis buried an activist killed in a crackdown on mainly Shia protesters that has angered Iran and raised tension in the world's largest oil-exporting region.
Mourners carrying pictures of (...)
DUBAI: Egypt's former trade minister, sacked with the rest of President Hosni Mubarak's cabinet in an attempt to quell mass protests, said Mubarak's participation in the country's government transition was "critical."
Rachid Mohamed Rachid told (...)
DUBAI: Dubai's boom may have fizzled, but you can still live the high life perched atop the world's tallest building as the glitzy Gulf emirate unveils one of the world's highest restaurants.
At.mosphere, on the 122nd floor, is one private (...)
DUBAI: From India to Poland, investors are tempted by the promise of lucrative returns in Afghanistan's mining and energy industry, but most say they will see how a raging insurgency plays out before putting down their money.
Afghanistan is (...)
The collection is eclectic and disorganized but the fun lies in the search
CAIRO: From the musty smell and the dim lighting to the way the paintings are stacked and stuffed in corners like old hoarded treasures, you might think you're a (...)
Preserving Egypt's heritage - but at what price?
CAIRO: The complications over renovations in Islamic Cairo span beyond the conflicted attitude of its residents. Experts who study the old city have been up in arms on many counts. Caroline (...)
CAIRO: Protruding from the corner of a torn up, dirty street in the Gamaliya neighborhood of Islamic Cairo is the clean and imposing, freshly restored Old Cairo Wall. The ancient gateway to the early city currently embraces one of the poorer parts (...)