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The Associated Press, Beirut - Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won’t step down and will instead “face the storm,” raising n ... More
Al Arabiya - Battles raged in Qusayr between fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah and the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), as activists reported ... More
Reuters, Ramadi-Iraq - Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed four state-backed Sunni fighters in Iraq on Saturday, security sources said, apparently viewing them as collab ... More
Al Arabiya with Agencies - Gunmen killed a senior female politician from a reformist party in Pakistan on Saturday night, the latest violent incident in a bloody election campai ... More
Al Arabiya - Raha Moharrak made history by becoming the first woman from Saudi Arabia to reach the world's highest peak Mount Everest. The 25-year-old is also cons ... More
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal expressed, on a visit to Beijing Friday, that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should not be allowed to continue committing crimes against civilians. The meeting between Saudi and Chinese counterparts comes ahead of the second Geneva ... Read more
The head of the EU military committee said on Saturday he was “confident” in the ability of the first Mali battalion being trained by Europe to battle the Islamist insurgency raging in the north. General Patrick de Rousiers told reporters in the capital Bamako he had encountered “ ... Read more
A car bomb exploded in a northern district of the Syrian capital on Saturday killing at least three people and wounding five others, state television reported. The state broadcaster said the bomb was placed in a car in the Rokn Eddin neighborhood and that a disposal team was sent in to defuse anoth ... Read more
Gunmen kidnapped on Saturday the elderly father of Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in the province of Daraa, apparently in reprisal for the arrest of one of their relatives, according to a government source and a watchdog. The deputy foreign minister’s office said Mekdad's father ... Read more
Dozens of Palestinians held a protest in the Old City of annexed east Jerusalem on Saturday, hurling rocks at Israeli police and setting ablaze garbage bins, a police spokeswoman said. “Dozens of Palestinians threw rocks at police forces near Nablus Gate. Two of them were arrested,” sai ... Read more
Nigeria’s military on Saturday imposed a 24-hour curfew in parts of a northeastern city as soldiers pressed on with a campaign against Boko Haram Islamists that has sent people fleeing from their homes. Nigeria launched the sweeping operation against Boko Haram this week, deploying several th ... Read more
Air Algerie planes were grounded for several hours on Saturday when the national carrier’s pilots staged a wildcat strike over pay, officials in the North African country said. Air Algerie said in a statement that the strike caused delays for the airline and other carriers that lasted a few h ... Read more
A leading member in Tunisia’s ruling Ennahda party said on Saturday that a congress called for by the Salafist movement, Ansar al-Sharia, has been postponed to an unspecified date. The news comes a day after the Tunisian government announced that it banned an annual meeting by the hardline Sal ... Read more
Egyptian officials say baggage handlers in Cairo’s airport have gone on strike to protest a colleague’s death, leaving passengers on 20 international flights from Europe and Arab countries waiting several hours for luggage. Airport officials say senior officials from the country’s ... Read more
Bulgarian truckers have lifted their two-day blockade of the country’s border with Turkey - a key trade route between the Middle East and central Europe, the interior ministry said Saturday. The passage of trucks through the southeastern Kapitan Andreevo and Lesovo border checkpoints was reop ... Read more
Gold prices fell for a seventh day in a row on Friday, drawn down by a stronger U.S. dollar and better economic news. Gold for June delivery dropped 1.6 percent, losing $22.20 to settle at $1,364.70 an ounce. The precious metal is nearing the recent low of $1,352 it reached April 15, after a two-day ... Read more
Morocco is sloughing ahead with a program to boost wind energy production, particularly in the southern Tarfaya region, where Africa’s largest wind farm is set to open in 2014. The kingdom, which has no hydrocarbon reserves of its own, hopes to cover 42 percent of its energy needs with rene ... Read more
The pale, young Christian woman sat handcuffed in the courtroom, accused of insulting Islam while teaching history of religions to fourth-graders. A team of Islamist lawyers with long beards sang in unison, “All except the Prophet Muhammad.” The case against Dimyana Abdel-Nour in southe ... Read more
Abdu Ibrahim Mohammed was 15 years old when he began trekking with caravans of camels to collect salt in a sun-blasted desert basin of north Ethiopia that is one of the hottest places on earth. Now 51 and retired, he has passed his camels to his son to pursue this centuries-old trade in “whit ... Read more
Saudi Arabia's first woman film maker, Haifaa Al-Mansour, said her country was becoming “more tolerant and more accepting” as she picked up an award in Cannes on Saturday for her acclaimed film “Wadjda”. The 2012 tale of an impish young Saudi girl who plots to own a bicycle ... Read more
It is likely that Qatar will be chosen to launch the exclusive new Ferrari Sergio designed by Pininfarina, the Dubai-based Arabian Business website reported on Saturday. “We are thinking of taking the new Sergio to Qatar. We will show the new Ferrari Sergio only in preselected countries and Qa ... Read more
The British football legend, David Beckham’s, announcement to end his 20-year career has come as a major surprise to some of his former associates and competitors. John Burridge, a goalkeeper coach at the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) al-Wasl football club, told Al Arabiya English that he ... Read more
A King’s Cup final defeat against Atletico Madrid capped the worst season of Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho’s career, the Portuguese said on Friday after the 2-1 loss left him without a major title this season. Widely expected to move on at the end of the campaign and linked with a r ... Read more