http://www.aawsat.com/english Asharq Alawsat English Edition is your insight into the Middle East en-us © 2005 Saudi Research and Publishing Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 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=19798 BAGHDAD, (AFP) — Zina Nabil, a pretty 28-year-old Sunni Arab, thought she had found her man. But like many other Iraqi women, she was forced to abandon her marriage plans three years ago because of Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=19802 Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat- By simply taking a quick tour through the streets of Baghdad, any observer cannot help but notice Iraq's large disabled community, many of whom are reduced to begging after Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=19801 Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Supporters of Libya's reformist trend, which is affiliated with Saif al-Islam Al-Gaddafi, second son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi, are waging a fierce political Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=19805 The progress of Dubai cannot be measured in terms of its skyscrapers, its superior transport network, its flexible economic system or its cultural openness alone; safety in this Emirate, which is Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=19803 The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz topped a poll that was conducted by the US Pew Research Center of the most popular leaders in the Islamic world. This is the least the Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19806 London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, former Saudi Intelligence chief, and former Saudi Ambassador Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19804 Q) What are the goals of your visit to Washington? A) There are bilateral goals and of course, goals for discussion and consultation with our allies on affairs in the region. No doubt, we are tied Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19797 MOSCOW (AFP) – The leader of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas met here Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on efforts to reunify the two main Palestinian independence movements. "We Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19796 TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran says it will start producing higher-grade nuclear fuel on Tuesday and plans a major expansion of its uranium enrichment program by building 10 new plants in the next year, further Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19795 CAIRO, (AP) – Egyptian police and Muslim Brotherhood group say three top leaders, including the organizations No. 2, and 10 provincial senior members have been arrested in a dawn sweep in Cairo and Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19794 BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraqi MPs were gathering on Monday to debate a contentious decision to allow hundreds of candidates linked to executed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath party to compete in next month's Tue, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19792 Riyadh, London, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, is the most popular leader in the Islamic world, according to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19791 Sanaa, Asharq Al-Awsat- Sheikh Tariq al-Fadli, a former leading figure in the ruling General People's Congress Party in Yemen and current leading figure in what is now known as the Southern Mobility Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19788 BAGHDAD (AFP) – Radical Shiite Islamists who claim to have kidnapped a US military contractor of Iraqi origin said on Sunday they are also holding a second American hostage captured two years ago. "Two Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19786 DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemen has arrested a man suspected of threatening to bomb foreign embassies in the capital Sanaa and to assassinate Yemeni political and military leaders, state media reported on Sunday. In Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19785 BEIRUT, (AP) – Lebanon's marine commandos on Sunday recovered the black box of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed into the Mediterranean last month, a Lebanese army officer said. The Boeing Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19784 TEHRAN (AFP) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Iran's atomic chief on Sunday to enrich uranium to 20 percent, in a fresh challenge to world powers days after appearing to accept a UN-drafted nuclear Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=19787 Every time an Arab country faces a crisis of any kind, Western powers take immediate steps to hold a conference which ends up with ready made solutions, with the necessary funding for these solutions. Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=19782 For the third time in a matter of months, contradictory statements have been issued by the Pakistani authorities and the CIA on the one hand, and the Pakistani Taliban movement on the other. As soon Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=19790 At a time that religious fatwas are being issued in Sanaa stating that Jihad will be declared against the US should it intervene in Yemen against the Al Qaeda organization, Tariq Al-Fadli, the man Mon, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19783 SANAA, (Reuters) - Yemen has handed over to Shi'ite rebels a timetable to implement the government's ceasefire terms, in an effort to end the conflict in the north of the country, a Yemeni presidential Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19781 Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat - Fatah Central Committee Member Dr. Nabil Shaath told Asharq Al-Awsat shortly after his return from the Gaza Strip that his meetings with Hamas officials put an end to the Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19773 ANKARA/MUNICH, Germany, (Reuters) - The United States and Germany said on Saturday they saw no sign Tehran would make concessions on its nuclear programme despite upbeat comments from Iran's foreign minister Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19774 CAIRO (AP) - The Palestinians have asked the Obama administration to clarify a U.S. envoy's proposal to restart long-stalled peace talks with Israel indirectly by shuttling between the two sides, the Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19775 KARACHI, (Reuters) - Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi was tense on Saturday a day after two bombs killed 31 people, raising further questions about the effectiveness of security crackdowns on al Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=19780 Hamas, Fatah and the Palestinian factions did not spare the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad criticism following his participation in the annual Herzliya Conference held in Israel. It is considered Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19776 CAIRO (AP) - Al-Qaeda's offshoot in North Africa has extended deadlines for meeting its demands for the release of French and Italian hostages. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb abducted Frenchman Pierre Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19777 BEIRUT (AP) - Search crews have located the tail of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed into the Mediterranean last month and are getting closer to finding the plane's black box, Lebanon's transportation Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19778 BAGHDAD (AP) - A Shiite militant group in Iraq has posted an Internet video showing an American it says it abducted and who appears to be a contractor reported missing by the U.S. military. The U.S. Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19779 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Hamas government in Gaza has distanced itself from an earlier statement in which it expressed regret for harming Israeli civilians in rocket attacks. The apology was Sun, 06 Feb 2010 15:37:44 GMT