The Latest Breaking News from Asharq Al-Awsat

On a recent school day, the Rene Mouawad High School in Beirut was empty, its classrooms dark, just like all of Lebanon’s public schools have been for most of the past three months. Its striking teachers were protesting in front of the Education Ministry, not far away. About a hundred…

Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh will host on Sunday a security meeting to ease Palestinian-Israeli tensions ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan that begins next week. The meeting will be attended by Palestinian and Israeli security delegations, as well as representatives from the United States, Jordan and Egypt, “to reach…

Thousands of people angered over President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the retirement age joined a national strike on Wednesday as a committee of lawmakers advanced the proposal. It remains to be seen whether Macron can command a parliamentary majority for his plan to raise the age from 62 to…

Iran’s intelligence and security forces have been committing horrific acts of torture, against child protesters as young as 12 to quell their involvement in nationwide protests, Amnesty International reported Thursday. Such acts include beatings, flogging, electric shocks, rape and other sexual violence, it said. Before releasing them, state agents often…

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani underscored on Wednesday that his country will not be a platform to threaten its neighbors. Speaking at the seventh International Sulaymaniyah Forum, he stressed that Iraq cannot align itself with one axis against the other, rather, it can be a meeting point for all…

Eleven weeks into his third stint as Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to be received at the White House, signaling apparent US unhappiness over the policies of his right-wing government. Most new Israeli leaders had visited the United States or met the president by this point in their…

The casualties of landmines planted randomly by Houthi militias have increased by 30 percent in Feb.

For nearly four decades, Jean-Luc Picard of “Star Trek” has largely been presented as genteel, erudite and — at times — quite buttoned up. Yes, he loses his temper. Yes, he was reckless as a callow cadet many years ago.

Israeli protesters pressed ahead on Thursday with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis. Despite the effort by the country’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, to seek a…

China has leverage on Iran and Tehran will find it difficult to explain if it does not honor the agreement signed with Saudi Arabia in Beijing, a Saudi official said on Wednesday. Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to re-establish relations, seven years after they were severed, following talks…

China has leverage on Iran and Tehran will find it difficult to explain if it does not honor the agreement signed with Saudi Arabia in Beijing, a Saudi official said on Wednesday. Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to re-establish relations, seven years after they were severed, following talks…