http://www.aawsat.com/english Asharq Alawsat English Edition is your insight into the Middle East en-us © 2005 Saudi Research and Publishing Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT 1 http://www.aawsat.com/english http://www.aawsat.com/english/images/aaaeng.gif 144 33 Asharq-e delivers up-to-the-minute news and information on the latest stories, weather, entertainment, politics in the Middle East http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=7&id=22176 BEIRUT (AFP) – "A more beautiful Ramadan," promises an advertisement for one Beirut clinic offering discounts to image-conscious Lebanese during the Muslim holy month of dawn-to-dusk fasting. Though Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=22174 During the preparations for the historic [Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations due to commence today, Israeli Rabbi Ovadia Yosef called for the damnation of Mahmoud Abbas, so as to relieve the Israelis Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22179 Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Libyan-Iraqi relations are currently strained, Asharq Al Awsat can reveal. The cause of tension between the two nations developed last month after Libya submitted an unexpected Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=22172 Those who try to make the word ‘terrorism’ a synonym of the word ‘Islam’ try to brainwash us these days by the phrase “I am a Muslim, I am against terrorism”, which many Arabic-language TV stations Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22168 WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israel and the Palestinians relaunched their first direct talks in 20 months here Thursday, setting out opening demands that started the clock on a daunting one-year deadline for Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22169 LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan tightened security in the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday after three bomb attacks killed 33 people and wounded 171 and pressured the U.S.-backed government Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22170 TEHRAN (AFP) – Hardline "thugs" surrounded the home of opposition Iranian leader Mehdi Karroubi, pelting the building with rocks to prevent the cleric from attending a rally, his website said. In the Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22171 BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon has asked Interpol to circulate an arrest warrant against a Lebanese ex-general suspecting of working for the Israeli spy agency Mossad, a judicial source said on Thursday. "Prosecutor Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22178 London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar, rejected any connection between the launch of direct negotiations in Washington DC, and a terrorist attack on Route 60, which links the Fri, 02 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=22165 London, Asharq Al-Awsat-In an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the Taliban's media spokesman, Mullah Qari Yousef Ahmadi, highlights what he described as a psychological war that is being Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22167 London/ Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat- The statements of Iraqi political officials about US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Baghdad, where he arrived the day before yesterday, reflected the intense Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=22166 The legacy of the Afghan Taliban movement regarding the education of girls is well known and has been reinforced, through the Fatwas issued by the movement when it ruled during the period of 1996 Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=22161 You cannot find a city in Saudi Arabia, regardless of its size, whether it was a vast capital city like Riyadh, a costal city like al-Khubar or Jeddah, or an inland city like Tabouk, Hayel, al-Hafouf, Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22157 BAGHDAD, (AP) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the end of American combat operations Tuesday leaves his country independent and an equal to the United States and he assured his people their Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22158 RAMALLAH, West Bank, (AP) – Palestinian security forces arrested more than 150 Hamas members in an overnight sweep throughout the West Bank after the Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22159 WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama steps into Middle East peace efforts on Wednesday in a bid to relaunch direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations after four Jewish settlers were gunned down in Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22160 KABUL, Afghanistan, (AP) – A bomb attack Wednesday in Afghanistan's volatile southern city of Kandahar killed the director of the local office for facilitating pilgrimages to Islamic holy sites, police Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22163 TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libya late Tuesday released 37 Islamists, including a former driver of Osama bin Laden and members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). Wearing white traditional robes, the Thu, 01 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=22152 Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh believes that the royal decree by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz calling Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=22151 August is a hot summer month, and in some cases, a month of problems. August in Lebanon has been characterized by two problems, which reflect two aspects of the lives and concerns of the people there. Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=22153 As the 26th Chief of the National Guard Bureau, I attend many ceremonies and cultural events. Last week, I hosted a gathering at my home that was certainly unique to me in my lifetime, yet as natural Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22155 London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Asharq al-Awsat can exclusively reveal from official sources that negotiations between the Iraqiya coalition, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the National Coalition, Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22146 BAGHDAD, (AP) – As Vice President Joe Biden presides over the formal end to U.S. combat operations in Iraq; few Iraqis are cheering the American exit. Iraqis, who for years have railed against the U.S. Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22147 TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran's foreign ministry criticised the media on Tuesday for branding French first lady Carla Bruni as "prostitute" after she expressed support for a woman sentenced to death by stoning. "Insulting Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22148 JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak have met secretly in Amman ahead of Middle East peace talks that start in Washington this week, Israeli media Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22149 HOWZ-E-MADAD, Afghanistan, (AP) – As some 400 U.S. and Afghan soldiers gather to honor their first fallen comrade, mournful Muslim prayers mingle with the stutter of machine gun fire and the thud of Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22154 AMSTERDAM (AFP) – Two US residents of Yemeni descent have been arrested in Amsterdam after flying in from Chicago and staging what officials fear may have been a dry run for a terror attack. US airport Wed, 31 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=22144 Washington, Asharq Al-Awsat- In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in Washington, Dr. Lual Achuil Deng, the new Sudanese Minister of Petroleum, and the first Southerner to be appointed in this position, Tue, 30 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=22140 Palestine’s acceptance of direct negotiations with Israel, without preconditions, is a return to the drawing board in the process of political settlement between the two parties. The ‘zero point’ is Tue, 30 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=22136 RAMALLAH, West Bank, (AP) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned Sunday that he will not back down from his threat to pull out of new peace talks with Israel if it resumes construction in West Bank Tue, 30 Sep 2010 17:42:12 GMT